The Society for Economic Research on Copyright Issues

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RERCI special issue on "Copyright Economics and AI Generated Content"

26 June 2026

The Scopus-listed academic journal RERCI is planning to publish a special issue on the topic of Copyright Economics and AI Generated Content. Submissions of articles to be considered for that special issue are hereby invited. The general guidelines for submissions are:

  1. Deadline for submission is October 31, 2026.

  2. All types of economic research on the interface between copyright and generative AI are welcome. We especially invite:

    1. Advances, applications, and/or critical reviews of relevant formal economic modelling.
    2. Econometric research.
    3. Technically sophisticated literature reviews or case studies.

  3. Within the context of the diffusion of generative AI, possible themes include the following:

    1. Novel suggestions for changes in relevant copyright law and policy.
    2. Novel suggestions for responses by rightsholders.
    3. Careful analysis and/or evaluation of extant initiatives taken by stakeholders or policymakers.
    4. The value of copyright works as training data for generative AI models.
    5. Technical solutions to enforcing authors’ rights, or to organize fair remuneration.
    6. Collective rights management.
    7. Strategies of suppliers of generative AI services regarding access to copyright works and licensing (or not).
  4. Submissions must be within the general realm of economics; that is, they must clearly relate to economic theory and/or employ sophisticated empirical methods.
  5. We especially welcome contributions that propose practical solutions to the issues that AI-generated content implies for copyright policy and stakeholders.
  6. Well-informed discussions of the limits of extant economic theory and empirical methods to address copyright and generative AI are an option, but should include constructive suggestions.

All submissions will undergo thorough peer review before publication.

For relevant recent publications, see, for instance:

  • Gans, J. S. (2026). Copyright policy options for generative artificial intelligence. The Journal of Law and Economics, 69(1), 1–19.
  • Besen, S. M. (2023). An Economic Analysis of the Artificial Intelligence-Copyright Nexus. TechREG Chronicle, 2023, 3–9.