#ASCOLA2025: Chicago (USA)

Here is the Call for Papers, published on 11 November 2024! Submissions need to be sent to the organisers by 27 January 2025. All details can be found in the Call.

20th ASCOLA Conference Chicago, 26-28 June 2025

CALL FOR PAPERS The Academic Society for Competition Law (ASCOLA) will hold its 20th annual conference from Thursday 26 to Saturday 28 June 2025 at Loyola University of Chicago. The local organizer is Professor Spencer Weber Waller.

Submission of papers ASCOLA members are invited to make a submission by no later than 27 January 2025. Authors will be informed by 31 March 2025 at the latest, whether they have been selected for the conference. Submissions should be sent to [email protected]

A conference with three streams

Submissions on any topic in the field of competition law and policy are welcome. The aim is to organise a conference to showcase disciplinary diversity in competition law scholarship: authors using innovative methods or covering less explored fields are particularly encouraged to submit papers. In responding to this call for papers, you are invited to make one submission only and to select among the following three streams. Please observe the requirements for each stream, especially regarding word count. On your submission, you must indicate to which stream you are submitting.

Stream 1: Academic papers. This is open to all ASCOLA members. The submitted paper must not have been published at the time of submission.* These papers should be journal length (around 20,000 words as a maximum).

Stream 2: Early career researchers. Eligibility for this stream are authors who have been awarded their PhD in 2020 or later and PhD candidates. Papers accepted in this stream are assigned to a dedicated commentator who will engage with the paper and lead the discussion. Authors may submit a full paper (around 20,000 words as a maximum) or a chapter of their PhD thesis. Authors sending a PhD thesis chapter are advised to make sure that it is properly contextualized in the introduction so that readers can see how it fits with the thesis as a whole.

Stream 3: Early project ideas. This is for all ASCOLA members who are developing a new idea for a research paper or project and wish to test their ideas, concepts used and/or appropriate methods. A short (maximum 1-2page in length) abstract should be sent to be considered for this stream. Please note that abstracts exceeding this length will instead be treated as submissions to Stream 1. Preference will be given to submissions which present a new, original project idea that is in preliminary, developmental stages. Selected authors will present the latest version of their project idea at the conference.

Review: Each submission will be considered by two independent reviewers who will be asked to evaluate them in accordance with pre-set parameters for each stream. To ensure merit-based selection, the process is a double-blind review, in which reviewers do not know the identity of authors, and vice versa. Accordingly, please submit two versions: one which includes all details, 

and one which removes all traces of the identity of the author(s) and is marked as such. To ensure a fair process, only the conference organisers see the review scores. Only one submission per person is allowed. Authors wishing to make a jointly authored submission may not make a sole-authored submission as well and vice versa. Exceptionally, authors of a joint paper who wish to also present a sole authored paper should contact the organisers in advance of submission. In these cases the expectation is that each paper, if accepted, is presented by a different author. Non-members who meet the criteria for membership (academics specialising in competition law and/or competition economics) can make a submission but must apply for membership and become members if their paper is selected and they wish to present it at the conference. Authors must submit an anonymized version of their paper. They must adhere to the ASCOLA Ethics Declaration (https://ascola.org/declaration-of-ethics/). It is expected that each submission will contain an appropriate declaration with disclosures, if any are required, in the cover letter. Those submitting also to the Best Junior Paper award (see below) should indicate this fact at the time of submission. All authors in Streams 1 and 2 are eligible for this award. Authors of selected papers for Streams 1 and 2 will have until 19 May 2025 to submit their papers for the conference. Members whose submissions are selected for Stream 3 will be asked to provide the latest version of their project idea. The organisers retain the right to exclude a paper that does not meet the quality requirements set for the conference.