How the “Most-Cited Authors” Ranking Is Calculated (Comprehensive)

Overview

This ranking identifies the most-cited authors within HeinOnline’s Law Journal Library across all institutions, disciplines, and publication backgrounds. Author impact is determined by evaluating the citation and usage patterns of all articles written by each author, with no restrictions on institutional affiliation. HeinOnline’s ScholarRank formula is applied at the author level to produce a top 100 list of the most influential authors.

Eligibility

All authors with at least one article published within HeinOnline’s Law Journal Library qualify for inclusion in this ranking. No institutional or subject-area limitations apply. The final list presents the top 100 authors based on cumulative citation and usage metrics derived from their full body of published work in HeinOnline.

Metrics Used

This ranking is based on the following five metrics, each drawn from author-level 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 the productivity and citation impact of an author’s publications over the most recent five complete calendar years. The index reflects the number of articles (h) published during that period that have each been cited at least h times.
4. h-index
   Measures the overall productivity and citation influence of an author’s full body of work. It is based on the author’s most cited articles and the citations those articles 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 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. 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:
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/