Thursday, February 17, 2022
Citation counts vary by field, 2016-2020 edition
Here's an updated version of a post from last summer, now using the Sisk data for the period 2016-2020.
An important fact about interpreting citation data is that citation rates vary quite a bit by field. One can see all the subject-specific citation lists for the latest Sisk study (2016-2020) here.
Of the ten most-cited faculty in the U.S. in the last Sisk study, eight worked at least partly in constitutional law. Indeed, constitutional law is the most high-citation field, although corporate, law & economics, criminal law & procedure, law & technology, and intellectual property also get cited a lot. By contrast, tax, evidence, and health law, among others, are low-citation fields. 300 cites in a five-year period will get you into the top five in tax, but not anywhere close to the top 20 in constitutional law (maybe the top 50?).
Here's the fields ranked from highest to lowest citations based on the sum of the cites for the scholar ranked first, fifth and tenth in each area (those totals follow in parentheses).
1. Constitutional Law (4,880 citations)
2. Law & Economics (3,350 citations)
3. Intellectual Property (2,900 citations)
4. Corporate Law & Securities Regulation (2,440 citations)
5. Criminal Law & Procedure (2,290 citations)
6. Law & Technology (2,040 citations)
7. Law & Social Science (1,980 citations)
8. Administrative and/or Environmental Law (1,910 citations)
9. International Law & Security (1,900 citations)
10. Critical Theories of Law (1,870 citations)
11. Election Law (1,570 citations)12. Civil Procedure (1,510 citations)
13. Law & Philosophy (1,490 citations)
14. Antitrust (1,460 citations)
15. Commercial Law (1,380 citations)
15. Legal History (1,380 citations)
17. Legislation/Statutory Interpretation (1,350 citations)
18. Property (1,210 citations)
19. Immigration Law (1,140 citations)
20. Labor and/or Employment Law (1,110 citations)
21. Family Law (1,070 citations)
22. Legal Ethics/Legal Profession (970 citations)
23. Torts and Insurance Law (940 citations)
24. Tax (880 citations)
25. Health Law (860 citations)
26. Evidence (630 citations)
https://leiterlawschool.typepad.com/leiter/2022/02/citation-counts-vary-by-field-2016-2020-edition.html