Journal of Law and Courts

Aims & Scope

The Journal of Law and Courts (JLC) is the flagship journal of the Law & Courts Section of the American Political Science Association.

In addition to political science scholarship, the journal has interdisciplinary aims and publishes a broad range of research for members of the law and courts intellectual community.

The journal is dedicated to combating intellectual fragmentation and promoting communication and fertilization across traditional boundaries.

JLC publishes articles tackling theoretical and empirical questions that strike a wide audience of scholars as important across legal and judicial issues relating to politics, process, policy, ethics, justice, and/or culture.

JLC employs highly rigorous arguments and methods, and is written in a manner interesting and accessible to scholars with perspectives different from the author's.

View Aims & Scope

---

Metrics & Ranking

Impact Factor

Year	Value
2025	1.3
2024	0.80

Journal Rank

Year	Value
2024	13630

Journal Citation Indicator

Year	Value
2024	74

SJR (SCImago Journal Rank)

Year	Value
2024	0.407

Quartile

Year	Value
2024	Q2

h-index

Year	Value
2024	21

---

---

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

---

Subjects & Keywords

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

---

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.

• A Global Measure of Judicial Independence, 1948–2012

  Citation: 169

  Authors: Drew A., Jeffrey K.

• Does De Jure Judicial Independence Really Matter?

  Citation: 100

  Authors: James, Tom

• Mass Digitization of Chinese Court Decisions

  Citation: 67

  Authors: Benjamin L., Margaret E., Rachel E., Alice Z.

• Law without the State

  Citation: 59

  Authors: Gillian K., Barry R.

• Measuring the Political Salience of Supreme Court Cases

  Citation: 54

  Authors: Tom S., Jeffrey R., Douglas

• How the Supreme Court Alters Opinion Language to Evade Congressional Review

  Citation: 50

  Authors: Ryan J., Justin, Patrick C.

• Trustee Courts and the Judicialization of International Regimes

  Citation: 47

  Authors: Alec, Thomas L.

• How Judicial Qualification Ratings May Disadvantage Minority and Female Candidates

  Citation: 47

  Authors: Maya

• Judges and Their Allies

  Citation: 41

  Authors: Alexei, Rachel

• She’ll Settle It?

  Citation: 41

  Authors: Christina L.

---