How the “Most-Cited Institutions by Author Affiliation” Ranking Is Calculated (ABA-Approved Law Schools)

Overview

This ranking highlights the scholarly impact of ABA-approved law schools by evaluating the citation influence of authors who currently affiliate themselves with each institution. Citation and usage data are drawn exclusively from articles written by authors who list the school as their current institutional affiliation on their HeinOnline Author Profile Page. HeinOnline’s ScholarRank formula is applied at the institution level to produce a top 100 list of the most influential ABA-approved law schools.

Eligibility

Only ABA-approved law schools qualify for inclusion in this ranking. Each institution’s score is based solely on the articles written by authors that have the school designated as their current institutional affiliation on their HeinOnline Author Profile Page. Only authors who meet this criterion contribute to their institution’s metrics, and the final list presents the top 100 qualifying institutions.

Metrics Used

This ranking is based on the following five metrics, each drawn from the article output of currently affiliated authors:

1. Cited by Articles (0 to 5 Years)
   Counts the number of times articles written by currently affiliated authors have been cited by other articles in HeinOnline within the past five years. Citation style sources include the Bluebook, Prince’s Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations, and the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations.
2. Cited by Articles (5+ Years)
   Counts the number of times articles written by currently affiliated authors have been cited by other articles in HeinOnline more than five years after publication. Citation style sources include the Bluebook, Prince’s Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations, and the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations.
3. h5-index
   Measures the productivity and citation impact of the institution’s affiliated authors over the most recent five complete calendar years. The index reflects the number of articles (h) written during that period that have each been cited at least h times.
4. h-index
   Measures the overall productivity and citation influence of the institution’s affiliated authors across their entire body of published articles. It is based on the most cited articles written by affiliated authors and the number of citations those articles have received.
5. Accessed (Past 12 Months)
   Measures relevancy and recency by counting the total number of times articles written by currently affiliated authors have been accessed by HeinOnline users in the past twelve months. An article counts as accessed when it is clicked from search results, navigated to directly, or retrieved through the citation navigator.

Calculation Method

Z-scores are calculated for each of the five metrics at the institution level. These five Z-scores are averaged to generate each institution’s overall score. The final average score is placed into the standard competition ranking to determine the top 100 ABA-approved institutions.

Formula

Z-score Calculation:
Zx = (x – µ) / σ

Average Z-score:
Zµ = (Z1 + Z2 + Z3 + Z4 + Z5) / 5

Final ScholarRank:
Zµ, ranked using standard competition rules.

Update and Refresh Schedule

This ranking is refreshed with every monthly HeinOnline content release, at which point all citations are fully recounted. This ensures that the standings remain current as new scholarship is published and cited.

Additional Information and FAQs

For more details and answers to frequently asked questions, visit:
https://help.heinonline.org/kb/scholarly-impact-rankings-faq/