IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joecth/v52y2013i3p863-884.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The intellectual influence of economic journals: quality versus quantity

Author

Listed:
  • 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
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s00199-012-0708-0
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00199-012-0708-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ignacio Palacios-Huerta & Oscar Volij, 2004. "The Measurement of Intellectual Influence," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(3), pages 963-977, May.
    2. Christian Zimmermann, 2013. "Academic Rankings with RePEc," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 1(3), pages 1-32, December.
    3. J. Peter Neary & James A. Mirrlees & Jean Tirole, 2003. "Evaluating Economics Research in Europe: An Introduction," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(6), pages 1239-1249, December.
    4. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Laurent Linnemer, 2003. "Where are the Economists Who Publish? Publication Concentration and Rankings in Europe Based on Cumulative Publications," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(6), pages 1250-1308, December.
    5. Donald Campbell & Jerry Kelly, 2010. "Losses due to manipulation of social choice rules," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 45(3), pages 453-467, December.
    6. Donald Campbell & Jerry Kelly, 2009. "Gains from manipulating social choice rules," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 40(3), pages 349-371, September.
    7. Kalaitzidakis, P. & Mamuneas, T.P. & Stengos, T., 2003. "Rankings of Academic Journals and Institutions," Working Papers 2003-8, University of Guelph, Department of Economics and Finance.
    8. Laband, David N & Piette, Michael J, 1994. "The Relative Impacts of Economics Journals: 1970-1990," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(2), pages 640-666, June.
    9. Liebowitz, S J & Palmer, J P, 1984. "Assessing the Relative Impacts of Economic Journals," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 77-88, March.
    10. Pantelis Kalaitzidakis & Theofanis P. Mamuneas & Thanasis Stengos, 2003. "Rankings of Academic Journals and Institutions in Economics," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(6), pages 1346-1366, December.
    11. Sobel, Joel, 2000. "Economists' Models of Learning," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 241-261, October.
    12. Laszlo A. Koczy & Martin Strobel, 2010. "The World Cup of Economics Journals: A Ranking by a Tournament Method," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 1018, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    13. László Á. Kóczy & Martin Strobel, 2009. "The invariant method can be manipulated," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 81(1), pages 291-293, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    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).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. László Á. Kóczy & Alexandru Nichifor & Martin Strobel, 2010. "Intellectual Infl uence: Quality versus Quantity," Working Paper Series 1009, Óbuda University, Keleti Faculty of Business and Management.
    2. Lutz Bornmann & Alexander Butz & Klaus Wohlrabe, 2018. "What are the top five journals in economics? A new meta-ranking," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(6), pages 659-675, February.
    3. repec:bla:germec:v:9:y:2008:i::p:402-430 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Wohlrabe, Klaus, 2016. "Taking the Temperature: A Meta-Ranking of Economics Journals," MPRA Paper 68933, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Chagas , André Luis Squarize, 2017. "Publish or Perish: um ranking de revistas da subárea de Economia Regional e Urbana para os pesquisadores brasileiros," Revista Brasileira de Estudos Regionais e Urbanos, Associação Brasileira de Estudos Regionais e Urbanos (ABER), vol. 11(4), pages 515-536.
    6. George Emm Halkos & Nickolaos G. Tzeremes, 2011. "Measuring economic journals’ citation efficiency: a data envelopment analysis approach," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 88(3), pages 979-1001, September.
    7. Klaus Ritzberger, 2008. "Eine invariante Bewertung wirtschaftswissenschaftlicher Fachzeitschriften," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 9(3), pages 267-285, August.
    8. Frank Neri & Joan R. Rodgers, 2006. "Ranking Australian Economics Departments by Research Productivity," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 82(s1), pages 74-84, September.
    9. Martin Gregor, 2006. "Hodnocení ekonomických pracovišť a ekonomů: Koho, proč, čím a jak [A survey of rankings of economic departments: Global, american, european and national]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2006(3), pages 394-414.
    10. Pantelis Kalaitzidakis & Theofanis P. Mamuneas & Thanasis Stengos, 2011. "An updated ranking of academic journals in economics," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 44(4), pages 1525-1538, November.
    11. Erich Battistin & Marco Ovidi, 2022. "Rising Stars: Expert Reviews and Reputational Yardsticks in the Research Excellence Framework," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(356), pages 830-848, October.
    12. Baltagi, Badi H., 2007. "Worldwide Econometrics Rankings: 1989–2005," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(5), pages 952-1012, October.
    13. Joseph Macri & Dipendra Sinha, 2006. "Rankings Methodology for International Comparisons of Institutions and Individuals: an Application to Economics in Australia and New Zealand," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 111-156, February.
    14. Waltman, Ludo & van Eck, Nees Jan, 2008. "Some comments on the journal weighted impact factor proposed by Habibzadeh and Yadollahie," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 369-372.
    15. Kóczy, L.Á. & Nichifor, A. & Strobel, M., 2009. "Article length bias in journal rankings," Research Memorandum 016, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    16. Ruiz-Castillo, Javier, 2006. "La investigación en economía en España durante los años 90 : una revisión de la literatura," DE - Documentos de Trabajo. Economía. DE de060201, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    17. 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).
    18. Javier Ruiz-Castillo, 2008. "Economics research in Spain during the 1990s: a literature review," Spanish Economic Review, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 10(3), pages 221-249, September.
    19. László Á. Kóczy & Martin Strobel, 2010. "The World Cup of Economics Journals: A Ranking by a Tournament Method," Working Paper Series 1011, Óbuda University, Keleti Faculty of Business and Management.
    20. Chan, Ho Fai & Frey, Bruno S. & Gallus, Jana & Torgler, Benno, 2014. "Academic honors and performance," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 188-204.
    21. Günther G. Schulze & Susanne Warning & Christian Wiermann, 2008. "Zeitschriftenrankings für die Wirtschaftswissenschaften – Konstruktion eines umfassenden Metaindexes," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 9(3), pages 286-305, August.

    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

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joecth:v:52:y:2013:i:3:p:863-884. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.