The project and history of the ADD

The first issue of the Annales de Droit journal was published in January 2007. This publication was the culmination of a project that several doctorate students at the University of Rouen planned and carried out from start to finish. The goal of their initiative was not simply to add a new title to the many legal journals that already exist. They were driven by great ambition, which they achieved with autonomous management, scientific rigour and multidisciplinarity.

As reflected in the composition of the scientific board, the multidisciplinary intention was placed at the heart of the ADD project from the beginning. The published articles cover private law, public law, the history of law and political science, and they address the different specialisms that these major fields encompass without distinction. The journal therefore has a general focus, which includes a comprehensive range of legal phenomena and makes it relevant to diverse audiences. The ADD decided to only publish substantive articles, leaving out, for example, statements that are more closely tied to current legal developments and, in particular, work which notes examples of case law. The aim, as stated in the editorial notice in the first issue of the ADD, is to consider substantive discussions which call for changes in the modern legal environment. This approach is also appropriate given that the journal will be published annually, and it ensures that its content does not become outdated too quickly.
In October 2007, Guillaume Tusseau, Professor of public law at Sciences Po, agreed to accept the role of Scientific Director of the journal at the request of the editorial board.

Composition of a typical issue

Ten to fourteen articles, which meet the same scholarly requirements, are included in an issue of the ADD and address a variety of non-thematic aspects of law, including private law, public law, history of law and political sciences.

The length of each article is limited to a maximum of around 40,000 characters.

Selection of texts

Once an article has been submitted, depending on its main topic, it is assigned to two members of the scientific board according to their expertise. They each perform a double-blind review, which results in a report and a reasoned, positive or negative, opinion. The report is sent to the author anonymously, and the editorial board acts as an intermediary if corrections are requested. The corrected version then undergoes a second double-blind review by the same members of the scientific board.

The final typescript is completed by the end of December and is then sent to PURH. Before the copies of the ADD are published in spring, the authors and the editorial board proofread two sets of proofs.

This process ensures that the scholarly quality of the submitted articles is evaluated impartially. It ensures that the authors’ esteem is in no way important, as only the substance of the research is discussed. The journal is therefore as open as possible, to university students and practitioners, to doctorate students and young doctors, as well as to experienced research professors, etc.

For this reason, after discussion, the idea of establishing a quota of articles written by doctorate students was rejected. Therefore, whoever the author may be, only the articles that the scientific board judges to be the best are published.

A high number of spontaneous applications are submitted in response to the call for papers issued each year. In total, they represent just over double the number of selected texts.