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The intellectual influence of economic journals: quality versus quantity

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  • László Kóczy
  • Alexandru Nichifor

Abstract

The evaluation of scientific output has a key role in the allocation of research funds and academic positions. Decisions are often based on quality indicators for academic journals, and over the years, a handful of scoring methods have been proposed for this purpose. Discussing the most prominent methods (de facto standards) we show that they do not distinguish quality from quantity at article level. The systematic bias we find is analytically tractable and implies that the methods are manipulable. We introduce modified methods that correct for this bias, and use them to provide rankings of economic journals. Our methodology is transparent; our results are replicable. Copyright Springer-Verlag 2013

Suggested Citation

  • László Kóczy & Alexandru Nichifor, 2013. "The intellectual influence of economic journals: quality versus quantity," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 52(3), pages 863-884, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joecth:v:52:y:2013:i:3:p:863-884
    DOI: 10.1007/s00199-012-0708-0
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    Cited by:

    1. Albarrán, Pedro & Herrero, Carmen & Ruiz-Castillo, Javier & Villar, Antonio, 2017. "The Herrero-Villar approach to citation impact," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 625-640.
    2. Csató, László, 2013. "Rangsorolás páros összehasonlításokkal. Kiegészítések a felvételizői preferencia-sorrendek módszertanához [Paired comparisons ranking. A supplement to the methodology of application-based preferenc," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(12), pages 1333-1353.
    3. Joseph Gerald Hirschberg & Jeanette Ngaire Lye, 2020. "Grading Journals In Economics: The Abcs Of The Abdc," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 876-921, September.
    4. Török, Ádám & Telcs, András & Kosztyán, Zsolt Tibor, 2013. "Hallgatói preferencia-sorrendek készítése az egyetemi jelentkezések alapján [Preparing student preference rankings based on applications for university]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(3), pages 290-317.
    5. Ham, John C. & Wright, Julian & Ye, Ziqiu, 2023. "Documenting and Explaining the Dramatic Rise of the New Society Journals in Economics," IZA Discussion Papers 16337, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Modified invariant method; Invariance to article-splitting; Influence of economic journals; Impact factor; LP method; Invariant method; A1; C8; D72; Y1;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A1 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics
    • C8 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • Y1 - Miscellaneous Categories - - Data: Tables and Charts

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