About the Project
MUNI LAW Working Paper Series forms a platform for the prompt publication of the results of research activities carried out by the most successful students and academics from the Faculty of Law at Masaryk University. It is a mean of enabling the vibrant academic community of legal faculty members to actively participate in professional discussions in all major fields of law.
Most legal scholars have experienced significant delays in the publication of their research articles. It is common to encounter delays tallying in months, or even years, following the on-time submission of an article. Some articles are never published at all. Hence, the subject matter of many articles is no longer relevant at the time of their publication. Worse still, novel ideas propagated in articles awaiting publication are often utilized by other authors without sufficient acknowledgment paid to their unpublished source(s) [possibly owing to the fact that the author did not have sufficient sources to quote, (s)he only mentions the influence of unpublished material as a source of inspiration in a decent footnote]. The editorial boards of academic journals are not aversive to a lengthy review process. The same applies to distinguished international journals.
Objectives
The foremost objective of MUNI LAW Working Paper Series is to bridge the “empty” period between the creation of an academic text and its publication in a book or in a hardback academic journal. If your submission is issued by the Working Paper Series, the results of your work are instantly etched (or “frozen”) into the academic debate. As a result, your colleagues are obligated to attribute the novel idea(s) to you (i.e. the originator of the idea), and not to other authors who managed to publish a copycat before your piece was published. Submitting articles in the Working Paper Series also provides an additional benefit: you receive scholarly feedback prior to publication (in contrast, you typically do not know what others think of your work until it has already been published in a journal). Inasmuch as your working paper is immediately accessible to a wide range of readers, you are likely to get their feedback as well. Owing to the delay between the time a piece is submitted to the board and the time it is published, the author of a working paper has the opportunity to incorporate comments into the final version that is ultimately published in a recognized journal.
The second objective of MUNI LAW Working Paper Series is to pull students into academic discourse, as well as to promote functional cooperation between students and members of the local academic community. MUNI LAW Working Paper Series is also a platform for the online publication of articles written by outstanding Masters students and Ph.D. candidates. Students participate not only by editing and discussing the submissions, they submit their own work for publication as well.
The last of the major goals of the MUNI LAW Working Paper Series is to broadcast the academic accomplishments of the Law Faculty of Masaryk University to the wider professional community (i.e. to attorneys, prosecutors, judges, the MPs and Senators of the Parliament of the Czech Republic). The series undoubtedly raises the prestige of the Law Faculty of Masaryk University within the Czech legal world.
Details
The submissions are published either in the Czech, Slovak or English language. For the purposes of increasing the ease of access of foreign academics’ to the Working Paper Series, each paper will be accompanied by Czech and English annotation. Since the Working Papers aim is the instant publication of the work of students and academics, papers cannot be issued on a regular basis; the working paper is published in due time after the author submits a publishable piece of work to the Board of editors. The submissions are accepted on the basis of an anonymous peer review process. Students of the Faculty of Law of Masaryk University ensure the graphical editing and proofreading of each submission.
Sources of Inspiration
LSE Law Working Paper Series, EUI Law Working Paper Series, Jean Monnet Working Paper Series, NYU Law and Economics Working Paper Series, College of Europe Research Paper Series