Transnational Legal Discourse: Reflections on My Time with the German Law Journal

Abstract

By October 2013, the German Law Journal, published monthly and available at no cost on the Internet –www.germanlawjournal.com– counted approximately 1593 publications, authored by approximately 1.450-1.500 authors. A journal project of such magnitude in itself could certainly not have been expected by its founders. Just as unlikely it would have seemed to them or anyone else, for that matter, that their little, bi-monthly email newsletter, originally entitled “Momentaufnahme” (Engl.:snapshot; French:glimpse d'oueil), would grow into a web-based, peer-reviewed legal periodical with more than 13.000 registered subscribers worldwide and a sizable journal ranking among existing international law reviews. If I only had a moment to express my thoughts on leaving the Journal, I would use it to express my immense gratitude to those whom I can never thank enough. My colleagues in this project, present and former members on the editorial board, and the authors, from near and far, many of whom we never had the fortune to meet in person despite an often vivid exchange of thoughts and ideas, as well as, of course, our readers throughout the years – it is to all of them that I owe thanks too comprehensive to measure. It is one thing to launch a journal, it is another for it to be read, sustained, shaped and encouraged over the span of almost fifteen years. The GLJ is what it is today because of the input it has received over all this time, and for that I am immensely grateful.