Jurimetrics

The term jurimetrics brings together many scientific works already existing or in gestation using mathematical and statistical methods to better understand legal phenomena. Its applications can be very varied, in terms of the field of application (branch of law or litigation studied), the “process” involved (legistics, legal or administrative practice outside litigation, pre-litigation phase, litigation, enforcement of decisions) or the material considered (court decisions, contracts, transactions, justice management software).

Jurimetrics (or jurimetry) refers to all research and activities aimed at quantifying or describing legal phenomena (such as court activity, content of court decisions, transactions, contractual activity and content of contracts, production of standards from a quantitative point of view) using mathematical tools (counting, statistics, mathematical or logical modelling, etc.).

Jurimetrics, Journal of the measurement of legal phenomena (in French Jurimétrie, Revue de la mesure des phénomènes juridiques), publishes articles related to jurimetrics, whether they propose results or develop a reflection.

Proposals for contributions may come from:

• Researchers who are conducting or have conducted research using jurimetrics, whatever the field of law investigated. Presentations of tools and methods, results and possible impacts are expected.
• Practitioners who use jurimetrics tools or who are thinking about the impact of jurimetrics on their work.
• Developers of tools using jurimetrics, provided that their contribution is intended to contribute to research and the advancement of knowledge, and is not promotional.
• Researchers reflecting on jurimetrics, its origins, its functions, its prospects and its dangers.

In any case, it is necessary to insist on the methodological dimensions of the research presented. The attention of potential contributors is drawn to the fact that a large part of the readership of the journal is made up of legal scholars, and in general of people who do not necessarily have an advanced knowledge of the various branches of mathematics. Articles involving highly specialised mathematical concepts and methods must therefore be presented in a sufficiently pedagogical manner. If necessary, a system of boxes may be used to propose different levels of reading, with the most difficult elements of access appearing in boxes in order to allow a fluid reading of the contribution.

Submited articles will be subject to a double blind peer review; at least one of the reviewers will be a legal scholar. Articles should therefore be fully written; they may be written in French or English, and should be accompanied by abstracts in French and English. There is no limit to the number of pages or characters, except when the contribution may itself constitute a book. Tables or illustrations, in colour or black and white, may be included.

The articles selected will be published and the authors will be invited to present them, if they wish, at a seminar in Chambéry. The question of travel expenses for this seminar will be discussed between the organisers and the authors, it being understood that it is hoped that the latter can cover their travel expenses.

The bibliographical references can be presented, at the author’s choice, in two ways:

• Either in footnotes: F. Name, Title of the work, Publisher, edition number, year, p. or no. or F. Name, “Title of the article”, Name of the journal, Year, No., p. (the recommendations of https://reflex.sne.fr/ should be followed for citations of court decisions or laws).
• Or by indicating the author and year in the body of the text, with a reference to a bibliography at the end of the article.

Timetable :

• January 2024: publication of the call for papers.
• 31 December 2024: deadline for receipt of article proposals.
• End of February 2025: response to applicants.
• May 2025: annual jurimetry seminar in Chambéry.
• End of May 2025: deadline for submission of final versions of papers (modifications to accepted papers may be made after discussion at the seminar).

Papers should be sent to the scientific directors at Revue-Jurimetrie@univ-smb.fr

However, it is recommended to contact the editors of the journal before sending an article, at the above address, by sending them an idea or a draft article, so that they can give an opinion on the possibility of the article being published in the journal (particularly in relation to its theme). This opinion does not prejudge the acceptance of the final article, which will be submitted to the double-blind review process.