May 2012

SANTA CLARA, Calif.,  May 1, 2012—In response to the growing call for greater openness and collaboration in legal scholarship, the Santa Clara Computer & High Technology Law Journal is now available as an open-access journal to scholars from any university or location anywhere in the world via the Internet.

Santa Clara University School of Law’s Computer & High Technology Law Journal is among the top three most-cited sources in its field by scholars, and among the top six most frequently cited by state and federal courts.  It is regularly ranked in the top 15 among intellectual property  law journals by Washington and Lee University School of Law.

Starting this week, all articles in the journal, dating back to the first issue in 1984, are fully indexed and searchable in their native PDF format.  The website is http://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/chtlj/

The six-month project to move the journal online was completed by a team at the law school’s Heafey Law Library.
“We are delighted that Santa Clara Law is leading the way towards open-access legal scholarship and continues to pioneer innovations both in legal education and scholarship,” said David Holt, electronic services law librarian at Heafey.

The move towards greater access for legal scholarship conforms with the goals outlined in the Durham Statement, created by a group convened at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. That statement calls for "law schools to stop publishing their journals [exclusively] in print format and to rely instead on electronic publication coupled with a commitment to keep the electronic versions available in stable, open, digital formats".

Other law schools who are signatory parties to the Durham Statement include Duke, NYU, Yale, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern, the University of Chicago, and the University of Texas.

About the Santa Clara Computer & High Technology Law Journal
The Santa Clara Computer & High Technology Law Journal is an independent scholarly legal publication founded in 1984 by the students of Santa Clara University School of Law. Now on Volume 29, the Journal has achieved national and international circulation and recognition as a leading forum for multi-disciplinary discourse on emerging issues at the juncture of technology, the law, and public policy. The Journal’s subscribers include leading law libraries, law firms, and corporations worldwide. A significant number of federal courts and state supreme courts are also regular subscribers to the Journal, including the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. For more information see digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/chtlj/about.html.

Media Contact
Deborah Lohse | SCU Media Relations | dlohse@scu.edu | 408-554-5121