Background

JILT (The Journal of Information, Law & Technology) is an established but innovative electronic law journal covering a range of topics relating to IT law and applications. It contains a diversity of materials including peer reviewed and non-refereed articles, commentaries, work in progress articles, book and IT reviews, and conference reports and papers, as well as information papers, news and UK and global conferences.

JILT is the first in a series of ejournals published under the Electronic Law Journals (ELJ) project. The ELJ Project was a collaborative project between the CTI (Computers in Teaching Initiative) Law Technology Centre, at the University of Warwick and the Centre for Law Computers and Technology at the University of Strathclyde. It was partially funded under the Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib), which was set up under the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) as a direct response to the Follett Report. Following the restructuring of the CTI Centres at the end of 1999, the ELJ Project is now an independent project but with support from the Law Courseware Consortium at the University of Warwick and the British and Irish Law, Education and Technology Association (BILETA).

The JILT and ELJ team have established a high standard that is shaping the future of electronic legal journals. They will ensure that they consistently deliver a combination of scholarly content, good design and a user-friendly approach, overseen by the ELJ Steering Committee, and an international body of editors, advisors and referees. With such a global perspective, JILT is of immediate appeal to an international audience of legal academics, legal practitioners and anyone interested in technology as it relates to the study and practice of law.

The first issue of JILT was published on 31 January 1996, and received acclaim from its users and won the first Charlesworth Group Award for Electronic Journals. In June 2002, JILT was also awarded the BIALL (British and Irish Association of Law Librarians) Legal Serial Publication of the Year for 2002.

Barbara Tearle, President of BIALL and Chair of the adjudication panel, said at the award ceremony at the 2002 BIALL Annual conference, that JILT has:

'a real claim to originality in its conception, and pioneering in the use of the internet for quality journal publishing. It is a niche market journal whose content is varied, topical and of excellent quality within its specialism. It is relevant to various sections of the legal and information communities, and has articles of international appeal.

The presentation is crisp, clear and unfussy, and takes full advantage of the medium by being easily navigated and searched'.

'The judges also drew attention to the fact that the publication was free of charge'.

During its existence, JILT has undergone several changes of style in a bid to keep the Journal looking fresh but also to aid the user in effectively navigating around the publication. The latest style was designed to be crisp and easy on the eye, but also easy to use. Some people will find the style of JILT somewhat static, compared to other, perhaps 'jazzier', online publications, but we believe that as most of our content is academic articles which may be read for long periods online, or perhpas printed off for later reading, our readers would not want too many graphical distractions. What do you think? Comments on the latest style and ways to help improve navigation are always welcome.

JILT is provided free of charge to enable greater access to legal information.  

Objectives

• Establish a high standard for electronic law journals;
• Provide users with extensive and intelligent hyperlinks to primary and secondary legal information sources;
• Facilitate faster publication than for traditional law journals;
• Encourage continued debate between authors, reviewers and, eventually readers;
• Promote the publication of research and authoritative features;
• Have an international emphasis;
• Develop a dynamic environment where articles change as new ideas emerge from discussions;
• Establish effective electronic communication between authors and editors.

Scope of the Journal

JILT covers a wide range of topics relating to IT Law and IT applications in law and has published material by many prestigious national and international authors and includes:

• Scholarly peer reviewed articles
• Short articles and notes on topical subjects
• Downloadable applications and demonstrations
• Application reviews
• Conference reviews
• Book reviews
• Discussion
• Consultation documents
• Work in progress
• Text of relevant legislation and law reports
• Diary of events

Contacting JILT

JILT is available online at: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/jilt

By Email: jilt@warwick.ac.uk

By post:

JILT Editor, Electronic Law Journals
The Law School
University of Warwick
Coventry CV4 7AL
UK

By Telephone: +44 (0) 24 7652 4492
By Fax: + 44 (0) 24 7652 4105