Brian Leiter put together an interesting survey on the “top 20” highest quality publishers of legal scholarship. Here are the top 10:
1. Harvard Law Review (Condorcet winner: wins contests with all other choices) 2. Yale Law Journal loses to Harvard Law Review by 112–66 3. Columbia Law Review loses to Harvard Law Review by 155–43, loses to Yale Law Journal by 153–45 4. Journal of Legal Studies loses to Harvard Law Review by 135–66, loses to Columbia Law Review by 109–92 5. Stanford Law Review loses to Harvard Law Review by 167–27, loses to Journal of Legal Studies by 100–99 6. University of Chicago Law Review loses to Harvard Law Review by 166–31, loses to Stanford Law Review by 106–79 7. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies loses to Harvard Law Review by 129–65, loses to University of Chicago Law Review by 94–83 8. Michigan Law Review loses to Harvard Law Review by 178–21, loses to Oxford Journal of Legal Studies by 89–85 9. New York University Law Review loses to Harvard Law Review by 177–23, loses to Michigan Law Review by 101–71 10. Tied:
Journal of Law & Economics loses to Harvard Law Review by 142–56, loses to New York University Law Review by 92–85
Virginia Law Review loses to Harvard Law Review by 177–20, loses to New York University Law Review by 95–74
Very interesting. As one anonymous law and economics scholar and commenter to Professor Leiter’s post notes (it is not me), while JLS is a wonderful journal, I was a little surprised it came in so far ahead of JLE and JLE) (which appears further down the list). Personally, if given the hypothetical choice I *think* I’d publish in JLE over just about any journal in that list — though the law reviews in the top 5 (Stanford, Columbia, Yale, Harvard) would be very tempting in order to reach a broader audience.
What do others think about the rankings? For the antitrusters in particular, how about the following question: “What law review placement would make you indifferent to publishing in the Antitrust Law Journal?” What about JLE for those doing antitrust law and economics? How about other field specific journals, e.g. Antitrust Bulletin, Competition Policy International, and the Journal of Competition Law and Economics (in alphabetical order)?
