Hey "buddy", if you've never been in the system please don't misguide.

I do not disagree with your comment, however promotions are not decided based on what we think is suitable or not for law. In the larger scheme of things, definitely scholars from across the world will respect your quality publications more. However, the promotions system and structure built is still a government job, and we know how that is. If it's not official, no matter how great the journal, it will not be counted.

Secondly, yes some journals are listed in Scopus. I never denied it. But the whole list isn't. And if some young acadmic is mistaken that by publishing in them will get work for them, then it unfortunately won't. So it's the onus on the acadmic to see to it that the list and Scopus match.

Thirdly, you are overestimating NLSs influence on the government. The government and its bodies hardly have any NLU alumni, let alone from NLS. The majority are from TLCs like DU, BHU etc. So even the legal community would not care as much, it's called TLC blackballing anything of significance NLUs do. Wait till the new list comes out, and you will find that majority of journals for promotion are going to be thrash, since the whole process is a nepotism favoured structure for the ruling govt.

Fourth, I am in no way demeaning a great initiative. I think for the younger academics it's a good initiative. However, I stress on the fact that it's not "official". It does not have the Central Govt, Ministry of Education or even UGCs approval. So the younglings should not take it as the end all and be all for publishing. It may help improve your credibility but since when has government promotions focused on credibility and quality.

Fifth, it's good for personal growth and development to publish in these journals. However at the end of the day, promotions are not dependable on quality, unfortunately. This govt is hellbent on discrediting anything with "quality". That all I stated.

Why does it matter that an inexperienced assistant professor and few students have come up with random metrics that gets to talk about the quality of journals that are the result of hard work of many over a long period of time? They have tried a good initiative, it doesn't have to be great or perfect. Doesn't need to validate anyone else's work either. Any academic worth their salt knows that these ranking processes for journals are mostly hogwash. Journals that are good are known for their quality among peers. For example, ILR didn't get famous because it's scopus indexed. It had made its rep way before that. Similarly, JILI, despite its age, is no longer that relevant. It being indexed in this metric won't really change that.

Ha ha! Lots of jealous haters who expected their university journals to he ranked high, but have got a reality check. They are dissing this ranking and simping for Scopus, but know very well that their university journals are not listed in Scopus either.

In any case, Jindal and ILR are listed in Scopus.

Hi buddy, if you don’t know then please don’t talk. First of all, ILR and JGLR are already listed by Scopus. Secondly, Scopus is not always suitable for law, because it does not recognise student journals published by NLSIU or NALSAR. It gives primacy to peer-reviewed journals. Thirdly, because of the reputation and prestige of NLSIU, there is a very good chance that this system may be recognised by the government, or at least during faculty recruitment. Fourthly, don’t try to demean an excellent effort.

Good initiative, but some of the parameters appear to be questionable. Such as credentials of the author playing such a big role. Whenever a judge writes in a journal, that's being treated as a big deal deserving extra points. However, most judges in India write so badly that good blind peer reviewed journals don't even accept their papers. Only nepotism works. Same goes for faculty. We all know what's the condition of most of the faculty across the Indian law universities. Many NLU undergrad students write and research better than many of such faculties. However, at least the authors have tried to take an initiative, this should get the ball rolling and begin the discussions.

The ranking has the following loopholes:

1. “5 points, a faculty-authored piece earns 4, a researcher earns 3, a postgraduate student earns 2, and an undergraduate student-authored piece earns 1 point.”

Judges in India get their assistants to write articles and they are generally of poor quality. The NLSIU page itself refers to “judicial ghostwriting”. Then why do this? It artificially inflated the ranking of NLSIU journals. Also, what about practitioner pieces? Zero points?

2. “ We have also not included specialist journals like Socio-Legal Review or Indian Journal of Arbitration Law.”

Bruh…. Please include them. They will knock off many in the top 20. Also IJIL and IJLT.

Well done Sudhir and NLSIU for taking the lead yet again on an excellent initiative! 👏👏👏

Top 10 rankings:

1. Indian Law Review (100/100)

2. Jindal Global Law Review (73/100)

3. JILI (63/1000)

4. NLS Journal (60/100)

5. NLSIU Review (56/100)

6. Delhi Law Review (51/100)

7. NUJS Law Review (49/100)

8. Amity Law Review (46/100)

9. TNNLU Law Review (42/100)

10. NALSAR Law Review (41/100)

https://www.nls.ac.in/blog/a-new-ranking-system-for-indian-legal-journals/