Most-Cited General Law Reviews (by Impact Factor)

The numbers of citations to the various (primarily) U.S. academic law journals that are reported in the Most-cited data (http://law.wlu.edu/library/mostcited/index.asp) shows the overall citation impact of a journal but does not correct for the numbers of articles published by each journal. This can be said to be a bias in favor of journals such as "Fordham Law Review", "Harvard Law Review", "Michigan Law Review" which publish a larger than average number of articles each year. Following from a request to compile some figures on the "impact factor" (i.e. average number of citations to each article) of legal journals, the following tentative analysis below is a sample for 1996-2002. This study was done only to see what difficulties would arise. Experience showed that the fundamental problem is coming up with a reliable number for the number of "articles" published by each journal over the chosen date period (in this case, 1996-2002).

The following table shows the results for the top 40 general journals (i.e. those general journals with the largest total numbers of articles citing to them). It is important to note that this study shows the impact factor associated with the "top 40" general journals, and is not itself a rank of the top 40 general journals by impact factor. There are, without doubt, other journals which had they been examined for an impact factor, would have displaced some on this list.

Such a study is only practical with an automated method for determining how many articles are published in each journal. Unfortunately that is not easy to do, being in part a definitional issue. Further information is given below on the difficulties in determining a number for the number of published "articles." The totals for number of articles published in each journal were taken from the number reported by the publisher's online version (WilsonWeb) of Index to Legal Periodicals. As can be seen from the table, although "Harvard Law Review" is by far the most cited journal, authors have a somewhat better chance of being cited when published in Columbia, Yale, or Stanford.

Journal Name No. of articles 1996-2002 No. of articles citing to 1996-2002 articles Av. no. of articles citing each article
Harvard L. Rev.564664811.79
Yale L.J.431556312.91
Columbia L. Rev.359473013.18
Stanford L. Rev.351424512.09
Michigan L. Rev.58140586.98
Fordham L. Rev.62235055.64
Georgetown L.J.324347610.73
California L. Rev.302332010.99
Texas L. Rev.37932078.46
New York U. L. Rev.293319810.91
U. of Chicago L. Rev.33230869.30
Virginia L. Rev.283304010.74
UCLA L. Rev.288296510.30
U. of Penn. L. Rev.277291010.51
Cornell L. Rev.245287411.73
Vanderbilt L. Rev.30926638.62
Minnesota L. Rev.27326639.75
Northwestern U. L. Rev.237245210.35
Notre Dame L. Rev.31720956.61
Duke L.J.21920619.41
North Carolina L. Rev.29520446.93
Southern Calif. L. Rev.25920277.83
William and Mary L. Rev.27720067.24
Indiana L.J.28019086.81
Cardozo L. Rev.51218953.70
Connecticut L. Rev.34118405.40
Ohio St. L.J.28218186.45
Arizona L. Rev.26418036.83
Tulane L. Rev.43817814.07
U. of Colorado L. Rev.26117386.66
Emory L.J.24616536.72
Iowa L. Rev.22216297.34
American U. L. Rev.27315665.74
Albany L. Rev.34715584.49
Wisconsin L. Rev.25915255.89
Hastings L.J.28315145.35
U. of Illinois L. Rev.20714997.24
Wake Forest L. Rev.25014935.97
Washington U. L.Q.27814845.34
Chicago-Kent L. Rev.32214734.57

The total number of articles citing to each journal for 1996-2002 was determined from Westlaw's Journals and Law Reviews (JLR) database using a search such as the following (with the variants being the volumes for that journal that contain issues labeled as 1996-2002) and the journal's citation as used by the ILP database:

ci(109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 +1 "harv. l. rev.")
& ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)
& DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

The number of articles published in each journal for the 1996-2002 period was determined from the publisher's online version (WilsonWeb) of Index to Legal Periodicals.

The searches in WilsonWeb are simply the name of the journal, such as "Yale Law Journal" in the journal name field, with "1996" to "2002" in the date field of the online form. The only variant is that a few of the journals need to have a journal name word excluded, by using a "NOT" and an additional journal name field, as in: Columbia Law Review (excludes "University"), California Law Review (excludes "Southern"), Texas Law Review (excludes "South"), and Virginia Law Review (excludes "West").

Fred Shapiro published his "The Most-Cited Law Reviews" study in 29 J. Leg. Stud. 389 (2000) based on 1987-97 data from the "Social Sciences Citation Index". Included in that study is a table of the top 30 general law reviews. His ranking of the top 10 is:

Journal Name Total Citations Articles Impact Factor
(Average Cites/Article)
1 Yale L.J.72471219.84
2 Harvard L. Rev.67264879.65
3 Stanford L. Rev.48043299.02
4 U. of Chicago L. Rev.46735297.56
5 Virginia L. Rev.47433497.07
6 Columbia L. Rev.62742496.78
7 U. of Penn. L. Rev.46831376.70
8 Duke L.J.37924566.48
9 California L. Rev.39423595.99
10 UCLA L. Rev.34019195.64

By contrast the top 10 of those taken from Westlaw's 1996-2002 JLR listing above would be:

Journal Name No. of articles 1996-2002 No. of articles citing to 1996-2002 articles Av. no. of articles citing each article
1 Columbia L. Rev.359473013.18
2 Yale L.J.431556312.91
3 Stanford L. Rev.351424512.09
4 Harvard L. Rev.564664811.79
5 Cornell L. Rev.245287411.73
6 California L. Rev.302332010.99
7 New York U. L. Rev.293319810.91
8 Virginia L. Rev.283304010.74
9 Georgetown L.J.324347610.73
10 U. of Penn. L. Rev.277291010.51

The basic problem with this study is determining a reasonable figure for the number of articles published by each journal for the years 1996-2002. Searches were run in Index to Legal Periodicals (on Westlaw), Index to Legal Periodicals (WilsonWeb), and Legal Resource Index [LegalTrac] (on Westlaw), each gave different results. The major reason to prefer ILP over LRI is that the latter includes very minor book review articles. Harvard Law Review usually has quite a few half-page reviews at the end of its issues and these would unfairly bulk the number of articles in Harvard Law Review and have almost no citations to them. The reason not to use Westlaw's version of ILP is the frequent duplicate entries in Westlaw for book reviews, which does not occur in WilsonWeb. For example, the book review at 108 Yale L.J. 801 occurs in two documents in Westlaw's ILP as:
BOOK REVIEW. AUTHOR: Hovenkamp, Herbert. YEAR:January 1999. Page: 801-34. 108 Yale L.J. 801
and:
The takings clause and improvident regulatory bargains. AUTHOR: Hovenkamp, Herbert. YEAR:January 1999. Page: 801-34. 108 Yale L.J. 801
However, this does not explain instances where WilsonWeb reports more articles than does its Westlaw equivalent. It may be a good research project for somebody to explain the numerous differences between the various online versions of ILP and LRI.

Journal Name ILP
(WilsonWeb)
ILP
(Westlaw)
LRI
(Westlaw)
Harvard L. Rev.564590668
Yale L.J.431519446
Columbia L. Rev.359381337
Stanford L. Rev.351385334
Michigan L. Rev.581627476
Fordham L. Rev.622603601
Georgetown L.J.324350600
California L. Rev.302324275
Texas L. Rev.379422369
New York U. L. Rev.293269276
U. of Chicago L. Rev.332334317
Virginia L. Rev.283288274
UCLA L. Rev.288292289
U. of Penn. L. Rev.277263269
Cornell L. Rev.245261247
Vanderbilt L. Rev.309294287
Minnesota L. Rev.273285267
Northwestern U. L. Rev.237255259
Notre Dame L. Rev.317335311
Duke L.J.219197215
North Carolina L. Rev.295290329
Southern Calif. L. Rev.259261244
William and Mary L. Rev.277292281
Indiana L.J.280296263
Cardozo L. Rev.512484422
Connecticut L. Rev.341340234
Ohio St. L.J.282272279
Arizona L. Rev.264255254
Tulane L. Rev.438414427
U. of Colorado L. Rev.261266232
Emory L.J.246249233
Iowa L. Rev.222224219
American U. L. Rev.273279248
Albany L. Rev.347326362
Wisconsin L. Rev.259278247
Hastings L.J.283270291
U. of Illinois L. Rev.207221222
Wake Forest L. Rev.250237237
Washington U. L.Q.278281254
Chicago-Kent L. Rev.322313314

1996-2002 searches in Westlaw's ILP and LRI to determine numbers of articles

ci(109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 +1 "harv. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 +1 "yale l.j.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(96 97 98 99 100 101 102 +1 "colum. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 +1 "stan. l. rev") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 +1 "mich. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 +1 "fordham l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 +1 "geo. l.j.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(84 85 86 87 88 89 90 +1 "cal. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 +1 "tex. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(71 72 73 74 75 76 77 +1 "n.y.u. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(63 64 65 66 67 68 69 +1 "u. chi. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(82 83 84 85 86 87 88 +1 "va. l. rev") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 +1 "ucla l. rev" "u.c.l.a. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 +1 "cornell l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 +1 "u. pa. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(49 50 51 52 53 54 55 +1 "vand. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 +1 "minn. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 +1 "nw. u. l. rev." "nw. u.l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 +1 "notre dame l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 +1 "duke l.j.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 +1 "n.c. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 +1 "s. cal. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 +1 wm. +2 "mary l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(71 72 73 74 75 76 77 +1 "ind. l.j.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 +1 "cardozo l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 +1 "conn. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(57 58 59 60 61 62 63 +1 "ohio st. l.j.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(38 39 40 41 42 43 44 +1 "ariz. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 +1 "tul. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(67 68 69 70 71 72 73 +1 "u. colo. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(45 46 47 48 49 50 51 +1 "emory l.j.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 +1 "iowa l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 +1 "am. u. l. rev." "am. u.l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 +1 "alb. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 +1 "wis. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 +1 "hastings l.j.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(31 32 33 34 35 36 37 +1 "wake forest l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 +1 "u. ill. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(71 72 73 74 75 76 77 +1 "Chi-Kent l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

ci(74 75 76 77 78 79 80 +1 "wash. u. l.q." "wash. u.l.q.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002)

1996-2002 ILP searches for number of articles included for each top-40 journal

ci(109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 +1 "harv. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 +1 "yale l.j.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(96 97 98 99 100 101 102 +1 "colum. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 +1 "stan. l. rev") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 +1 "mich. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 +1 "fordham l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 +1 "geo. l.j.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(84 85 86 87 88 89 90 +1 "cal. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 +1 "tex. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(71 72 73 74 75 76 77 +1 "n.y.u. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(63 64 65 66 67 68 69 +1 "u. chi. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(82 83 84 85 86 87 88 +1 "va. l. rev") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 +1 "ucla l. rev" "u.c.l.a. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 +1 "cornell l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 +1 "u. pa. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(49 50 51 52 53 54 55 +1 "vand. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 +1 "minn. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 +1 "nw. u. l. rev." "nw. u.l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 +1 "notre dame l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 +1 "duke l.j.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 +1 "n.c. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 +1 "s. cal. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 +1 wm. +2 "mary l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(71 72 73 74 75 76 77 +1 "ind. l.j.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 +1 "cardozo l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 +1 "conn. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(57 58 59 60 61 62 63 +1 "ohio st. l.j.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(38 39 40 41 42 43 44 +1 "ariz. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 +1 "tul. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(67 68 69 70 71 72 73 +1 "u. colo. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(45 46 47 48 49 50 51 +1 "emory l.j.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 +1 "iowa l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 +1 "am. u. l. rev." "am. u.l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 +1 "alb. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 +1 "wis. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 +1 "hastings l.j.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(31 32 33 34 35 36 37 +1 "wake forest l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 +1 "u. ill. l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(71 72 73 74 75 76 77 +1 "Chi-Kent l. rev.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)

ci(74 75 76 77 78 79 80 +1 "wash. u. l.q." "wash. u.l.q.") & ye(1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002) & DA(> 1995) & AD(>1995 & < 11/1/2003)