How Much Better Are the Most-Prestigious Journals? The Statistics of Academic Publication

Abstract

Articles in high-prestige journals receive more citations and more applause than articles in less-prestigious journals, but how much more do these articles contribute to knowledge? This article uses a statistical theory of review processes to draw inferences about differences value between articles in more-prestigious versus less-prestigious journals. This analysis indicates that there is much overlap in articles in different prestige strata. Indeed, theory implies that about half of the articles published are not among the best ones submitted to those journals, and some of the manuscripts that belong in the highest-value 20% have the misfortune to elicit rejections from as many as five journals. Some social science departments and business schools strongly emphasize publication in prestigious journals. Although one can draw inferences about an author’s average manuscript from the percentage in top-tier journals, the confidence limits for such inferences are wide. A focus on prestigious journals may benefit the most prestigious departments or schools but add randomness to the decisions of departments or schools that are not at the very top. Such a focus may also impede the development of knowledge when mediocre research receives the endorsement of high visibility.

Ranking International Business Institutions and Faculty Members Using Research Publication as the Measure

“…in addition to their broad disciplinary appeal, ranking studies have consistently appeared in prestigious journals for a long period of time. examples of these include allison and stewart (1974) in American Sociological Review; Graves et al (1982) in American Economic Review;chung and cox (1990) in Journal of Finance; Tracy and Waldfogel (1997) in Journal of Business;starbuck (2005) in Organization Science; and Mitra and Golder (2008) in Journal of Marketing.…”

Proof over promise: towards a more inclusive ranking of Dutch academics in Economics & Business

“…Starbuck (2005) found that although higher--prestige journals publish more highly cited articles, editorial selection involves considerable randomness. He concluded: "Evaluating articles based primarily on which journal published them is more likely than not to yield incorrect assessments of the articles ' value."…”

Motivos de rejeição dos artigos nos periódicos de administração

“…Apesar de alguns autores (vide: JUSTICE et al, 1998;HOJAT;GONNELLA;CAELLEIGH, 2003) defenderem que há uma inabilidade de efetivamente dar anonimidade aos pesquisadores mais famosos em suas áreas, esse tipo de revisão tenta fornecer uma imparcialidade para os pareceres, o que se estima contribuir para melhorar a qualidade do processo editorial (LAZAROIU, 2009). Em todo o caso, o processo de avaliação pelos pares não é perfeito e diversas limitações e disfunções têm sido apontadas (STARBUCK, 2005). Entre elas lentidão, dificuldade em detectar fraudes e erros estatísticos, rejeição de novas ideias, possibilidade de plágio, dupla submissão, subjetividade, conservadorismo e favorecimento às redes elitistas (PAVAN; STUMPF, 2009).…”