Up-To-Date with Jotwell: The Book Review Meets the Law Review Article

Amy Burchfield, Access & Faculty Services Librarian amy.burchfield@law.csuohio.edu | November 05, 2009 - 10:46

Researchers looking to stay up-to-date with the latest books published in their field can turn to the trusty book review, a time-honored method for evaluating, promoting, and critiquing recent output. But what about the latest law review articles? Sure, they might get a mention in a passing blog post, but there’s been no dedicated genre of law review review. Until now.

Meet Jotwell: The Journal of Things We Like (Lots). Jotwell is a current awareness tool and journal dedicated to publishing short review essays of recent law review articles. The review essays in Jotwell run 500-1,000 words, and provide hyperlinks to electronic versions of the original articles under review. Unlike the typical scholarly response to a law review article where you expect the premise of the original article to be ripped to shreds, Jotwell reviews can actually laud the original work.

Readers can get an overview of the latest legal scholarship by visiting Jotwell’s front page, or they can focus on specific sections, like administrative law, cyberlaw, tax law, criminal law, or the legal profession. Jotwell is seeking new reviewers--see their call for papers.

We like it (lots).