Editorial Policy

This page sets out how we decide what to publish, how we handle sources and corrections, and what our commercial relationships are. It is short on purpose.

What we are

Space Law Journal is an editorially independent publication reporting on the law and regulation of outer space. It is a joint initiative of Legal Desire Media and Odyogeek. Nobody outside the editorial board sees copy before publication, and no commercial partner has a right of review over editorial content.

Sourcing

We work from primary sources wherever they exist. That means the rule text, the docket, the decision, the treaty article, the agency filing. Where we rely on secondary sources, we say so and we link to them.

We link to the official page rather than to a summary of it, and we check that the link resolves before publishing. When a source is behind a paywall or requires registration, we say so.

Numbers are attributed. If we say a market was worth a figure or that a treaty has a number of parties, the source is named and the date of that figure is given, because both change.

Accuracy and corrections

We will get things wrong. When we do, we correct the article and add a dated note at the foot of it saying what changed. We do not quietly amend text and pretend the original said something else.

If a piece becomes materially out of date because a rule changed or a decision was appealed, we update it and date the update rather than leaving a stale article in place.

To report an error, write to space@legaldesire.com with the subject line Correction. Tell us what is wrong and, if you can, what the right position is. We credit corrections in the note unless you ask us not to.

Right of reply

If we publish criticism of an identifiable organisation or person, we will normally put the substance to them before publication and carry their response. Where we have not been able to, we say so in the piece.

Anyone who has been written about here can ask for a right of reply. We will publish a considered response, edited only for length and clarity.

Opinion

Opinion pieces are labelled as opinion, both in the section they sit in and in a line at the top of the article. We publish arguments we disagree with. We do not publish arguments that are not sourced.

Contributors and conflicts

Contributors must disclose any interest a reader would want to know about: acting for a party, a firm relationship, prior involvement in a matter, a financial interest. Where a relevant interest exists we carry a disclosure line on the article.

The same applies to the editorial board. Where a member of the board has an interest in a subject we are covering, that is disclosed on the piece.

Commercial content

We do not accept payment to publish editorial content, and we do not charge contributors. Editorial decisions are not influenced by advertising or sponsorship relationships.

Any content that is sponsored, syndicated or commercially connected is labelled clearly at the top of the page. If it is not labelled, it is editorial.

Artificial intelligence

We do not publish text generated by a language model and presented as human writing, from contributors or from ourselves. Research tools, including AI research tools, are used the way any other research tool is used, and the resulting claims are verified against primary sources before publication.

Images

Most of our imagery comes from public domain government archives, principally NASA and ESA. Every image carries a credit. We do not use AI generated imagery to depict real events, people or hardware.

Privacy and data

How we handle visitor data is set out in the privacy policy.

Contact

Editorial questions, corrections and complaints all go to space@legaldesire.com.