About OUCLJ

The Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal (OUCLJ) is the flagship journal of Oxford University's postgraduate law community, produced under the aegis of the Law Faculty since 2001. OUCLJ was formerly published by Hart Publishing, then Taylor & Francis from 2015 until 2026. Since 2027, the journal has been published by the Open Library of Humanities (OLH), moving to a diamond open access model. 

Journal scope 

The OUCLJ focuses on doctrinal and theoretical scholarship on matters of current interest to Commonwealth legal systems. The OUCLJ welcomes contributions from academic lawyers, practitioners and policy-makers, wherever situated. We publish articles which are concerned with a single jurisdiction as well as those which undertake a comparative analysis — including comparisons between Commonwealth and civilian jurisdictions — and pieces on international law affecting Commonwealth systems. Our focus is on black-letter law rather than pure legal theory. We do not publish socio-legal or criminological scholarship. 

Submission process

The Journal operates a double-anonymous peer review process, meaning that both authors and reviewers remain anonymous for the review process. We operate robust editorial standards, requiring two positive independent scholarly reviews by experts in the relevant field before articles can be considered for publication. Once the Editorial Board has resolved to send a piece for peer review, the process of securing reviews usually takes 2-3 months although can sometimes take longer. Reviewers are asked to provide formative feedback, even if an article is not deemed suitable for publication in the journal.

From June 2026, if you would like to submit an article, email ouclj@law.ox.ac.uk with your manuscript as a Word document. Ensure that it complies with our submission guidelines. We are committed to taking an initial decision on peer review within one month after submission. The peer review process typically takes 6-8 weeks, but this can vary depending on the time of the year, subject area and type of submission. However, we endeavour to keep authors updated on the status of their article as it progresses through the process.  

In 2027, we will be transferring to the Open Library of Humanities which will manage our submission process going forward. In the interim, please follow the guidance above to make a submission.