New Journal, Emerging Scholars
European Law Open is a new journal. However bold, and exciting, and exhilarating we may think it is, it really is a new journal. In today’s publishing landscape, this is a problem. We start from scratch, without impact factors, Google scholar rankings, or AIP scores. This may not be a serious problem for secure, tenured, established scholars who can afford to be both scandalised and blasé about these appendages of neoliberal disciplinary academia. But it is assuredly a problem for emerging scholars – the ones we need most, with new and fresh ideas, broader methodological horizons, irreverence and conviction, but also, sadly, precarious contracts and insecure career prospects, and subject to, yes, ‘publishing performance indicators’ that discard new journals. We will get there, on the impact factor ladder. But it will take a few years.
Meanwhile, we have all the more reason to reinforce our commitment to new voices. This means a double engagement. It begins at peer review. The critical comments that should come with peer review must be an invitation to get the most out of scholarly endeavors. This applies to all scholars, but may be particularly helpful for those in the beginning of their careers. We are committed to making peer review a means of intellectual development. We want to do more. The editorial board will organise yearly an ‘emerging scholars workshop’, on the basis of broadly advertised call for papers. We will make these workshops a means of encouraging and supporting innovative research, while building academic networks and collaborations between scholars of all generations. If we succeed, these workshops will enrich the diversity of voices in EU law and increase the representation of scholars from underrepresented groups. The most promising draft papers presented at the ‘emerging scholars workshop’ will be further developed and revised, if helpful in a conversation with an ELO editor, prior to peer-review either with ELO or another journal. The first call for papers for the ‘Emerging Scholars Workshop’ has been published at the beginning of January 2022, and we are already looking forward to the first workshop within the framework of ELO Launch Event, on 16th and 17th of June 2022 (for registrations https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-law-open).
How we work
We left the publisher of that certain journal for a reason. We are launching this new journal together with CUP for a reason, too. ELO is a true partnership between the academic community on the Boards and the publisher in many ways—most obviously in the contractual requirement of mutual consent on appointment of editors. In the long process leading up to this day, Rebecca O’Rourke and her team have challenged us and supported us with professionalism, good-natured generosity, ruthless efficiency, enormous dedication and a whole lot of faith. We are in awe, and immensely grateful.
We have a large board of editors, and to organise our work we have given ourselves different tasks and responsibilities (and sometimes strange titles that may or may not bear much resemblance to what we actually do). More important than the division of labour, however, is the sense of collective work and responsibility that we share. It is hard to think of anything we will all agree on, but harder still to imagine us not respecting and encouraging each other’s opinions. This, too, is the basis of this new journal, now in your hands.
- Diamond Ashiagbor, University of Kent, UK
- Marija Bartl, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Daniela Caruso, Boston University, USA
- Edoardo Chiti, University of Viterbo, Italy
- Francesco Costamagna, University of Torino, Italy
- Marco Dani, University of Trento, Italy
- Michelle Everson, Birkbeck College London, UK
- Martijn Hesselink, European University Institute, Italy
