Market Failure in Legal Research

There are benefits and pitfalls to the current method of law journal publication when compared to traditional systems of peer review. The result is that scholars from historically underrepresented groups or from under-resourced schools are priced out of this market. Purdue students will engage in direct research to map out this market failure and will help propose and design possible solutions.

Advisors:

Description:

Legal research: Legal research publications in the United States, such as the Harvard Law Review, are strange. Most are completely governed by current law students who do everything from choosing which articles get published to validating the hundreds of citations found in each law journal article. There are benefits and pitfalls to this method of publication when compared to traditional systems of peer review. Unfortunately, one of the most problematic aspects of the current law journal system is that most journals rely on a private for-profit company called Scholastica to collect article submissions and to issue editorial decisions. Scholars must pay this corporation $6.60 per article submission, which may add up to hundreds of dollars per year per researcher (as it is normal to send a single manuscript to over 30 journals at a time)! The result is that scholars from historically underrepresented groups or from under-resourced schools are priced out of this market. Purdue students will engage in direct research to map out this market failure and will help propose and design possible solutions. If the VIP team also has the skills, students would begin designing a web app to replace Scholastica (without the policy issues plaguing existing possible replacements) based on their research and analysis.

Relevant Technologies:

Prerequisite Knowledge/Skills:

Meeting time: