About the Journal

2. FOCUS AND SCOPE

The International Journal of Digital Law (ISSN 2675-7087) is an open-access, peer-reviewed electronic scientific journal, published on a rolling basis with annual frequency. It is promoted by NUPED – the Research Center on Public Policy and Human Development of the Graduate Program in Law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUCPR), and published by Editora Fórum. The Editorial Board is composed of distinguished professors affiliated with higher education institutions in Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Colombia, Spain, Egypt, France, the Netherlands, and India. The journal aims to publish scholarly articles in the field of Digital Law, technological innovation, and regulatory issues, written by authors from diverse national backgrounds.

The editorial scope of the journal focuses on topics in Digital Law that relate to core legal and political institutions of the Rule of Law, emphasizing innovation, emerging technologies, and human development through the digital revolution. Relevant themes include: Access to Information, Big Data, Blockchain, Smart Cities, Smart Contracts, Crowdsourcing, Cybercrime, Digital Democracy, Right to Privacy, Fundamental Rights, E-business, Digital Economy, Digital Education, Administrative Efficiency, E-Government, Ethics, Fake News, Gig Economy, Digital Inclusion, Infrastructure, Innovation, Artificial Intelligence, Public Interest, Internet, Internet of Things, Legal Analytics (Jurimetrics), Lawfare, New Technologies, Digital Profiling, Multimodal Research, Electronic Administrative Procedures, Data Protection, Administrative Regulation, Economic Regulation, Risk, Public Services, Information Systems, Information Society, Government Transparency, and Telecommunications.

3. BRIEF HISTORY

The journal was established in 2020 as an initiative led by Editora Fórum, which invited Professor Emerson Gabardo to serve as its Editor-in-Chief. Its objective is to fill a gap in the landscape of scientific journals in the field of Law and Technology. At the time of its creation, it was noted that Brazil lacked a journal specifically dedicated to Digital Law— a field that later became a mandatory subject in Law school curricula in 2021, following a resolution by the Federal Council of the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB).

4. PUBLICATION FREQUENCY

Between 2020 and 2024 (Volumes 1 to 5), the journal followed a triannual publication schedule, releasing three issues per year.

Since 2025, starting with Volume 6, the journal has adopted a rolling publication model, with annual publication frequency. Each year, a new volume is opened, and articles are published continuously within that volume upon acceptance and formatting, without the need to complete an entire issue before publication. Each article is included in the volume with its own entry in the table of contents and is identified by an e-location code (consisting of the letter “e” followed by three digits – e.g., e231).

5. PEER REVIEW PROCESS

5.1. Articles are selected through peer review, in two stages: (i) internal review by the Editorial Board (desk review); and (ii) external peer review, which may take different forms in accordance with Open Science practices, as described below.

5.2. In the desk review stage, the article is checked to see whether it strictly complies with all the requirements set forth in the Guidelines for Authors, such as authorship requirements, respect for the number of pages, compliance with the journal's methodological standards regarding citations and bibliographic references, the theme's fit within the editorial line, originality and innovation of the approach, quality of writing, among others. In the event of non-compliance with any of the guidelines, whether for reasons of form or content, the article will be rejected outright.

5.3. Once approved in the desk review stage, the article is submitted to the peer review procedure, adopting the double-blind method as the initial standard: double anonymity of the author and the reviewers. The article is sent without identification of authorship to at least two reviewers who are members of the journal's Board of Reviewers or designated ad hoc, affiliated with national and foreign higher education institutions.

5.4. Authors who choose to deposit their articles on preprint servers are aware that the deposit makes the work public and allows possible identification of authorship, so that reviewers may occasionally come to know the authorship of the reviewed work. In this case, the double blind peer review process (with double anonymity, of the author and the reviewers) becomes single blind peer review (peer review with simple anonymity), in which only the anonymity of one of the parties to the process – the reviewers – is guaranteed.

5.5. In accordance with Open Science practices, the author has the option of authorizing the editors to promote their direct interaction with the reviewers of the article, waiving the anonymous nature of the review, if the reviewers also agree. In this case, the open peer review modality is adopted. This option must be expressed by the author at the time of submission of the article, in the Form 1 - Authors data and open science compliance, available for download at: https://journal.nuped.com.br/index.php/revista/libraryFiles/downloadPublic/298. If this modality is adopted, the authors agree that the journal will grant the reviewers the possibility of publishing the reviews in the same issue in which the article will be published.

5.6. To be approved, the article must receive two favorable opinions for publication, either as it is or through corrections suggested by the reviewers. If there is at least one opinion for rejection, the article may be rejected, if the Editorial Board considers the reasons for this to be sufficient. In the event of a dispute between the two reviewers, the article will be submitted to a third reviewer.

5.5. The criteria used in the evaluation form are as follows:

a) Is the reviewer in a position to evaluate the article, since there is no conflict of interest?
b) Does the article address a topic that falls within the focus and scope of the journal (https://journal.nuped.com.br/index.php/revista/about/)?
c) Is the definition of the topic and the approach to the research original, innovative and relevant, distinct from other publications on the topic, to the point of justifying a new publication on the subject?
d) Is the text well written, clear and cohesive, free of typos and spelling errors?
e) Does the title clearly and sufficiently reflect the content of the article?
f) Does the article comply with the formatting and scientific methodology standards described in the Guidelines for Authors (ABNT)?
g) Does the abstract indicate the research problem, the objectives of the article, the methodology used and the main conclusions of the research?
h) Does the article present an extensive and in-depth bibliographic survey, which includes a significant number of specific and updated bibliographic references that already exist on the topic?
i) Are the topics covered in the article explored in theoretical depth, examining the issue under debate from different perspectives and considering arguments contrary to those defended in the article?
j) Does the article present arguments and effective contributions developed by the author of the article himself, without relying on excessively long direct quotations from other authors?
k) Are the concepts used throughout the text generally correct?
l) Does the content comply with the criteria of not disseminating prejudice and/or defamation and slander that harm the integrity of the readers and/or individuals cited?

5.6. The possible results of the evaluation process are as follows:

a) Article without restrictions on scientific content; may be accepted for publication.
b) Article with minor restrictions; may be accepted as long as the corrections indicated in the review are made.
c) Article with major restrictions on content; should not be accepted for publication.

5.7. The evaluation process usually takes up to 2 months in cases of rejection by desk review, and 3 to 6 months in cases of submission of the article for peer review.

6. DIGITAL PRESERVATION AND ARCHIVING

The journal follows the standards defined in the Digital Preservation Policy of the SciELO Program. It uses the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archive system among the participating libraries and allows the creation of permanent archives of the journal for preservation and restoration.

LOCKSS system has permission to collect, preserve, and serve this Archival Unit.

7. ARTICLE PROCESSING AND PUBLICATION COSTS (APCs)

Submission, processing and publication of articles are free of charge, with no fees (APCs) charged to authors.

8. SPONSORS

The journal is funded by donations from members of the Editorial Team.

9. INDEXING

The journal is indexed in the following databases and information sources:

• Latindex (Catálogo 2.0)
• ERIH PLUS - European Reference Index for the Humanities and the Social Sciences 
• CrossRef  
• Electronics Journals Library 
• Zeitschriften Datenbank  
• MIAR - Information Matrix for the Analysis of Journals
• Sudoc
• BASE
• WorldCat
• Google Scholar
• Diadorim
• Miguilim
• OpenAlex

10. SOCIAL MEDIA

The journal is present on the following social media:

• Instagram: @ijdlaw
• X (former Twitter): @IJDigitalLaw
• Academia.edu