Measuring the Impact of Legal Research

Alisa Lazear published an article about Measuring the Impact of Legal Research on Slaw.ca a few days ago.

In it, she discusses how various disciplines have developed meaningful ways to measure the impact of research and whether law needs its own domain-specific metrics:

"It can be a challenge to assess the many ways research makes an impact and filter it down into a single number. Beyond impact, you can also look at engagement, influence, content quality over time, author productivity… There are many programs and calculations to choose from, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. "

"But how helpful are they for legal researchers? (...)"

"What does 'impact' in law mean? For a legal researcher who wrote a paper that is cited in a high profile Supreme Court case, this one citation can be seen as a significant impact. Or perhaps it is the impact of a widely-viewed blog or Twitter account of a legal scholar. Or perhaps it is the impact of a law professor who is actively participating in legal work for the wider community."

"Without developing tools with an understanding of some of the unique aspects of legal publishing and what research impact means in law, legal researchers could be left to use measurements of impact that weren’t designed for them."