Journal of Philosophy of International Law

Thanks to Adil Haque, guest blogging at Opinio Juris, for pointing me in the direction of the new journal edited by Anthony Carty of University of Aberdeen, the Journal of Philosophy of International Law. This is a topic I am increasingly interested in - methodology in the study of international law, including many philosophical issues raised thereby. Professor Carty is also a fine choice of editor of this new journal.

My question, though, is whether I would ever consider submitting an article on this topic to a journal which is closed source and takes full and exclusive copyright in the article. On a topic like this, with a handful of specialists throughout the world, and no material stakes involved, wouldn't I prefer to post to SSRN and then see it published in an open source law journal, even if student edited, and then flagged for attention by, for example, Larry Solum's Legal Theory Blog? It seems to me that the closed source model for this kind of a topic is outdated and not likely to attract an author like me. I am curious for reaction by others - what is the competitive advantage of having a fee paid journal for this kind of topic when there are so many alternative open source venues that would almost certainly reach a wider audience?