JLMI Call for papers - Issue no. 3/2026

This Call for Papers of the Journal of Law, Market & Innovation (JLMI) concerns the third issue to be published at the end of November 2025 and is devoted to Digital markets, consumer autonomy and consumer welfare. You can find the call with all the details at the following link:

Digital markets, consumer autonomy and consumer welfare

The Call invites contributions on the subject of “Digital markets, consumer autonomy and consumer welfare”.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) have profoundly reshaped digital markets, dramatically expanding the ability of firms and intermediaries to collect, process, and monetise data generated through individuals’ online activities. In digital environments, such data is particularly consequential: it offers granular insights into consumers’ personal, professional, social, and household characteristics, as well as their behavioural patterns and consumption choices. These informational resources enable increasingly precise inferences about preferences, interests, and individual valuations of goods and services - assets of significant economic value.
Digital platforms operate as complex, multi-sided markets characterised by highly heterogeneous architectures, governance models, and business incentives. While platforms differ substantially in the mechanisms they use to extract value, they share a common tension between expanding network participation and optimising pricing and monetisation strategies. Algorithmic and AI-driven systems further intensify this dynamic by enabling highly granular personalisation of transactional interactions.

Such dynamics are not merely a technical feature; they fundamentally reshape market dynamics, consumer autonomy, and consumer welfare. While online recommendations and offers may generate efficiency gains, particularly when they are personalised, they may also entrench systemic forms of discrimination, exploit consumer vulnerabilities, and distort decision-making processes. These developments pose significant challenges to existing consumer protection frameworks and raise pressing questions regarding transparency, fairness, and the protection of fundamental rights.

Although EU consumer law is grounded in principles of fairness, transparency, and non-discrimination, the legal anatomy of digital platforms - and the practices emerging from the intersection of data use and consumer law - has far-reaching implications for consumer welfare, consumer protection, and the effective safeguarding of fundamental rights.

This special issue of the Journal of Law, Market and Innovation seeks to explore these issues by welcoming contributions that address, inter alia: (1) The specific features and challenges of digital market environments; (2) Legal relationships arising within platforms, including network effects and the role of network goods; (3) Legal relationships between platforms and users/consumers; (4) The impact of online practices on transaction dynamics at the pre-contractual, contractual, and post-contractual stages; and (5) The effects of digital practices on consumer autonomy, decision-making, and welfare from a legal and economic perspective.

The authors may also explore the unfairness of commercial practices occurring at the pre-contractual stage under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD), including the exploitation of consumer vulnerabilities or the use of opaque practices capable of materially distorting consumer decisions (Articles 5–9 UCPD). Contractual implications under the Unfair Contract Terms Directive (UCTD) and the Consumer Rights Directive (Articles 5–8 CRD) are likewise within the scope of this issue.

In addition, the issue will also address data protection implications under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), particularly its role as a safeguard against discriminatory practices and illegitimate data use. Contributions may also explore how personalised digital practices affect fundamental rights protected under the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union in private-law relationships.

We invite submissions analysing the legal and economic anatomy of online platforms, the role of data in shaping transaction dynamics, and the implications of network goods and services. Topics may include the nature and content of legal relationships between platforms and consumers, the effects of online practices across the lifecycle of transactions, and their impact on consumer autonomy and welfare.

Moreover, interdisciplinary approaches are particularly welcome, including contributions at the intersection of data protection and contract law, consumer consent, algorithmic personalisation, network effects, and contractual design. Comparative perspectives are encouraged, although a European focus is preferred.

The Editorial Board will select articles based on the quality of research and writing, diversity, and relevance of the topic. The novelty of the academic contribution is also an essential requirement.

Prospective articles should be submitted in the form of abstracts (around 800 words) or draft articles (see below) to submissions.jlmi@iuse.it by 25 february 2026. Authors will be notified of the outcome of their submission by 7 March 2026.

Final articles shall be delivered by 10 June 2026 and should conform to the journal style guide that is based on OSCOLA.

Typically, the JLMI accepts contributions within the range of 10.000-15.000 words, including footnotes, but both shorter and longer articles will be considered. Submitted articles will undergo a rigorous double-blind peer-review process. Prior to submission, prospective authors are invited to check the JLMI Authors’ guidelines (also with regard to simultaneous submission to other journals) and Code of Ethics. For further information, or for consultation on a potential submission, please email us at editors.jlmi@iuse.it.

Authors are required to disclose if they have submitted their article elsewhere, both in case of negative and pending reviews, and promptly update the editorial board of any changes in this regard, throughout the whole editorial process with the JLMI.