Writing for & Publishing in Law Reviews

Many authors want to publish in the best journal they can.

Journal reputation used to have a strong effect on big an audience an article reached, since more libraries subscribed to, say, the Yale Law Journal than the Temple Law Review. But now that most researchers find articles online, that impact is probably lessened. There will still be an effect: some researchers, finding a list of articles, might choose to read the ones from the more prestigious journals and skip over the others. They might assume that articles in the more prestigious journals are better because the competition to be selected was harder. Or they might assume that the articles are edited better.

Journal reputation does undoubtedly affect the author's reputation. Having a publication in a more prestigious journal is better for many purposes, such as getting teaching jobs and receiving tenure.

So, for various reasons, you might try to publish in the best journal you can. But which are the best journals?

Scholars have tried various methods of ranking law reviews -- by reputation, by the prominence of authors, and by rates of citation. See Ronen Perry, The Relative Value of American Law Reviews: A Critical Appraisal of Ranking Methods, 11 Va. J. L. & Tech. 1 (2006). There is no one perfect ranking.

Citation studies are the most common. method for ranking law reviews. These studies look at how often a journal was cited -- either in other journal articles or by courts If a journal is cited a lot, it is assumed to be influential.

Compilations of Rankings

US News Law School Rankings + Washington & Lee Citation Rankings:

Two professors (Allen Rostron and Nancy Levit) compile (and regularly update) Information for Submitting Articles to Law Reviews and Journals, (SSRN abstract=1019029)

Two tables provide information about the general (or "flagship") law review at each U.S. law school. The first table summarizes submission requirements. "The second chart contains some information about rankings of the journals and the law schools associated with them. The first three columns are the overall ranking, academic/peer assessment score, and lawyer/judge assessment score for each school from the most recent U.S. News & World Report rankings. The other three columns are data about each journal from Washington & Lee’s law review ranking website."

14 citation-count studies

Kincaid C. Brown, How Many Copies Are Enough? Using Citation Studies to Limit Journal Holdings, 94 Law Libr. J. 301 (2002).

The author compiled a list of citation-count studies (1930-2000) and created a table consolidating the results. He undertook the project to help with the library's decision about how many copies of journals to subscribe to. But you can use his results for other purposes—e.g., deciding where to submit your article for publication. Appendix B, p. 314 (p. 14 of the pdf), lists 14 studies. Appendix A, pp. 310-13 (pp. 10-13 of the pdf), is a table listing journals, arranged by an average of their rankings in 18 different lists. (Some studies had more than one list -- e.g., one by number of citations and one weighted by number of pages published.)

Google Scholar Metrics

Google Scholar Metrics measure the impact of scholarly journals based on their citations in the last five years. Social Sciences includes these subcategories:

• Law
• Criminology, Criminal Law & Policing
• International Law
• Technology Law

Robert M. Jarvis & Phyllis G. Coleman, Ranking Law Reviews: An Empirical Analysis Based on Author Prominence, 39 Ariz. L. Rev. 15 (1997). HeinOnline (Note: LexisNexis version lacks tables.)

Tracey E. George & Chris Guthrie. An Empirical Evaluation of Specialized Law Reviews, 26 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 813 (1999). HeinOnline. Ranks top 100 specialized law journals, based on author prominence. For critiques and the authors' response, see

• Gregory Scott Crespi, Ranking Specialized Law Reviews: A Methodological Critique, 26 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 837 (1999). HeinOnline
• Russell Korobkin, Ranking Journals: Some Thoughts on Theory and Methodology. 26 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 851 (1999). HeinOnline
• Tracey E. George & Chris Guthrie, In Defense of Author Prominence: A Reply To Crespi and Korobkin, 26 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 877 (1999). HeinOnline

Gregory Scott Crespi, Ranking International and Comparative Law Journals: A Survey of Expert Opinion, 31 Int'l Law. 869 (1997). HeinOnline

Gregory Scott Crespi, Ranking the Environmental Law, Natural Resources Law, and Land Use Planning Journals: A Survey of Expert Opinion, 23 Wm. & Mary Envtl. L. & Pol'y Rev. 273 (1998). Hein Online

Arthur Austin, The Top Ten Politically Correct Law Reviews, 1994 Utah L. Rev. 1319. HeinOnline

Connecticut Law Review Symposium:

• Ronen Perry, The Relative Value of American Law Reviews: Refinement and Implementation, 39 Conn. L. Rev. 1 (2007), HeinOnline, manuscript available on SSRN.
• Alfred L. Brophy, Relationship Between Law Review Citations and Law School Rankings, 39 Conn. L. Rev. 43 (2007), HeinOnline, earlier version available on SSRN.
• Ronen Perry, Correlation versus Causality: Further Thoughts on the Law Review/Law School Liaison, 39 Conn. L. Rev. 77 (2007), HeinOnline
• Alfred L. Brophy, Law [Review]'s Empire: The Assessment of Law Reviews and Trends in Legal Scholarship, 39 Conn. L. Rev. 101 (2007), HeinOnline, SSRN (ranks most-cited secondary journals).

Theodore Eisenberg & Martin T. Wells, Ranking Law Journals and the Limits of Journal Citation Reports (May 31, 2012), Cornell Legal Studies Research paper No. 12-30, available on SSRN.

Two professors (Allen Rostron and Nancy Levit) compiled Information for Submitting Articles to Law Reviews and Journals, (SSRN abstract=1019029) (last revised January 2024). Two tables provide information about the general (or "flagship") law review at each U.S. law school. The first table summarizes submission requirements. "The second chart contains some information about rankings of the journals and the law schools associated with them. The first three columns are the overall ranking, academic/peer assessment score, and lawyer/judge assessment score for each school from the most recent U.S. News & World Report rankings. The other three columns are data about each journal from Washington & Lee’s law review ranking website."