How the “Most-Cited Authors” Ranking Is Calculated (ABA-Approved Law Schools)

Overview

This ranking showcases the scholarly impact of ABA-approved law schools by analyzing the publication output and citation influence of their affiliated authors within HeinOnline’s Law Journal Library. HeinOnline’s ScholarRank formula is applied to author-level citation and usage data to determine placement.

Eligibility

Only authors that have an ABA-approved law school designated as their institutional affiliation on their HeinOnline Author Profile Page qualify for inclusion in this ranking.

Metrics Used

This ranking is based on the following five metrics, each drawn from faculty article data in HeinOnline:

1. Cited by Articles (0 to 5 Years)
   Counts the number of times an author has 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 an author has 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 both the productivity and citation impact of an author’s publications over the most recent five complete calendar years. It reflects the number of papers (h) published during that period that have each been cited at least h times.
4. h-index
   Measures the productivity and citation impact of an author’s full body of work. It is based on the author’s most cited papers and the number of citations those papers have received.
5. Accessed (Past 12 Months)
   Measures relevancy and recency by counting the total number of times an author’s articles have been accessed by HeinOnline users within the past twelve months. An article is counted 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 metric. These five Z-scores are averaged to generate each author’s overall score. The final average score is placed into the standard competition ranking to determine the top 100 authors.

Formula

Z-score Calculation:
Zx = (x – µ) / σ

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

Final ScholarRank

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 to ensure accuracy and currency.

Additional Information and FAQs

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