The De Rebus journal has been in existence for 66 years. The first issue of the journal was published in 1956 under the title De Rebus Procuratoriis (about the affairs of attorneys). Since its first issue, the journal has evolved with the times in terms of the topics covered and the way in which it is published. What has remained of utmost importance throughout the years is its mandate to be a legal education tool for the attorneys’ profession.
I have had instances where the relevance of the journal has been questioned, others have gone as far as to say that no one reads the journal. Is this in fact true? At this point it is fitting to include the objectives of the journal. The objectives of the journal are –
Despite the journal going digital and being published electronically, legal practitioners continue to support and read the journal. This can be seen by the quality of the submitted articles for publication and the number of readers that constantly visit the De Rebus website. One of the many advantages of the digitisation of the journal is that it enables readers to research topics in the journal at ease, which is one of the primary reasons why the journal is published, to provide legal education.
Since the journal is fully digital, with a few printed copies, it is easy to track the number of people who read the journal. On average, the journal receives 55 000 unique browsers on its website monthly. Unique browsers refers to the number of individuals who visit the De Rebus website. The tracking of the website can go as far as stating which articles and topics were the most read on the website.
By looking at the average number of the monthly unique browsers on the De Rebus website, it is apparent that at least 55 000 individuals read the journal on a monthly basis. Therefore, there is no need to debate the relevance of the journal or if it has readers because the numbers speak for themselves.
Would you like to write for De Rebus? De Rebus welcomes article contributions in all 11 official languages, especially from legal practitioners. Legal practitioners can submit feature articles, practice notes, case notes, opinion pieces and letters via e-mail to derebus@derebus.org.za.
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This article was first published in De Rebus in 2022 (April) DR 3.