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Journal of Legal Studies

University of Chicago Press · United States · Est. 1972

ISSN1537-5366

SJR Q2✓ WOS SSCI✓ Scopus / SJR

Impact Factor & Quartile · Web of Science (JCR)

✓ Indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection (SSCI) — Clarivate publishes an official Journal Impact Factor and JCR quartile for this journal.

See the official Impact Factor & quartile on the journal’s page ↗

The Impact Factor & JCR quartile are licensed by Clarivate — we link you to the official source instead of reprinting a number that can go out of date. Open metrics below: SCImago Q2. Source: Clarivate Journal Citation Reports.

📊 Standing in its field

Where this journal ranks among others in the same subject area.

SJR · Scopus

Top 50% in field

Clarivate’s JCR quartile is a separate ranking and may differ

SJR Scorei

0.351

H-Indexi

127

SNIPi

0.975

Total Worksi

1,378

Total Citationsi

70,903

2yr Mean Citednessi

1.02

Open Impact Factor alternative

Aims & Scope✦ Inferred from recent articles

The Journal of Legal Studies publishes research on the economic and empirical analysis of law, legal institutions, and legal decision-making. Articles examine the effects of legal rules and procedures on behavior, the design of optimal legal mechanisms, and the empirical evaluation of legal interventions. Topics include law enforcement, statutory interpretation, contract standardization, courtroom procedures, price discrimination, consent formalities, judicial decision-making, affirmative action, data breach litigation, causal inference in legal studies, class action settlements, the legitimacy of legal systems, reason-giving requirements in procurement, liability regimes, settlement bargaining, and the development of legal rules in arbitration systems.

AI-summarised from recent articles · verify on publisher page →

General Information

Country / RegionUnited States

Primary LanguageEnglish

1st Year Published1972

Annual Volume~ 16 articles / year

StatusActive (last: 2026)

Total Publications1,378

Publisher OrgUniversity of Chicago Press

Visit Journal Website

Submission Info

Peer Review—

OA License—

OA Rate—

Ethics & Quality

COPE Member✗ No

OASPA Member✗ No

Not on Predatory Lists✓ Yes

Think.Check.Submit Compliance

thinkchecksubmit.org

6/11 · 55%

✅

Do you know the journal / publisher?

University of Chicago Press

✅

Does the journal have a website?

✓ Linked

✅

Is the ISSN verified?

1537-5366

✅

Indexed in a trusted database?

WoS, Scopus

❌

Peer review process documented?

N/A

❌

Follows ethical publishing standards (COPE)?

N/A

✅

Not on predatory/blacklists?

✓ Clean

❌

Long-term digital preservation?

N/A

❌

Plagiarism detection in place?

N/A

❌

Listed in DOAJ (verified OA)?

N/A

✅

Primary language documented?

English

A twelfth criterion — whether APC fees are clearly disclosed — is not scored here; it is left out of the total rather than counted as a failure. Publication charges appear in the metrics card above.

Based on the Think.Check.Submit framework by DOAJ, COPE & OASPA. All data from verified open sources.

Publication & Citation Trend

Articles published

Citations received

185

2019

163

2020

174

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

2026

Source: OpenAlex · Each year’s green bar = citations earned by that year’s papers, counted to date — so recent years look lower simply because their papers haven’t had time to be cited yet.

SJR Quartile by Discipline

Scimago ranks this journal separately in each subject category — its quartile can differ by discipline.

LawQ2

Subject Classification

Web of Science Categories

Law

Scopus Categories

Law

Research Topics (OpenAlex)

Law, Economics, and Judicial SystemsLegal and Constitutional StudiesLegal principles and applicationsJudicial and Constitutional StudiesRegulation and Compliance StudiesMedical Malpractice and Liability IssuesInsurance and Financial Risk ManagementCrime Patterns and InterventionsEuropean and International Contract LawExperimental Behavioral Economics Studies

Frequently asked questions about Journal of Legal Studies

Is Journal of Legal Studies a predatory journal?

PubScope has no integrity flags on record for Journal of Legal Studies: it is indexed in Web of Science, Scopus, and is not on DOAJ's withdrawn list. Indexing is a transparency signal, not a guarantee — always confirm fit and policies before submitting.

What is the impact factor of Journal of Legal Studies?

Journal of Legal Studies is indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection, so Clarivate publishes an official Journal Impact Factor for it (since the 2023 Journal Citation Reports, every Core Collection journal — including Arts & Humanities and Emerging Sources titles — receives one). PubScope links to Clarivate's official source rather than reprinting the number, which can be out of date. Its open 2-year mean citedness is 1.02.

Is Journal of Legal Studies indexed in Scopus and Web of Science?

Journal of Legal Studies is indexed in Web of Science, Scopus.