Duke Law Journal

Aims & Scope

The first issue of what was to become the Duke Law Journal was published in March 1951 as the Duke Bar Journal.

Created to provide a medium for student expression, the Duke Bar Journal consisted entirely of student-written and student-edited work until 1953, when it began publishing faculty contributions.

To reflect the inclusion of faculty scholarship, the Duke Bar Journal became the Duke Law Journal in 1957.

In 1969, the Journal published its inaugural Administrative Law Symposium issue, a tradition that continues today.

Volume 1 of the Duke Bar Journal spanned two issues and 259 pages.

In 1959, the Journal grew to four issues and 649 pages, growing again in 1970 to six issues and 1263 pages.

Today, the Duke Law Journal publishes eight issues per volume.

Our staff is committed to the purpose set forth in our constitution: to publish legal writing of superior quality.

We seek to publish a collection of outstanding scholarship from established legal writers, up-and-coming authors, and our own student editors.

View Aims & Scope

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Metrics & Ranking

Impact Factor

Year	Value
2025	2

SJR (SCImago Journal Rank)

Year	Value
2024	0.785

Quartile

Year	Value
2024	Q1

h-index

Year	Value
2024	54

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Abstracting & Indexing

Journal is indexed in leading academic databases, ensuring global visibility and accessibility of our peer-reviewed research.

• Scopus
• Google Scholar
• Web of Science

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Subjects & Keywords

Journal’s research areas, covering key disciplines and specialized sub-topics in Social Sciences, designed to support cutting-edge academic discovery.

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Licensing & Copyright

This journal operates under an Open Access model. Articles are freely accessible to the public immediately upon publication. The content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), allowing users to share and adapt the work with proper attribution.

Copyright remains with the author(s), and no permission is required for non-commercial use, provided the original source is cited.

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Most Cited Articles

The Most Cited Articles section features the journal's most impactful research, based on citation counts. These articles have been referenced frequently by other researchers, indicating their significant contribution to their respective fields.

• Rules versus Standards: An Economic Analysis

  Citation: 351

  Authors: Louis

• Forces and Mechanisms in the Constitution-Making Process

  Citation: 224

  Authors: Jon

• Assessing Consensus: The Promise and Performance of Negotiated Rulemaking

  Citation: 188

  Authors: Cary

• Some Thoughts on "Deossifying" the Rulemaking Process

  Citation: 124

  Authors: Thomas O.

• Toward a Theory of Copyright: The Metamorphoses of "Authorship"

  Citation: 118

  Authors: Peter

• The Marketplace of Ideas: A Legitimizing Myth

  Citation: 93

  Authors: Stanley

• By Force of Arms: Rape, War, and Military Culture

  Citation: 92

  Authors: Madeline

• A Hair Piece: Perspectives on the Intersection of Race and Gender

  Citation: 91

  Authors: Paulette M.

• Shades of Brown: The Law of Skin Color

  Citation: 81

  Authors: Trina

• A Politics of Intellectual Property: Environmentalism for the Net?

  Citation: 80

  Authors: James

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