Walt at Random

Law includes forensics. The group includes 106 journals, which published a total of 2,019 articles in 2013 and 1,918 in 2014. Very few OA law journals charge fees, and most of them publish relatively few (but relatively long) papers, so the tables and graphs in this chapter may be unusual.

Grades

Table 15.1. Journals and articles by grade

Table 15.1 shows the number of journals and 2013 articles for each grade; the free and pay numbers (there are no “unknown” cases); and average 2013 articles per journal. Boldface percentages are percentages of the full set of OA law journals; others are percentages of that particular grade. There are no APCs over $1,000, so the A$ row does not appear. Technically, in the B and D groups, pay journals do show more articles per journal than free ones, but with only two pay journals in each group, that’s fairly meaningless.

The percentage of D journals is fairly high, and includes the following subgroups: C (ceased), two journals, no articles; E (erratic), eight journals with 82 articles; H (possibly on hiatus), five journals with 70 articles; S (small), 17 journals with 83 articles.

Article Volume (including all of 2014)

Table 15.2. Journals and articles by date

Table 15.2 shows the number of journals that published articles in each year, including all of 2014; how many articles those journals published; and what percentage was free or in free journals.

The journal numbers are lower than 106 each year because there are always some journals with no articles. Notably, the percentage of free journals has pretty much stayed constant, while the percentage of articles in free journals has declined significantly over time. It does appear that OA activity in law declined slightly in 2014 after growing significantly in 2013, but a fair number of annual and biennial journals might yet publish 2014-dated articles. On the other hand, one journal with 68 articles in 2013 was unreachable when tested (through three different routes) in 2015, and that loss alone accounts for more than two-thirds of the difference.

Looked at on a journal-by-journal basis, 41 journals published more articles in 2014 than in 2013; ten published the same number; 55 published fewer articles in 2014. In terms of significant changes, 37 (35%) published at least 10% more articles; 18 (17%) were about the same; 51 (48%) published at least 10% fewer articles, including 18 that, as of mid-April 2015, had yet to post any 2014 articles.

Table 15.3. Journals by peak article volume

Table 15.3 shows the number of journals in each size category, 2013 articles for journals in that group, and what percentage is in no-fee journals. Not only are there no prolific or even large OA law journals, the largest medium-sized journal published just over 100 articles in 2013: these are almost all sparse or, at best, small journals. Even within this odd grouping and with so few fee journals, however, the percentage of paid journals and articles does rise as the volume of articles rises.

Fees (APCs)

Table 15.4. Journals and articles by fee range

Table 15.4 shows the number of journals in each fee range and the number of 2013 articles for those journals. With no high-priced journals and only two that have APCs higher than $200 (actually $160), comparisons of quartiles seem futile: let’s just say that the few fee-charging journals mostly don’t charge much (and, as you can see, the most expensive law journal didn’t publish much: three articles in 2013).

Starting Dates and the Gold Rush

Table 15.5. Starting dates for law OA journals

Table 15.5 shows law OA journals by starting date, including the percentage of journals started in a given date range that currently don’t charge APCs. Technically, you could say that law follows the overall DOAJ pattern of a “gold rush,” with most APC-charging journals starting in 2006-2011, except that it’s all of them and it’s in a narrower date range, 2008-2011. More to the point, two-thirds of all the law OA journals are less than a decade old.

Figure 15.1 shows much the same information as Figure 15.5 but in graphic form, and includes markers for free journals so that the outliers (pre-1960 and 1970-79) show up.

Figure 15.1. Law journals by starting date

Table 15.6. Articles per journal by starting date

Table 15.6 shows journals that actually published articles in 2013 (omitting empty rows), when they started, and the average articles per journal. Average articles per journal is such a random mix that it may not warrant discussion.

Definitions and notes

See The Open Access Landscape: 1. Background for definitions and notes

If you’re interested in a book-form version of this material (with an additional bonus graph and probably some additional analysis added in each chapter), let me know, either in a comment or by email to waltcrawford at gmail dot com.

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