About the journal
A new journal for jurisprudence and legal theory
A journal for legal theory as scholarship, as argument, and as a way of ordering thought about law, morality, and justice.
Acta Juris Theoretici is being founded on the conviction that jurisprudence deserves both close conceptual attention and serious engagement with its history, its social setting, and its practical consequences. The journal will publish work that knows the law in detail while refusing to treat legal concepts as self-explanatory.
Its pages will be open to general jurisprudence, the philosophy of law, interpretation and legal reasoning, theories of justice, law and morality, the sociology of law, the history of legal thought, and comparative legal theory. The journal is currently in preparation; no issue has yet been published.
The journal is a Standard Law Academic journal and is editorially independent.
Aims & scope
The journal will publish original scholarship on jurisprudence and legal theory, with a preference for work that is conceptually rigorous, historically informed, or alert to the social and moral consequences of legal ideas.
The journal’s scope is deliberately broad. It includes general jurisprudence—the concepts, structure, and sources of law—the methodology of legal science, interpretation and legal reasoning, theories of justice, and the relation of law to morality. It also covers the sociology of law, the history of legal thought, comparative legal theory, and work that crosses disciplinary boundaries.
The journal does not prescribe a single method. It will publish doctrinal, theoretical, comparative, historical, empirical, and interdisciplinary work. What matters is a clear argument, serious engagement with the relevant law and literature, and a contribution that is accessible to an international readership.
What we plan to publish
- Research articles
- Review articles and review essays
- Shorter scholarly interventions
- Book reviews
- Proposals for special issues
- Work across doctrinal and contextual methods
Open access
The journal will publish open access, online, with no article processing charge (APC) at present. Any change to this position will be published clearly on this site.
What we look for
Every submission should make a clear argument, situate it in the existing literature, and explain why it matters. The journal will expect authors to take doctrine seriously, engage with jurisdictions other than their own where relevant, and write in a way that is accessible to readers outside their immediate field.
Legal theory in context
Theory is the centre of the journal, not its boundary.
Law is a body of thought and a social institution at once. The journal is interested in both dimensions. It will publish close analysis of concepts, principles, and arguments, and it will also publish work that asks how those concepts and arguments operate in practice, how they have developed historically, and how they compare across legal systems.
The journal is particularly interested in work that explains why a theoretical choice matters: for the coherence of the law, for the way legal institutions are justified, for the relation of law to morality and society, or for the way legal science understands its own methods. Comparative and historical work is welcome where it does argumentative work rather than serving as decoration.
A note on method
The journal does not require authors to adopt a particular theoretical stance. It asks only that the method be explicit, the materials be identified, and the limits of the argument be acknowledged.
Editorial formation
The editorial board is being formed; names will appear here as each appointment is confirmed.
Editorial appointments will be published only after they are confirmed and consented to. The full editorial team and advisory board will be published here before the journal opens for submissions.
The founding team takes shape role by role: editor-in-chief first, then deputy editors, section editors, and the international advisory board.
Editorial roles in preparation
- Editor-in-Chief
- Deputy editors
- Section editors for general jurisprudence
- Section editors for legal reasoning
- Section editors for law and morality
- Section editors for comparative and historical work
- Book review editor
- International advisory board
Expressions of interest
Scholars interested in contributing to the journal's editorial development are welcome to express interest once contact details and procedures are announced.
Launch information
The journal is in preparation. Launch, call, editorial, and issue details will be published here when available.
| Item | Current status |
|---|---|
| Journal status | In preparation |
| Society | Standard Law Academic |
| Publication model | Open access, online |
| Article processing charge (APC) | None at present |
| Inaugural issue | In preparation |
| Editorial appointments | To be announced |
| Call for papers | Information to be added |
| Submission information | To be added |
| Peer review model | Information to be added |
| ISSN | Information to be added |
The table above is kept current; each entry will be updated as soon as it is confirmed.
Discovery & indexing
The journal is in preparation, publishing open access online. After the first issue, the editorial office will prepare applications to the relevant legal and multidisciplinary indexes. Indexing and archiving details will be published here once they are confirmed.
The journal's metadata and content will be designed to support discovery and long-term preservation. Full details of indexing and archiving arrangements will be published once they are confirmed.
Indexing and archiving
Indexing, archiving, and preservation arrangements will be published here once they are confirmed. The journal's status pages are updated as the launch develops.
Development stages
The journal is being developed in stages. Dates will be announced when they are set.
Scope and planning. The journal’s disciplinary range, editorial scope, and open-access publication model are established.
Editorial formation. The founding editorial team is being assembled. Appointments will be announced when confirmed.
Call for papers and submission information. Submission guidelines and the first call for papers will be published before submissions open.
Inaugural issue. The first issue is in preparation. Its contents and publication details have not been announced.
Contact
Contact details for the editorial office will be published when they are confirmed. The journal is a Standard Law Academic journal and is editorially independent. Correspondence will be invited once those details are published.
Contact information
Editorial contact details: to be announced.
For information about the journal's scope and status, please use the pages on this site. They will be updated as the launch develops.