Calculation of QCD jet cross sections at next-to-leading order

A general method for calculating next-to-leading order cross sections in perturbative QCD is presented. The algorithm is worked out for calculating N-jet cross sections in hadron-hadron collisions. The generalization of the scheme to performing calculations for other QCD processes, such as electron-positron annihilation or deep-inelastic scattering is also straightforward. As an illustration several three-jet cross section distributions in electron-positron annihilation, calculated using the algorithm, are presented.