|
on Sociology of Economics |
| By: | Lehmann, Robert; Wohlrabe, Klaus |
| Abstract: | In this paper we transfer the Elo rating system, which is widely accepted in chess, sports and other disciplines, to rank scientific journals. The advantage of the Elo system is the explicit consideration of the factor time and the history of a journal's ranking performance. Most other rankings that are commonly applied neglect this fact. The Elo ranking methodology can easily be applied to any metric, published on a regular basis, to rank journals. We illustrate the approach using the SNIP indicator based on citation data from Scopus. Our data set consists of more than 20,000 journals from many scientific fields for the period from 1999 to 2015. We show that the Elo approach produces similar but by no means identical rankings compared to other rankings based on the SNIP alone or the Tournament Method. Especially the rank order for rather 'middle-class' journals can tremendously change. |
| Keywords: | Elo rating system, journal rankings, SNIP indicator |
| JEL: | A12 A14 |
| Date: | 2017–03–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:77363&r=sog |
| By: | Yushan Hu (Boston College); Ben Li (Boston College) |
| Abstract: | The arrival of the internet age forces academic journals to adjust their output margins: journal length, article length, and number of published articles. Using data from 41 major economics journals spanning 21 years (1994-2014), we find that both journals and articles are getting longer, but the page share of an individual article within its journal is shrinking. This pattern is consistent with a monopolistic competition model that features within-firm (journal) specialization. As predicted by the model, the share of an individual article shrinks less in general-interest journals and better ranked journals, where expertise is less substitutable across topics. In this discipline that emphasizes the benefits of specialization, the expertise underpinning its publications is indeed divided in a specialized fashion. |
| Keywords: | Division of labor, history of economics, academic publishing |
| JEL: | A11 D43 |
| Date: | 2017–03–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:bocoec:924&r=sog |