Changing research topic trends as an effect of publication rankings – The case of German economists and the Handelsblatt Ranking

Buehling, Kilian

doi:10.1016/j.joi.2021.101199

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Finally, our results also show that the percentage of professors with at least one publication in a German business economics journal significantly decreased from the 1990s to the 2010s (− 0.19). These results are in line with Buehling (2021) who provides evidence how German-based economics researchers began to focus more on international topics in the late 2000s. Our results are also in line with findings by Ayaita et al (2019), who argue that changes in publication behavior have probably resulted from a focal shift toward publications in highly renowned international journals.…”

Section: Changin' National Focussupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Even though we do not provide any causal evidence, we believe that the documented changes are related to the shifts in the economic incentives for junior researchers caused by NPM (Schmoch and Schubert 2010;Schubert 2009) and the introduction of journal rankings (Buehling 2021;Vogel et al 2017). These have partly been driven by the use of performance-based indicators at universities to allocate funds or make tenure decisions based on the research outputs of professors and junior researchers (Rabovsky 2014).…”

Section: Implications For Researchmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…In particular, the introduction of new public management (NPM), i.e. the implementation of market structures in the public sector (Schmoch and Schubert 2010;Schubert 2009), and journal rankings (Buehling 2021;Vogel et al 2017) as well as the concomitant implementation of performance-based funding approaches in universities (Hicks 2012;Sieweke et al 2014) have substantially impacted researchers in business economics. In particular, junior researchers lacking a tenured professorship have been impacted by these reforms, facing increasing pressure to 'publish or perish' to obtain their career goals (Backes-Gellner and Schlinghoff 2010; Graber et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…international standards and that diversity and creativity in research might suffer as a result (Osterloh and Frey 2015;Rost and Frey 2011). Recently, Buehling (2021) has provided causal evidence for this claim, documenting a convergence of topics investigated by German-based economics researchers towards their international peers as a consequence of the introduction of the Handelsblatt ranking. 4 Rapp et al (2019) investigate the internationalization of German researchers in accounting, a subfield of business economics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, since our results lack causality they should be interpreted carefully. Nevertheless, causal evidence provided by Buehling (2021) shows that the introduction of the Handelsblatt ranking in Germany caused German economists to shift their research topics. Hence, we expect that the introduction of the JQL1 has also impacted German business economics.…”

Section: How Did the Introduction Of Jourqual 1 Impact The Publicatio...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The times they are a-changin’: profiling newly tenured business economics professors in Germany over the past thirty years

Fernandes

2023

J Bus Econ

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This study examines how the profiles of newly tenured business economics professors in Germany have changed over the past thirty years. We document how business economics professors have become more diverse over time, e.g., in terms of their gender and the internationality of their education. Furthermore, we show that the size of the professional networks of newly tenured professors increased strongly during our investigation period and that those professors who obtained tenure more recently publish with a stronger international focus than their peers who obtained tenure earlier. Most importantly, we find that the publication requirements for newly tenured business economics professors have changed over the past thirty years. Specifically, we document increased requirements for publications in highly renowned international journals. However, we also find that traditional German business economics journals (e.g., the Journal of Business Economics and the Schmalenbach Business Review) remain highly relevant outlets for recently tenured business economics professors. Thus, by documenting and quantifying these effects, our study contributes to research on business economics professors by highlighting how the times they are a-changin’.

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Section: Changin' National Focussupporting

confidence: 89%