The University’s fundamental objective is to achieve increasingly higher positions in international rankings. A key component of this ambition is the production of high-quality international publications. In this regard, doctoral candidates are also increasingly expected to publish in foreign journals indexed by Scopus and Scimago, thereby contributing to the fulfilment of the University’s publication performance indicators.

A prerequisite for successful international publication is the identification of topics that fall within the scope of interest of foreign legal journals. Research topics that rely heavily on Hungarian law—particularly those focused solely on the Civil Code or domestic case law—are generally not in demand internationally. At best, such topics may be suitable for comparative studies in journals of the Visegrád countries.

Instead, it is advisable to select private law topics that meet one or more of the following criteria:

• they have a regulatory dimension within the European Union,
• they are addressed in the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU),,
• they are linked to international legal frameworks,
• they raise human rights issues, particularly in relation to the 1950 Rome Convention and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR),
• they relate to the legal systems of the United States or the United Kingdom,
•  they concern general soft law or policy-oriented themes that are not bound to the specific rules of domestic law

Through the University’s library databases, relevant scholarly literature is accessible on virtually any of these topics. Many research subjects require not only traditional doctrinal analysis but also a degree of market or sectoral examination, which serves to connect theoretical legal analysis with practical, real-world considerations.

Example topics for scholars in substantive (private) law (non-exhaustive):

– analysis of decisions by the CJEU, the ECtHR, or possibly the U.S. Supreme Court in matters involving private law dimensions;
– issues surrounding the regulation and application of artificial intelligence;
– European consumer protection law;
– elements of EU digital legislation in connection with the European Digital Agenda:
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/64/digital-agenda-for-europehttps://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/hu/sheet/64/europai-digitalis-menetrend;
– electronic commerce;
– specific dimensions of the functioning of the EU internal market;
– the relationship between law and the family, including same-sex marriage;
– gender equality and the status of women;
– children’s rights, including the international abduction of minors;
– fundamental rights relevant to private law in the case law of the ECtHR, and the intersections of constitutional and private law, particularly in the context of personality rights;
– data protection, including the GDPR and the regulation of data assets (e.g. Regulation (EU) 2022/868 and Regulation (EU) 2023/2854);
– the protection of trade secrets;
– structural transformations of property relations in the 21st century;
– international sports law and transgender issues;
– liability for environmental harm under EU and international law;
– EU competition law;
– virtually any aspect of intellectual property law with a European or international focus;
– EU media law and advertising law;
– tobacco regulation;
– the international protection of cultural property;
– private law aspects of international trade agreements and free trade areas, including investment protection;
– the economic analysis of law;
– private law aspects of space law (e.g. liability, insurance, space tourism);
– legal issues concerning international carriage of goods;
– legal issues concerning international carriage of persons.

Example topics for scholars in procedural law (where the scope for international publication is more limited)

– EU and international mechanisms of alternative dispute resolution;
– online dispute resolution solutions on digital platforms and in the metaverse;
– cross-border legal disputes in the EU (e.g. family law, succession);
– judicial cooperation in civil matters;
– legal questions related to the Brussels and Rome Regulations;
– conflict of laws in private international law;
– the digitalisation of justice (Regulation (EU) 2023/2844).