"I have formal qualifications in civil law, not canon law, but have...." I did not have a doctorate or licentiate in canon law...."

Welcome to the world of academia! A doctorate in canon law would help, would get you into the prestigious Canon Law Society of America, which society has members from 35 countries; this would give you more clout, a "membership name" behind your work. Without a doctorate in that area, however, canon lawyers regard you as an amateur, not scholar (as a writer doing history for a peer review journal won't get his/her article accepted unless the academy's criteria and qualifications are met).  Still your work is important. But if you had a critical mass of other canon lawyers on board, your study would make more of an impact. 

They say when 30 priests of the archdiocese of Boston, all in good standing (and not connected to any "rebel group" in the diocese, church), wrote a letter asking Cardinal Law to resign, it was the last straw. Law resigned within weeks.