Secondary Sources: Finding Law Reviews
Finding Law Reviews
One way to locate law review or journal articles is to use a periodical index. While law review articles can be located in full text databases on Westlaw or Lexis, periodical indices cover hundreds more articles than the full text databases making indices searching a more comprehensive search. A periodical index compiles information about individual articles that appear in journals, newsletters, and magazines. That information is then alphabetically organized by title, author, and subject. Some indexes also provide tables listing articles by statute or case name. Popular online legal periodical indexes include: the Index to Legal Periodicals and Books (“ILP”), Legal Resource Index (“LRI”), and Current Index to Legal Periodicals. There are also periodical indexes for international and foreign legal periodicals such as the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (“IFLP”). Please see the table below to learn about the coverage of each index as well as its availability online.
Source |
Coverage |
Online availability and location at Harvard |
|---|---|---|
| Index to Legal Periodicals and Books (ILP). | Coverage begins in 1981 for periodicals, and 1993 for books. Updated monthly. The print edition’s coverage begins in 1908. | Available in print at Reference K 33 .I54. Available on LEXIS in the Index to Legal Periodicals database and on WESTLAW in the ILP database. |
| Legal Resource Index (LRI). | Coverage begins in 1980 and is updated monthly | Available in print as Current Law Index at K 33 .C87. Available on LEXIS in the Legal Resources Index database and in WESTLAW in the LRI database. |
| Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP). | Coverage begins in 1960 and the electronic version starts in 1985. | Available in print at Reference K 33 .I525 (also available in the ILS library). Available as a Harvard networked e- resource. |
Law review articles can also be found in full text databases. Both Westlaw and LexisNexis have databases containing the text of several hundred law reviews, some dating back to the 1980’s, and other dating back to 1990’s. It is possible to search in one particular law review at a time or to search in all the available law review publications combined. As mentioned, periodical indices cover more titles than full text databases, however, full text searches allow researchers a means of access to the publications beyond subject or title searching.