Programs

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

The Consortium oversees the Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology (MJLST)—a top interdisciplinary journal publishing leading work on issues at the intersection of law, science, and technology. The journal is jointly edited by law students and by faculty from across the University of Minnesota.

This year, the journal welcomed Prof. Ralph Hall, JD, as Faculty Editor-in-Chief, and Steven Kranz, JD, as Managing Editor. The 2011-12 Student Editor-in-Chief was Joe Dammel; the Student Executive Editor was Michelle Mercer. To ensure accessibility and impact, MJLST it is published simultaneously in print and online. Please visit mjlst.umn.edu to read the current issue. This year’s volume featured articles tackling issues including:

• Should genomic researchers and biobanks offer individual research results and incidental findings to the people who contribute their specimens and data for research?
• Are U.S. universities obliged to make intellectual property available to developing countries?
• What can corporations do in their exercise of social responsibility to help address global climate change?
• What standards should courts adopt to authenticate blog posts and other social media evidence during litigation?

In 2011, the Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology was ranked among the top ten journals in each of its subject areas, according to the Washington and Lee University law journal rankings.

• Health, Medicine, Psychology, and Psychiatry
  5th out of 71
• Science, Technology, and Computing
  7th out of 67
• Environment, Natural Resources, and Land Use
  7th out of 88
• Intellectual Property
  10th out of 80

Washington and Lee also named MJLST as the top subscription value among journals in those same categories, measured by the number of times the journal is cited annually compared to the cost of a subscription.

The journal’s interdisciplinary range is due to our roster of contributors, which combines established scholars at the top of their field with emerging authors presenting fresh perspectives.

Looking ahead to the coming year, MJLST will publish articles on the limits of bureaucratic control of cyber-threats, whether the possibility of two genetically distinct “chimeric” cell lines in a single organism can thwart DNA identification of criminals, and the danger of applying the precautionary principle to information technology. Full-volume subscriptions are $20 (two issues per volume). You can subscribe at mjlst.umn.edu or email the journal at mjlst@umn.edu.