Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP5731
Authors: Dennis Lasser; Kristian Rydqvist
Abstract: This paper presents a new metric for journal ranking that has the advantage of ranking more journals with a longer time-series at a low cost relative to impact factors and survey-based methods. We simultaneously rank journals and institutions by the degree of concentration of top journal publications among top rated institutions. The resulting rank of journals by concentration is similar to the rank by impact factors, but the concentration rank includes several journals which are not in the Social Science Citation Index. We also examine the index with thirty-five years of finance research, document a strong secular decline for most journals, a widening gap between higher and lower tier journals, and study the impact on journal competition from the Review of Financial Studies.
Keywords: concentration index; financial economics; impact factor; institution ranking; journal ranking
JEL Codes: A11; G00; I23
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Higher quality institutions (I23) | Higher quality researchers (D29) |
| Higher quality researchers (D29) | Concentration of top journal publications (A14) |
| Higher quality institutions (I23) | Concentration of top journal publications (A14) |
| Introduction of Review of Financial Studies in 1988 (G24) | Structural change in competitive landscape of finance journals (L16) |
| Review of Financial Studies (G24) | Attracts submissions from other top journals (A14) |
| Concentration of publications (D30) | Decreased competition among journals (A14) |
| Cumulative distribution functions do not cross (C46) | Supports claims about ranking stability (C52) |