TaxProf 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.

Updated Tax Law Journal Rankings: Florida Tax Review Is #1

Here are the updated tax law journal rankings from Washington & Lee, which measure the number of citations to articles in tax journals over the past eight years.

Overall Rankings (Citations in Law Reviews and Cases (1998-2005)):

• 1,  Florida Tax Review (2 average rank)
• 2.  Virginia Tax Review (2.5 average rank)
• 3.  The Tax Lawyer (3 average rank)
• 4.  Akron Tax Journal (3.5 average rank)
• 5.  Tax Law Review (4 average rank)
• 6.  National Tax Journal (7 average rank)
• 7.  Taxes (7.5 average rank)
• 8.  Tax Notes (3, N/R)
• 9.  Houston Business & Tax Journal (6, N/R)
• 10.  The International Tax Journal (8, N/R)

Rankings by Average Number of Citations in Law Reviews (1998-2005):

• 1.  Florida Tax Review (3.4)
• 2.  Tax Law Review (3.1)
• 3.  Virginia Tax Review (2.3)
• 4.  Akron Tax Journal (1.8)
• 5.  The Tax Lawyer (0.8)
• 6.  National Tax Journal (0.6)
• 7.  Taxes (0.2)
• 8.  The International Tax Journal (0.1)

Rankings by Average Number of Citations in Cases (1998-2005):

• 1.  The Tax Lawyer (10)
• 2.  Virginia Tax Review (6)
• 3.  Akron Tax Journal (5)
• 3.  Florida Tax Review (5)
• 3.  Tax Notes (5)
• 6.  Houston Business & Tax Law Journal (2)
• 6.  Tax Law Review (2)
• 8.  National Tax Journal (1)
• 8.  Taxes (1)