Trends in Multi-Authored Papers in Economics

Abstract

This paper looks at the growth of multiple-authored papers in eight leading economics journals. In 1950, multiple authorship was a relative rarity. By the 1990s, it had become commonplace. An empirical analysis suggests that this growth has not been even over time but appears to have been greatest in the mid-1960s and again since the mid-1970s. Possible reasons for this growth include developments in computer technology. Its implications for the economics profession are briefly discussed.

The Slowdown of the Economics Publishing Process

“…A second trend in economics publishing that has been noted elsewhere is an increase in coauthorship (Hudson, 1996). In the 1970's only 30 percent of the articles in the top five journals were coauthored.…”

“…Hudson (1996), Laband and Wells (1998) and Siegfried (1994) provide related discussions of long-run trends in the profession. See Colander (1989) and Gans (2000) for overviews of the literature on economics publishing.…”

“…Hence, the lengthening of the first response probably accounts for at least one-quarter of the 1979-1995 slowdown. 24 197019801985199019921993199519961997 Overall, I would conclude that some fraction of the slowdown in the publishing process (perhaps a quarter at the JPE) is due to slower first responses. A larger part of the slowdown appears to be attributable to a practice of asking authors to make more and larger revisions to their papers.…”

Scientific production in the field of academic spin-off: A bibliometric analysis

“…Així, la coautoria condueix a una producció científica de major qualitat o quantitat que la realitzada per un sol individu (Hudson, 1996). L'ús d'una anàlisi bibliomètrica per avaluar i monitoritzar l'acompliment de la investigació s'ha generalitzat (Tijssen, 1992).…”

“…Aquest tipus de col·laboracions produeixen una major qualitat o una major quantitat articles que si es realitza per un sol autor (Hudson, 1996). Pel que fa a l' intermediació es basa en la distància més curta entre els autors en l'estructura de la xarxa (Freeman, 1979;Ronda-Pupo & Guerras-Martín, 2013 Finalment, l'índex de proximitat descriu la velocitat en que interactua un autor amb altres de la xarxa, permetent així observar la "proximitat" de cada autor amb altres autors de la xarxa (Valderrama-Zurián et al, 2007).…”