The challenges we face will not be solved if scholars limit their research outlook to a single discipline.
Our Mission
The Notre Dame Journal on Emerging Technologies transforms the landscape of legal publications by bridging legal scholarship with that of science, policy, and ethics in the most groundbreaking innovations of the technological space.
JET provides a truly interdisciplinary platform in which a variety of viewpoints on emerging technologies can be articulated, promoted, and assessed. The Journal showcases a network of ideas that extends beyond the imaginary lines that tend to limit academic scholarship.
How We Publish
JET is a student-run publication of the University of Notre Dame Law School covering legal, social, ethical, and technological issues associated with emerging technologies.
The Journal publishes in a volume-style format with three issues released per year. Each volume focuses on a prominent area of emerging technologies, with a new volume topic selected annually. Two issues per volume are devoted to the featured volume topic.
In addition, JET invites the submission of manuscripts related to issues in emerging technologies outside the scope of the volume topic, to be featured in the single general issue published annually.
What is an Emerging Technology?
For a long time, a practicable definition of "emerging technologies" escaped academia and led to considerable inconsistencies among scholarly works.1
Today, an emerging technology is more consensually described as a technology whose development, practical applications, or both are conceptualized but not yet fully realized. Hence, its political, social, and economic effects are not yet well-understood, and live issues exist regarding how it will insert into current regulatory schemes and societal norms.
Furthermore, while emerging technologies are generally new, they also include older technologies whose potential remains relatively undeveloped.
JET applies these characteristics as a framework throughout the Journal's article selection and publication process to maintain a superior level of quality in scholarship.
Radical Novelty
The technology represents a substantive departure from prior practice — not an incremental improvement.
Relatively Fast Growth
The pace of development, adoption, or capability expansion outpaces that of established technologies.
Coherence
Despite uncertainty, the technology forms a recognizable, identifiable field of practice and study.
Prominent Impact
The technology has the potential to reshape socio-economic systems, institutions, or legal frameworks.
Uncertainty & Ambiguity
The technology's long-term effects, regulatory posture, and ethical implications remain unsettled — which is precisely where rigorous legal scholarship is most needed.