About the Journal

About the Journal

Revista de Derecho Público has been published twice a year by the Departamiento de Derecho Público of Universidad de Chile’s Facultad de Derecho, since 1963. 

Its purpose is the divulgation of advances in national and international Public Law, and the publication of original research articles from both the national and international academic community. Revista de Derecho Público is mainly aimed at lawyers, academics, students, judges, public officials and students.

History of Revista de Derecho Público

"Jurists and scholars of Public Law, especially Latin American brothers, our tribune is at your disposal, dialogue is yours."

The closing words of the first Editorial of Revista de Derecho Público, published in 1963 by the homonymous Department of the Faculty of Law at the University of Chile —then directed by the administrative law professor Humberto Cifuentes Barrientos— reflect the spirit that motivated those pages, and motivates ours today: the research, knowledge and divulgation of our discipline, in a context in which Latin America requires an understanding of its public law, to build a future conscious of its political reality.

The first period of Revista de Derecho Público

Between 1963 and 1973, Revista de Derecho Público was an annual publication with sporadic second issues. Its focus was the divulgation of works by prominent academics, both from the Faculty under whose eaves it emerged, as well as other houses of study across the continent, giving space to constitutionalists, administrative law scholars (especially the youngest), and professors from areas that at the time did not have many opportunities to get their writings into the public sphere, such as Public International Law, Economic Law or Procedural Law. 

Around the same time,  a space in the journal was granted to “Jornadas de Derecho Público”, a yearly academic forum whose beginning dates back to 1961. This space still persists, and it keeps bringing specialists of the field together, even to this day. 

Hand in hand with the transformations that both the nation and the university were undergoing at the time, the Journal would start focusing specifically on its area of study.

The publication ceased in 1973, due to the coup d'état. In 1974, the Journal returned to its activity, publishing annually between 1974 and 1996. Besides Public Law, contributions linked to History of Law and Philosophy of Law were included.

The second period of Revista de Derecho Público

After two years in recess, the Journal resurfaced in its second period (1999-2009) seeking, in the words of who was its director at the time, the academic of Constitutional Law Ana María García Barzelatto, "to reflect and rethink ourselves in the face of the new directions and the boom that Public Law has been experiencing". At this point the Journal acquired the structure that it holds up to this day: "Studies" -now called "Doctrine"-, and "Jurisprudence" and "Reviews"-both today subsumed in "Miscellaneous"-. It preserved its Latin American approach, but reinforced its specialized vision, while allowing certain numbers to act as a compilation of papers and conferences from different activities of academic extension. In these years, the Journal acquired renewed vigor and reinforced its role as the main instance of divulgation regarding the discipline at a national level.

The third period of Revista de Derecho Público.

Professor García Barzelatto would also give rise to the third period of our publication, which started in 2010 and continues to this day. From issues 72-73 (first and second semester 2010, respectively) the decision was made to publish numbers on a semi-annual basis, a structure that remains today. In the words of the Director, as said in the editorial of number 73: "We have been moved to this change by the need to accommodate the compilation and selection of numerous national and foreign works that reflect the vertiginous change that public law has had in recent decades, both from the dogmatic point of view and the jurisprudential practice."

At this time, the Journal is working on indexation, with the goal of modernizing and adapting its editorial rules to allow compliance with today’s guidelines and quality standards, like the incorporation of arbitration in double-blind format, from issue 79 of the second half of 2013 to date, as well as the inclusion of the Journal in the Latindex (2014), DOAJ and CLASE (2017) catalogs.

The future of the Public Law Review

The Public Law Review aims to implement two important initiatives by 2024. First, it will focus on the adoption of the Academic Collaboration Network Taxonomy (CRediT). This approach will allow for greater transparency and recognition of each author's contribution, which in turn will facilitate the recovery and reuse of said roles in future research processes. The Journal will provide examples and guidelines in its instructions for authors to use this taxonomy to declare their authorship roles effectively.

Secondly, the Journal will seek to strengthen its presence on social networks, recognizing the fundamental role they play in the dissemination of scientific information. The Magazine is committed to generating a presence on social networks with special emphasis on sharing its contents and interacting with the academic and scientific community. This approach will contribute to greater dissemination of research results and promote greater engagement with the community interested in the field of Public Law.