This paper intends to check in what extent the articles published in the legal field journals have and make explicit methodological criteria recommended by the ABNT (Associaçao Brasileira de Normas Técnicas). We used an descriptive and exploratory study and bibliometric systematic review approach. We found that from the 241 published papers in legal paper journals, 37% of them do not presente the objective in the review, 61% do not make explicit the method and/or the methodology used to develop the research; and, at last, 61% do not presente the result and/or the conclusion. If, on the one hand, the recurring absence of these founding elements of research, in any field, tends to weaken and project itself as an obstacle to legal publications with scientific intentions, on the other, it makes visible the need for refinement of research in the legal field.