The legal publication was founded in 1993 by the presidium of the Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine and was published by Osnova publishing house. The journal was then called "Journal of the Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine". 72 issues of the magazine were published under this name. The editor-in-chief of "Visnyk" was V.Ya. Tatsii, deputy editor-in-chief – M.V. Tsvik, responsible secretary - Y.M. So, the members of the editorial board are M.I. Bazhanov, V.D. Volkov, L.K. Voronova, V.G. Honcharenko, Yu.M. Groshevy, I.M. Danshin, V.V. Kopeichikov, V.V. Luts, V.K. Mamutov, M.P. Orzih, M.I. Panov, A.Y. Rogozhyn, V.F. Sirenko, V.V. Stashis, Yu.S. Shemshuchenko.

In 1993, only one issue of “Visnyk” was published, which was devoted to issues of constitutional construction in Ukraine. To a large extent, it reflected the content of the scientific discussion on this problem, which was held at an extended meeting of the Presidium of the Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine. The articles collected in this issue contained an assessment of the published draft of the Constitution, as well as generalized results of its national discussion ("Draft of the Constitution of Ukraine (general issues)", "Constitutional foundations of the legislative systems of Ukraine", "On the theoretical foundations of the constitutional system (according to the draft of the Constitution of Ukraine, which was submitted for national discussion)", "On the social essence of modern democratic states (in connection with the draft of the new Constitution of Ukraine)", "State system of Ukraine: the concept of the constitutional model", "Constitutional problems of the distribution of powers (some general theoretical aspects)", "Constitutional and legal foundations of executive power in Ukraine", "Problems of the constitutional status of local self-government", etc.).

Since 1994, the Journal of the Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine has been published twice a year as a permanent publication of the Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine established by the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated July 23, 1993. The articles published in the "Herald" are devoted to current problems of state and legal construction in Ukraine. The important sections of the magazine were: "Problems of state construction in Ukraine", "Law and ecology", "Social protection of the population", "Problems of combating crime", "Questions of procedural law", "PhD candidate's tribune", "Author's project of the law", "Science Chronicle" etc.

Since 1997, the publication frequency is 4 issues per year and is published by the “Pravo” publishing house. Information about the Academy and its scientific research institutes, scientific articles by members of the Academy and other lawyers-scientists and practitioners, reviews, results of scientific conferences and "round tables" are published on the pages of the "Visnyk", the creative path and achievements of outstanding lawyers of Ukraine are highlighted.

Since 2013, the magazine has been published under the name "Journal of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine" and is printed in Ukrainian and English. The scientific council and editorial board of the journal include academicians, correspondent members and research staff of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, other educational and scientific institutions of Ukraine, as well as leading scientists from other countries, such as the USA, Germany, France, Portugal, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, the Republic of Kazakhstan.

From 2020 to November 2021 Journal of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine was indexed in the scientometric database Scopus.

The main purpose of the publication is to achieve the appropriate level of information needs in the field of law, the development of general theoretical problems of rulemaking and law enforcement, the study of problems of the history of national state formation, the theory and practice of the state law of foreign countries and international law, highlighting the theoretical foundations and applied aspects of the protection of human rights and freedoms and the citizen, the activities of state authorities and local self-government bodies.

Currently, the priority areas of research for publication in "Visnyk" are the following: adaptation of Ukrainian legislation to the law of the European Union in accordance with the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU; restoration of Ukraine in the post-war period; ensuring national security and defense, investigating war crimes and crimes against peace, human security and international law and order; mechanisms for prosecution, compensation for damage and compensation for damages caused to citizens of Ukraine, legal entities, the state of Ukraine, and natural objects by armed aggression of the Russian Federation; reforming the legal system of Ukraine; application of digital technologies; implementation of electronic governance and justice; modern problems of migration; regulating the status of the occupied territories, ensuring the observance and protection of the rights of citizens living in these territories; legal problems of use, reproduction and protection of natural resources, as well as those related to global warming; legal consequences of man-made disasters and natural disasters; legal and criminological protection against corruption; legal provision of the principle of gender equality in society, etc.