The Canadian Labour and Employment Law Journal (CLELJ) is a refereed, scholarly review with an established readership among researchers, practitioners, adjudicators and policymakers. With articles written from both a scholarly and a practice-oriented point of view, the CLELJ covers topics relating to labour and employment law, human rights, pension and benefits law, workplace privacy, occupational health and safety, and international and comparative labour law. 

The CLELJ  publishes academic articles, book reviews, case comments, and essays, and welcomes submissions from experienced writers and new writers.  

Submission Deadlines 

Submissions are accepted on a continuing basis and will be considered for the earliest issue in which space is available.  

Subject to the editorial board’s discretion; 

  • Articles submitted prior to the beginning of January will typically be considered for the Spring Edition of the CLELJ; and  
  • Articles submitted prior to the beginning of June will typically be considered for the Fall Edition of the CLELJ.  

Submission Guidelines  

  • We welcome submissions in both English and French  
  • We accept electronic submissions in .doc or .docx format.   
  • Length should not normally exceed; 

          - 15,000 words for articles 

          - 5,000 words for comments 

          - 3,000 words for book reviews 

  • Citations should be in footnotes, in the format set out in the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation, 9th ed (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2018). Each citation should be as complete as possible, including pinpoints or paragraphs when appropriate.  
  • We only consider submissions that consist entirely of original unpublished work and are not simultaneously being considered for publication elsewhere.  
  • Authors who write on matters in which they have been directly involved must state the nature of their involvement.  

Assessment Process  

Assessing a submission usually takes six to eight weeks. Among the factors taken into account are originality of content and approach, significance of the subject matter and its suitability for the Journal, depth and clarity of analysis, and quality of expression. For articles, an editorial team conducts an initial internal review, and submissions which pass this review are sent for double-blind external refereeing by experts in the relevant subject area. Comments and other shorter papers will be internally reviewed, and may also be externally refereed. The decision on whether to accept a paper is made by the editorial board, based on the results of the assessment process. Acceptance may be conditional on the making of satisfactory revisions by the author.  

Editorial Process  

When the assessment process is complete, the author will be advised whether the paper has been accepted for publication, and will be informed of any necessary or recommended revisions. When such revisions are complete, the paper will be edited by the Journal’s student editors at the Queen’s Centre for Law in the Contemporary Workplace, under the supervision of the Editor-in-Chief or other members of the editorial board. Final preparation for printing is done by Lancaster House.  

For More Information  

For more information or to submit an article to the Canadian Labour and Employment Law Journal, please contact the Senior Editors at: clelj@queensu.ca.