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New approaches to ranking economics journals

Author

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  • Yolanda Kodrzycki
  • Pingkang David Yu

Abstract

This study develops a flexible, citations-adjusted ranking technique that allows a specified set of journals to be evaluated using a wide range of alternative criteria. As a result, the set of evaluated journals is not constrained to be identical to the set of evaluating journals. We also draw a critical distinction between the influence of a journal and the influence of a journal article, with the latter concept arguably being more relevant for potential contributors and those who evaluate research productivity. The list of top economics journals changes noticeably when one examines citations in the social science and policy literatures, and when one measures citations, either within or outside economics, on a per-article basis rather than in total. The changes in rankings are due to the relatively broad interest in applied microeconomics and economic development, to differences in the relative importance that different literatures assign to theoretical and empirical contributions, and to the lack of a systematic effect of journal size on average influence per article. As a related observation on interdisciplinary communications, we confirm other researchers? conclusions that economics is more self-contained than almost any other social science discipline, while finding, nevertheless, that economics draws knowledge from a range of other disciplines.

Suggested Citation

  • Yolanda Kodrzycki & Pingkang David Yu, 2005. "New approaches to ranking economics journals," Working Papers 05-12, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedbwp:05-12
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    Cited by:

    1. J Taylor & I Walker, 2009. "Peer assessment of research: how many publications per staff?," Working Papers 603570, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    2. Yong Bao & Melody Lo & Franklin G. Mixon, 2010. "General-interest versus specialty journals: Using intellectual influence of econometrics research to rank economics journals and articles," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(2), pages 345-353.
    3. Dan S. Rickman & John V. Winters, 2016. "Ranking Authors and Institutions by Publications in Regional Science Journals: 2010–2014," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(2), pages 312-336, June.
    4. Dan Ben-David, 2010. "Ranking Israel’s economists," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 82(2), pages 351-364, February.
    5. Frances P. Ruane & Richard S.J. Tol, 2007. "Centres of Research Excellence in Economics in the Republic of Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 38(3), pages 289-322.
    6. Eble, Alex & Boone, Peter & Elbourne, Diana, 2013. "Risk and evidence of bias in randomized controlled trials in economics," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121784, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Ana Rute Cardoso & Paulo Guimarães & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2010. "Trends in Economic Research: An International Perspective," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(4), pages 479-494, November.
    8. Néstor Garza & Gisell Pugliese, 2009. "Elección teórica en economía: el caso de las teorías de crecimiento de Solow, Romer y Ramsey," Revista Cuadernos de Economia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID, June.
    9. David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2009. "The Excellence in Research for Australia Scheme: An Evaluation of the Draft Journal Weights for Economics," Working Papers in Economics 09/07, University of Waikato.
    10. David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2009. "The ‘Excellence in Research for Australia’ Scheme: A Test Drive of Draft Journal Weights with New Zealand Data," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 16(4), pages 7-24.
    11. Sergio Da Silva, 2009. "Going parochial in the assessment of the Brazilian economics research output," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 29(4), pages 2832-2852.
    12. Marlène Koffi, 2021. "Gendered Citations at Top Economic Journals," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 111, pages 60-64, May.
    13. John H. Huston & Roger W. Spencer, 2018. "Using Network Centrality to Inform Our View of Nobel Economists," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 44(4), pages 616-628, September.
    14. David Anderson & John Tressler, 2008. "Research output in New Zealand economics departments 2000-2006: A stock approach," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 155-189.
    15. Howard J. Wall, 2009. "Journal rankings in economics: handle with care," Working Papers 2009-014, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    16. Roger W. Spencer & John H. Huston & Rachel Branyan, 2009. "Influential Macromonetary Publications and Economists," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 54(2), pages 91-106, October.

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