期刊作為一種法學文獻，因其特有的即時、多樣與整合的功能，在各國都已成為法律人主要的發表、溝通與獲取資訊的媒介。 臺灣的法學期刊在政府引導與市場驅使下，近年來不論編輯與發行都有長足的改進，但和美、日、德等國相比即知，臺灣先天上狹小的生產與消費規模，本來就不利於期刊的發展，其自然發展出來的鬆散生態結構，更不容易促進涵蓋實務在內的法律人社群之間進行頻密而有效的互動，如果再加上不當的管制或引導，情況還會更加惡化。本文除深入比較這四個國家法學期刊的現況，以呈現此一問題外，並提出具體改進建議，以供期刊經營者、編輯者和政府部門的管制者參考。

　　　　　As in many other countries, periodicals have become the most important medium of publication and communication in Taiwan's legal science, due mainly to its diversity, up-to-dateness as well as its specific dialogue-facilitating function. Being encouraged by the government's promotion programs and driven by market competition, Taiwan's law journals have made immense progress in recent years. Their development in the long mn is, however, constrained by their very disadvantageous small scale in both production and consumption, compared especially to their counterpart in the US, Japan, Germany, etc. Even more noteworthy is the rather loose structure of Taiwan's legal periodicals, with university law schools as main publishers; therefore, they are by nature in a more general form, without specializing in any specific legal field. Low grade of specialization makes intense and effective interaction in the legal community quite difficult. The situation could get worse, if government interventions do not take this into consideration. This article compares the structure and performance of legal periodicals in the US, Japan, Germany and Taiwan, to highlight this problem. In the end, it makes some suggestions to the publishers, editors, and government regulators of law journals.