All issues > Volume 13 > Issue 3 > Looking Back, Looking Forward

This issue of SCRIPTed marks the end of our 12th year of publication and the completion of our 13th volume, which consists of three issues. Volume 13:1 and 13:2 featured a range of articles covering, inter alia, network neutrality,[1] privacy in location-based services,[2] blockchains and online dispute resolution,[3] the legal implications of the “online/offline cognitive divide,”[4] and ways of enhancing biobank participants’ rights through a “digital biobank rights portal.”[5] We hope you enjoy the diverse contents of this Volume 13:3, which include articles about the “worrying rise of crypto-law” (Alan Cunningham), ways to protect privacy under the forthcoming EU General Data Protection Regulation (Andrew Cormack), and emerging data localisation laws and the consequential “Balkanisation of the Internet” (Erica Fraser). In addition, Volume 13:3 contains a special section that features the winning essays from the Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property essay competition spearheaded by Professor Burkhard Schafer.

In closing Volume 13, we look back at what the journal has accomplished in 2016, and what we can look forward to in the year to come.

A host of changes occurred in 2016. First, the SCRIPTed website (http://script-ed.org/) was wholly redesigned, providing a fresh look to the journal. Since the launch of the website, we have seen a 75% increase in website visits, increased sessions on the website from social referral, and a marked increase in individual article views and downloads. The website also integrates our Twitter account (@SCRIPTed_Jrnl). Second, simultaneous to our website launch, SCRIPTed launched a blog for the first time (http://script-ed.org/blog/). The SCRIPTed Blog serves as a platform for legal researchers in any stage of their career, but particularly those who are starting out, to explore ideas before rigorous peer review, through a short piece that can solicit informal reader feedback. Third, we created the position of Book Reviews Editor, to facilitate the external review of our selection of academic books, as well as the position of Social Media Editor, to encourage more social engagement and website visits. Fourth, we launched a photo competition for the best winning photographs to be featured on the cover of each of our issues for the year 2016. Fifth, all of SCRIPTed’s published content from Volume 1 onwards, in addition to always being fully and freely available on our website, will soon be available on the legal database HeinOnline (http://home.heinonline.org/), which contains more than 2,300 law and law-related periodicals. This will allow for improved indexing and searchability. Finally, and most importantly, we are pleased that Edinburgh Law School agreed this past year to continue to fund SCRIPTed for the years to come, recognising the strong contribution this journal provides to the University, the Law School, and the international legal community. Indeed, according to the Washington and Lee University School of Law Journal Rankings, of all online, peer-reviewed law journals, SCRIPTed is ranked 10th in the world, and 2nd in the UK. Furthermore, according to the same rankings, SCRIPTed is placed at 1st and 2nd in the world for online, peer-reviewed IT and IP law journals, respectively.[6] This is a testment to both the hundreds of authors from around the world who publish cutting-edge and insightful topics related to law, technology and society, as well as the dedicated team of editors and advisors who volunteer their time and effort to make every article sparkle and bring the issues to online, open access publication.

Indeed, we continue to draw on a thriving academic community of young legal researchers, from Masters students through to PhD candidates, as well as a team of Supervising Editors (Gerard Porter, Nicolas Jondet and Smita Kheria), Consulting Editors, and an Advisory Board of internationally-renowned experts drawn from the disciplines of intellectual property, information technology, medical law, artificial intelligence, communications law and E-commerce. Alas, as we move from 2016 to 2017, there are some changes to announce. This marks the last issue with Catriona McMillan as Editor-in-Chief, who is stepping down after two years of steadfast service to the journal. Edward Dove, our current Managing Editor, will be taking over the role of Editor-in-Chief and Books Reviews Editor. We are also pleased to welcome our new Managing Editor, Jiahong Chen. Laurence Diver will continue his duties as Social Media Editor and Technical Editor. Two new copyeditors will be joining the Editorial Board: Matthew Jewell and David Murphy. We would also like to welcome our new student editors in the areas of intellectual proeprty, information technology and medical law.

SCRIPTed has come on in leaps and bounds with the aid of a multitude of contributions from the legal academic community for more than a decade: from our authors, to our editorial team, to those who have continued to advise and support us. Over this time, SCRIPTed has published numerous intellectualy rigorous articles concerning issues in law and society as they pertain to new technologies and advances in science and medicine. With the continued financial commitment from Edinburgh Law School, we look forward to continuing to serve the academic community around the world with world-class, open access scholarship.

We wish everyone a happy holiday and very best wishes for the New Year.

[1] C Marsden, “Comparative Case Studies in Implementing Net Neutrality: A Critical Analysis of Zero Rating” (2016) 13 SCRIPTed 1-39; L Audibert and A Murray, “A Principled Approach To Network Neutrality” (2016) 13 SCRIPTed 118-143.

[2] M Herrmann et al, “Privacy in Location-Based Services: An Interdisciplinary Approach” (2016) 13 SCRIPTed 144-170.

[3] R Koulu, “Blockchains and Online Dispute Resolution: Smart Contracts as an Alternative to Enforcement” (2016) 13 SCRIPTed 40-69.

[4] B Jones, “The Online/Offline Cognitive Divide: Implications for Law” (2016) 13 SCRIPTed 83-94.

[5] J Bovenberg et al, “Enhancing Biobank Participants’ Rights – From Paper to Portal” (2016) 13 SCRIPTed 70-82.

[6] Rankings are calculated through a combined score. For more details, see: http://lawlib.wlu.edu/LJ/index.aspx (accessed 1 Dec 16).