Policies

I. ON CONTENT

The content of each post and each comment represents the views of that author and not that of the ISHR.

We welcome content suggestions from all Columbia students, faculty members, or staff interested in writing on their areas of concentration or research. We also welcome and encourage content from guest contributors with relevant research interests or expertise, as long as it is in line with RightsViews’s content guidelines and rules, and on final agreement from The Editors/ISHR staff.

Please note that policy and law analyses that use strict disciplinary or domain-specific text (i.e. legal jargon) will not be accepted for publication within RightsViews. If you are interested in publishing such work, we highly recommend submitting to the other journals on Columbia University’s campus such as the Journal of International Affairs at SIPA or the Columbia Human Rights Law Review at the CLS.

II. ON SUBMISSIONS

When submitting to our journal, you may address your email to our official RV email, which is [email protected]. Please note that this is our only email address.

In your submission, you may CC any co-authors or contributors who may have worked on the article that is being sent for consideration. That said, please do not forward submissions to or CC/BCC any external sources, organizations, or individuals in order to maintain personal data/information protection and scholarly integrity.

III. ON STYLE

While RightsViews does not follow a universal style, all articles must be uniform within themselves and maintain consistency throughout.

Please do not submit articles with in-text citations, footnotes, or endnotes. Instead, hyperlink all sources directly to the sentence that references and/or denotes it. If these guidelines are not followed, your article will be automatically rejected.

IV. ON STATUS UPDATES AND PUBLICATION TIMELINE

Our commitment to maintaining a fair and efficient evaluation process for all of our guest contributors is of utmost importance.

The timeline for responding to guest contributors varies due to the significant volume of submissions we receive. On average, we provide a letter of decline or acceptance between two to three weeks after initially receiving the article. Our editorial team works diligently to review and assess each submission to ensure a thoughtful and thorough evaluation process, and we appreciate your patience and understanding as we strive to maintain the quality of our publication.

However, while we understand that contributors are keen to know the status of their submissions and we encourage open communication, we kindly request that contributors refrain from sending multiple status update emails or spamming our inbox. Guest contributors who consistently disregard this policy by sending frequent status inquiries via email may regrettably have their submissions automatically declined. 

V. ON COMMENTING

The RightsViews Blog is intended to foster conversation and dialogue about developments and research in the human rights field. To that end we strongly encourage readers to reply to posts, and to each other, through the blog’s comments.

For the RightsNews Blog to meet its intended purpose, we emphasize that anyone who wishes to comment must observe rules of courtesy and respect, including the following:

• Comments that contain profanities are automatically screened and deleted.
• Comments with links are held for moderation (to reduce spam)
• Different points of view are always welcome, but comments that are offensive, illegal or violate the rights, or threaten the safety of any person are subject to moderation and deletion.
• Do not impersonate any person or entity, including but not limited to, an ISHR employee, forum leader, guide or host or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity.
• Give credit when you borrow from someone else (either by linking to the source or quoting and providing the source of the quote).

It is the author’s responsibility to ensure their online conduct is in line with these rules. We ask that you help us maintain an atmosphere of respect.

Individuals who break the rules above may be blocked.