About the Yearbook
The New Zealand Yearbook of International Law (Brill), launched in June 2004, is an annual, internationally refereed publication intended to stand as a reference point for legal materials and commentary on public international law generally and with particular emphasis on issues concerning New Zealand, Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, including critical writing in those areas. It is currently edited by Dr David Jefferson and the Associate Editor is Dr Christian Riffel. The Yearbook is published by Brill.
The Advisory Board
The Yearbook has come about through the contribution of academics and practitioners from New Zealand and abroad. The Yearbook boasts an exceptional Advisory Board consisting of leading national and international academics and practitioners who are called upon to provide input through the double blind refereeing process used to assure the quality of the submissions published in the Yearbook.
Contents of the Yearbook
While it is a New Zealand publication, the Editors of the Yearbook have been conscious to include submissions within the general ‘Articles and Commentaries’ that encompass broader issues. New Zealand, as a relatively isolated nation, is mindful of wider international law and policy developments that may either directly or indirectly impact upon the area.
The Yearbook also serves as a valuable tool in the determination of trends, state practice and policies in the development of international law in New Zealand, the Southern Ocean and Antarctica and to generate scholarship in those fields. In this regard the Yearbook contains an annual ‘Year-in-Review’ of developments in international law of particular interest to New Zealand.
Equally so, New Zealand offers a unique environment, owing to its size, population and strategic proximity to the Southern Ocean, Antarctica, and the South Pacific, that makes the New Zealand Yearbook of general interest to the international community. It is for the latter reason that the Yearbook contains a section dedicated to the ‘The South Pacific’.
Submissions Process
Submissions should be sent to the General Editor, Dr David Jefferson, at david.jefferson@canterbury.ac.nz. Submissions must comply with the Australian Guide to Legal Citation. The word limit for notes and commentaries is 3000-7000 words, and the word limit for articles is 8000-15000 words (both including footnotes). All submissions are subject to a two-stage review process. An internal review will be made to decide whether the submission is worthy of sending to external review. If so, then a ‘double-blind’ (author and reviewer remain anonymous to each other) review process is used to make the final decision as to publication. The Editors undertake to make a decision on publication within a reasonable time.