Special editions of the Journal of Japanese Law now available open access
Initiated in 2009, the Sonderhefte der Zeitschrift für Japanisches Recht / Special Editions of the Journal of Japanese Law create a platform for monographs as well as edited volumes and conference proceedings. Covering a variety of aspects in relation to Japanese law, the special editions supplement the Zeitschrift für Japanisches Recht / Journal of Japanese Law, which has since 1996 made all fields of Japanese law accessible to German and international scholars and practitioners in western European languages.
Until now, special edition issues – featuring contributions in German, English and French – had been available only in print form on a fee basis from bookshops. However, along with the currently published Issue No. 17, earlier special editions are now also available open access; all articles contained therein can be downloaded in PDF format using Open Monograph Press, the open-source publishing software developed by the Public Knowledge Project. Future issues will similarly be made freely available as electronic versions under a Creative Commons license (in some cases allowing for immediate access and in some cases with a delay of one to two years). This step, made possible through the technical and financial support of the Max Planck Institute, will increase both the visibility of Japanese law as well as its accessibility for researchers, thereby promoting global dialogue. The measure is a component of the Institute’s publication strategy and, more broadly, that of the Max Planck Society, which aims to make the results of core academic research freely accessible and readily reusable wherever possible.
Both the regular issues of the Journal as well as the special editions are edited and prepared by the Institute in cooperative partnership with the German-Japanese Association of Jurists (DJJV). The editorial staff is made up of Dr. Ruth Effinowicz (MPI, Hamburg), Prof. Dr. Harald Baum (MPI, Hamburg), Prof. Dr. Moritz Bälz (Goethe University Frankfurt), Prof. Dr. Marc Dernauer (Chuo University, Tokyo), and Prof. Dr. Gabriele Koziol (Kyoto University).
The special editions are available here at no cost.
Image: © Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law / Bastian Kurzynsky
