nep-sog New Economics Papers
on Sociology of Economics
Issue of 2018‒10‒29
three papers chosen by
Jonas Holmström
Axventure AB

  1. The Geography and Concentration of Authorship in the Top Five: Implications for European Economics By Ek, Simon; Henrekson, Magnus
  2. The Gender Gap in Citations: Lessons from Demographic Economics Journals By Shoshana Grossbard; Tansel Yilmazer; Lingrui Zhang
  3. Publishing and Promotion in Economics: The Tyranny of the Top Five By Heckman, James J.; Moktan, Sidharth

  1. By: Ek, Simon (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Henrekson, Magnus (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN))
    Abstract: We study to what degree authors who publish in the five most prestigious journals in economics have previously published there and in which world region they are based. Al­though still high, the concentration of U.S.-based and previously published top-five authors has decreased. This trend is driven by increased co-authorship between U.S. and non-U.S. scholars and between scholars with and without previous top-five articles. Only around 5 percent of all articles each year are written solely by first-time authors from outside the U.S., and this share has not increased since the mid-1990s. Against this background, we argue that European institutions should be wary of putting too much emphasis on publishing in these five journals. Both the advancement and diversity of the economics discipline may otherwise suffer.
    Keywords: Bibliometrics; Impact of research; Ranking; Research output; Research productivity
    JEL: A11 A13 A14 B41
    Date: 2018–10–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1240&r=sog
  2. By: Shoshana Grossbard (San Diego State University); Tansel Yilmazer (Ohio State University); Lingrui Zhang (University of Waterloo)
    Abstract: This paper investigates gender differentials in citations of articles published in two journals specialized in Demographic Economics, a field that has traditionally attracted relatively large numbers of women researchers. In contrast to findings based on citations of top economics journals, we find a gender gap in citations favoring women among articles published in the Journal of Population Economics (JPOP) or the Review of Economics of the Household (REHO) between 2003 and 2014 . If the corresponding author is male, having at least one female co-author boosts citations. Across subfields of demographic economics, citations of female authors increase as female representation in the subfield increases. The gender gap in citations favoring women is not found for authors with limited experience past graduate school, which supports an explanation for the gender gap based on authors’ prior experience with economics journals of higher rank.
    Keywords: citations, gender gap
    JEL: A14 I23 D10 J10 J16
    Date: 2018–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2018-078&r=sog
  3. By: Heckman, James J. (University of Chicago); Moktan, Sidharth (University of Chicago)
    Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between placement of publications in Top Five (T5) journals and receipt of tenure in academic economics departments. Analyzing the job histories of tenure-track economists hired by the top 35 U.S. economics departments, we find that T5 publications have a powerful influence on tenure decisions and rates of transition to tenure. A survey of the perceptions of young economists supports the formal statistical analysis. Pursuit of T5 publications has become the obsession of the next generation of economists. However, the T5 screen is far from reliable. A substantial share of influential publications appear in non-T5 outlets. Reliance on the T5 to screen talent incentivizes careerism over creativity.
    Keywords: tenure and promotion practices, career concerns, economics publishing, citations
    JEL: A14 I23 J44 O31
    Date: 2018–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11868&r=sog

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