TaxProf Blog

2003-2012 Tax Journal Rankings: NYU #1, Tax Notes #2

Here are the Washington & Lee tax law review combined rankings of the five major tax journals:

• Florida Tax Review ("Florida")
• Tax Law Review ("NYU")
• Tax Lawyer ("ABA")
• Tax Notes
• Virginia Tax Review ("Virginia")

The rankings are based on the annual combined rankings in 2003-2012 among these five journals:by:

• Impact Factor (citations/number of articles published)
• Citations in Law Reviews
• Citations in Cases (federal and state courts)
• Currency (how rapidly articles are cited)

Rank	Journal	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003
1.1	NYU	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
2.9	Tax Notes	4	3	3	2	2	2	5	3	2	3
3.0	Florida	3	4	4	4	3	3	2	2	3	2
3.1	Virginia	1	2	2	3	4	4	3	4	4	4
4.9	ABA	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	5	5	5

As I have previously noted, Tax Notes fares poorly in the Impact Factor category (citations/number of articles published) because W&L apparently counts as "articles" all of the advance sheet material in Tax Notes.

Tax Notes is #1 by a wide margin in the number of citations in law reviews, with more than double the citations of its nearest competitor:

Rank	Journal	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003
1.0	Tax Notes	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
2.9	ABA	4	3	4	4	3	3	2	2	2	2
3.0	NYU	3	4	3	3	2	2	3	4	3	3
3.1	Virginia	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	3	4	4
5.0	Florida	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5

2012 Tax Journal Rankings: Virginia #1, NYU #2

Here are the Washington & Lee tax law review rankings, based on citations to articles published in 2005-2012:

• Impact Factor (citations/number of articles published)
• Citations in Law Reviews
• Citations in Cases (federal and state courts)
• Currency (how rapidly articles are cited)
• Combined (weighted combination of the above rankings)

Here are the Top 25 tax journals (out of 48 ranked tax journals):

Rank	Tax Journal	Combined	Impact	Law Reviews	Cases	Currency
1	Virginia Tax Review	100.0	0.72	595	5	1.20
2	Tax Law Review	80.2	0.66	382	1	0.92
3	Elder Law Journal	66.1	0.58	279	8	0.55
4	Florida Tax Review	62.0	0.58	217	0	0.96
5	Tax Notes	54.5	0.01	762	15	0.02
6	Pittsburgh Tax Review	40.5	0.43	81	2	0.25
6	Tax Lawyer	40.5	0.21	335	14	0.14
8	Houston Bus. & Tax J.	39.7	0.34	170	5	0.14
9	Akron Tax Journal	28.9	0.30	71	3	0.38
10	Heckerling Inst. Est. Plan.	26.4	0.21	132	0	0.48
11	Marquette Elder's Advisor	24.8	0.20	124	1	0.14
12	National Tax Journal	23.1	0.11	206	2	0.19
13	Journal of Taxation	17.4	0.03	215	6	0.05
14	New Zealand J. Tax' Law	14.0	0.11	73	0	0.10
15	Estate Planning	13.2	0.04	148	1	0.19
16	Tax Notes International	10.7	0.00	151	0	0.00
17	Exempt Org. Tax Review	5.0	0.00	75	0	0.01
17	Taxes  Magazine	5.0	0.01	55	0	0.04
19	British Tax Review	4.1	0.01	42	0	0.02
19	Tax Management Mem.	4.1	0.01	48	1	0.05
19	Taxation of Exempts	4.1	0.02	40	0	0.10
22	Canadian Tax Journal	3.3	0.02	30	0	0.02
23	eJournal of Tax Research	2.5	0.02	11	0	0.06
23	J. Australasian Tax Ass'n	2.5	0.02	13	0	0.02
23	Tax Management Int'l J.	2.5	0.01	27	0	0.03

Tax Notes is #1 by a wide margin in citations in law reviews (762 v. #2's Virginia Tax Review's 595), but fairs relatively poorly (.001, ranked #20) in the Impact Factor category (citations/number of articles published).  My guess is that W&L counted as "articles" all of the advance sheet material in Tax Notes. (Note:  I omitted the NYU Journal of Law and Business from the above chart because it is not a tax journal.)

Prior W&L Tax Journal Rankings:

• 2011
• 2010
• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
  

(Hat Tip: Omri Marian,)

2011 Tax Journal Rankings: NYU #1, Virginia #2, Tax Notes #3

Here are the Washington & Lee tax law review rankings, based on citations to articles published in 2004-2011:

• Impact Factor (citations/number of articles published)
• Citations in Law Reviews
• Citations in Cases (federal and state courts)
• Currency (how rapidly articles are cited)
• Combined (weighted combination of the above rankings)

Here are the Top 25 tax journals (out of 44 ranked tax journals):

Rank	Tax Journal	Combined	Impact	Law Reviews	Cases	Currency
1	Tax Law Review	100.0	0.98	412	1	1.74
2	Virginia Tax Review	89.6	0.71	554	9	1.00
3	Tax Notes	76.0	0.01	1165	14	0.02
4	Florida Tax Review	60.8	0.63	210	0	0.75
5	Elder Law Journal	57.6	0.54	257	8	0.36
6	Tax Lawyer	44.0	0.21	435	10	0.40
7	Pittsburgh Tax Review	41.6	0.48	85	3	0.42
8	Houston Bus. & Tax J.	35.2	0.31	184	4	0.30
9	Journal of Taxation	28.8	0.06	370	5	0.11
10	Heckerling Inst. Est. Plan.	26.4	0.22	150	0	0.41
11	Akron Tax Journal	22.4	0.25	56	3	1.17
12	National Tax Journal	22.4	0.11	217	0	0.16
13	Marquette Elder's Advisor	17.6	0.14	107	1	0.14
14	Estate Planning	14.4	0.04	172	1	0.17
15	Taxes	14.4	0.05	162	0	0.08
15	Tax Notes International	12.8	0.00	193	0	0.00
17	New Zealand J. Tax'n Law	9.6	0.08	58	0	0.00
18	Tax Management Mem.	9.6	0.03	111	1	0.05
18	Tax Management Int’l J.	5.6	0.02	66	0	0.05
20	Taxation of Exempts	4.0	0.02	33	0	0.08
21	British Tax Review	3.2	0.01	36	0	0.01
22	Corporate Taxation	3.2	0.02	31	0	0.04
23	eJournal of Tax Research	3.2	0.03	16	0	0.03
24	Real Estate Taxation	3.2	0.02	24	1	0.01
25	Tax Mgmt Real Estate J.	3.2	0.02	23	0	0.01

Tax Notes is #1 by a wide margin in citations in law reviews (1165 v. #2's Virginia Tax Review's 554), but fairs relatively poorly (.001, ranked #24) in the Impact Factor category (citations/number of articles published).  My guess is that W&L counted as "articles" all of the advance sheet material in Tax Notes. (Note:  I omitted the NYU Journal of Law and Business from the above chart because it is not a tax journal.)

Prior W&L Tax Journal Rankings:

• 2009
• 2008
• 2006

Update: Thanks to Omri Marian for letting me know that Washington & Lee has released an updated ranking based on citations to articles published in 2005-2012.  I will blog those rankings in a forthcoming post.

2009 Tax Journal Rankings: Tax Law Review #1, Tax Notes #2

Washington & Lee has updated its law review rankings, which are based on citations to articles published in the past eight years (2001-2008):

• Impact Factor (citations/number of articles published)
• Citations in Law Reviews
• Citations in Cases (federal and state courts)
• Combined (weighted combination of the above rankings)

In the 2006 ranking of tax journals (1998-2005), the Florida Tax Review was #1 in the combined rankings, followed by the Virginia Tax Review and the Tax Lawyer.

In the 2007 ranking of tax journals (1999-2006), the Tax Law Review rose to #1 (from #5) in the combined rankings, followed by the Florida Tax Review (slipping from #1) and the Virginia Tax Review (slipping from #2).

In the 2008 ranking of tax journals (2000-2007), the Tax Law Review remained #1, with Tax Notes vaulting to #2 (from #6) and the Florida Tax Review slipping to #3 (from #2).

In the 2009 ranking of tax journals (2001-2008), the Tax Law Review and Tax Notes remain #1 and #2, respectively, with the Virginia Tax Review rising to #3 (from #4), and the Florida Tax Review slipping for the third consecutive year to #4 (from #3).  Here are the Top 25 tax journals (out of 44 ranked tax journals):

 Some observations:

• Tax Notes is #1 by a wide margin in citations in law reviews (1254 v. #2's Journal of Taxation's 471), but fairs relatively poorly (.001, ranked #22) in the Impact Factor category (citations/number of articles published).  My guess is that W&L counted as "articles" all of the advance sheet material in Tax Notes.
• The Pittsburgh Tax Review made a dramatic climb in the combined rankings to #6, from #22 last year.

(Hat Tip: Law Librarian Blog.)

2008 Tax Law Journal Rankings: Tax Law Review #1, Tax Notes #2

Washington & Lee has updated its law review rankings, which are based on citations to articles published in the past eight years (2000-2007):

• Impact Factor (citations/number of articles published)
• Citations in Law Reviews
• Citations in Cases (federal and state courts)
• Combined (weighted combination of the above rankings)

In the 2006 ranking of tax journals (1998-2005), the Florida Tax Review was #1 in the combined rankings, followed by the Virginia Tax Review and the Tax Lawyer.

In the 2007 ranking of tax journals (1999-2006), the Tax Law Review is #1 in the combined rankings, followed by the Florida Tax Review and the Virginia Tax Review.

In the 2008 ranking of tax journals (2000-2007), the Tax Law Review remains #1, with Tax Notes vaulting to #6 (from #2) and the Florida Tax Review slipping to #3 (from #2):

Some observations:

• Tax Notes is #1 by a wide margin in citations in law reviews (1219 v. #2's Journal of Taxation's 495), but fairs relatively poorly (.01, ranked #19) in the Impact Factor category (citations/number of articles published).  My guess is that W&L counted as "articles" all of the advance sheet material in Tax Notes.
• The Elder Law Journal (#5), Journal of Taxation (#6), Estate Planning (#11), and Marquette Elder Advisory (#15) debuted on the list this year with strong showings.

2006 Tax Law Journal Rankings: Tax Law Review Is #1

Washington & Lee has updated and expanded its law review rankings, which are based on citations to articles published in the past eight years (1999-2006):

• Impact Factor (citations/number of articles published)
• Citations in Law Reviews
• Citations in Cases (federal and state courts)
• Combined (weighted combination of the above rankings)

In last year's ranking of tax journals (1998-2005), the Florida Tax Review was #1 in the combined rankings, followed by the Virginia Tax Review and the Tax Lawyer.

In this year's ranking of tax journals (1999-2006), the Tax Law Review is #1 in the combined rankings, followed by the Florida Tax Review and the Virginia Tax Review:

Some observations:

• Tax Notes (#6 combined) is #1 by a wide margin in citations in law reviews (985 v. #2's The Tax Lawyer's 394), and is #2 in citations in cases, but is unranked in the Impact Factor category (citations/number of articles published).  My guess is that W&L counted as "articles" all of the advance sheet material in Tax Notes, thus resulting in Tax Notes' poor showing in this category.
• A similar result befell The Tax Lawyer (#5 combined) -- #1 in citations in cases and #2 in citations in law reviews, but only #6 in Impact Factor.  My guess is that W&L counted as "articles" the many student notes published in The Tax Lawyer.  The top two journals (Tax Law Review and Florida Tax Review) do not publish student notes.
• The relatively new Houston Business & Tax Journal made an impressive showing in the rankings.