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RANKING LAW JOURNALS AND THE LIMITS OF JOURNAL CITATION REPORTS
Author(s) -
EISENBERG THEODORE,
WELLS MARTIN T.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
economic inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1465-7295
pISSN - 0095-2583
DOI - 10.1111/ecin.12133
Subject(s) - citation , ranking (information retrieval) , uncorrelated , law , citation impact , journal ranking , political science , supreme court , economics , computer science , statistics , information retrieval , mathematics
Journal rankings published by Journal Citation Reports ( JCR ) are widely used to assess research quality, which influences important decisions by academic departments, universities, and countries in the allocation of research funds. We study refereed law journal rankings by JCR and Washington and Lee Law Library (W&L). JCR 's rankings are uncorrelated with W&L's. The differences appear to be attributable to underrepresentation of law journals in JCR 's database. We illustrate the effects of database bias on rankings through case studies of three elite journals, the Journal of Law and Economics, Supreme Court Review, and the American Law and Economics Review. (JEL C18, C81, Y10)