TALLAHASSEE - Florida State University Law Review, the flagship journal edited by students at the College of Law, recently was recognized for the citation impact of the articles it publishes. According to Washington & Lee's University’s law journal ranking web site, FSU Law Review ranks solidly among the top 50 student-edited general journals in law in the U.S. based on “impact factor.” More than 800 journals are published by law schools, and FSU Law Review is the highest ranked journal published by a Florida law school, based on this measure. “The Law Review’s success has been realized partly because we are committed to selecting provocative articles for publication, maintaining the strictest quality control in the editing process, and most importantly, our policy of deference to the author,” says Jason Feder, the current Editor-in-Chief and a third-year FSU law student. 

The impact citation measure includes only articles published during the past eight years, eliminating any citation bias in favor of long-published journals. Each piece published by FSU Law Review during this period is cited 5.2 times, on average. In ranking among the top 50 journals FSU Law Review performed at or above par with prestigious student-edited law journals such as Wisconsin Law Review, Washington University Law Quarterly, Fordham Law Review, and Boston College Law Review. 

“Leading national law schools aspire to have a journal that ranks among the top 50,” says Jim Rossi, Harry M. Walborsky Professor and Associate Dean for Research. “This is a measure of relevance, as scholars who care about the impact of their work consider such rankings in deciding where to submit and publish.” 

FSU Law Review, regarded by legal employers as one of the most prestigious co-curricular activities, is a student-edited journal that publishes leading scholarship on law. Students are selected for participation in the journal based on grades or the quality of their writing. In recent years, FSU Law Review has published work by leading scholars and practitioners, including professors from top law schools such as Harvard, Yale, Chicago, Stanford, Michigan, and Virginia and leading judges, such as the Honorable Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The journal regularly publishes symposia issues, focused on themes of major jurisprudential importance. Upcoming symposia issues include “Empirical Measures of Judicial Performance” and “Behavioral Analysis of the Law.” A distinguished scholar series, featuring the most promising scholars in the nation, will begin with the current volume.