As a digital platform, we publish a broad range of content – from short essays and thematic text primers to video interviews and podcasts – and engage the top minds in law and religion to produce accessible content for today’s readers. By providing accurate information, expert analysis, and contextualized explanation of issues impacting America and the world, Canopy Forum addresses the growing concern for an understanding of law and religion, bringing these issues to the forefront of American public discourse in an informed, nuanced, and productive way. You can write on anything that pertains to the intersection of law and religion within your area of expertise, whether it be a reflection on current events from the lens of your field, or an idea you would like to write about within the confines of the broad umbrella of law and religion. Since we are interested in bringing a broad range of scholarly perspectives to public attention under our Canopy, we are very flexible regarding topics and value every submission.
Canopy Forum is a distinguished online publication dedicated to publishing essays accessible to the public. In order to achieve this goal, we have a rigorous editorial process and reserve the right to reject a submission if it is not suitable for our publication.
Guidelines
Canopy Forum publishes three types of content: short form essays, long form essays, and Literature Highlights. While some references are welcome, extensive footnotes are discouraged, as is overly academic prose that would make your work inaccessible to general educated readers. We also consider mixed and multimedia proposals, including photo-essays, geo-spatial presentations, dynamic timelines, video projects, and short-form interviews. Once we receive your submission, it will be saved as a Google doc, and further editing and production will be done using that Google doc to maximize efficiency. Our editorial team will review your submission and make suggested changes that you can accept, reject, or comment on. Once we both agree on the final draft, we will format and publish your essay on our website. Our editorial team would be happy to work with you to develop ideas suitable for this exciting new platform.
*In certain cases, and with the permission of authors, we will send articles out for anonymous review where the subject matter lies outside the expertise of Canopy Forum editors.
Short-form essays should be between 1,500-2,200 words in length; written in a style that is accessible to the general educated public (i.e., avoid or take care to explain academic jargon); and should aim to provide sources and references using embedded hyperlinks to online materials wherever possible while avoiding footnotes. Hyperlinks should link to one or two words in a sentence and must link to the correct supporting source. Court decisions should be linked once to the first reference to that case, using the full case name (i.e., “In its recent ruling in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, the Supreme Court held …”).
In rare situations, Canopy Forum publishes long-form essays. Long-form essays should be between 2,000-5,000 words; may be more academic in nature and style, though still accessible enough to be useful and edifying to law and religion scholars outside your own specific discipline; and may utilize footnotes to provide source citations and references (citations should generally follow Bluebook citation styles – i.e., [Author], [Book/Article Title], [Journal Volume] [Journal Name] [Page Number of Article], [Specific Page of Referenced Content] ([Publication Year]). Contributors who wish to submit a long-form essay should submit an abstract or précis of your article for approval prior to submitting a full draft.
Literature Highlights share important new works addressing issues at the intersection of law and religion with our thousands of readers across the world. We publish an excerpt or review of your book, which would include links to the book on amazon.com, and your publisher’s own website.
In order to publish an excerpt or chapter from your book, we do need permission from your publisher. If you would like another scholar to review your book, we will work with you to find potential reviewers. This will require a review copy of your book/chapter. If you decide to provide us with an excerpt, we recognize that we might not be able to suggest any changes in order to comply with your publisher’s policies. If this is the case, we will skip the editorial process and move it straight to pre-production.
Note: You can provide an overview, introduction, or preface of your own book or review another scholar’s work. In addition to a headshot and bio, we would appreciate a book cover image for your article.
Please send general inquires to
canopyforum@emory.edu
Please use the below form to submit your work
Submission Form