nep-sog New Economics Papers
on Sociology of Economics
Issue of 2021‒04‒12
three papers chosen by
Jonas Holmström
Axventure AB

  1. Research performance of teams in Business and Management: The impact of team size, knowledge diversity and international diversity By Krammer, Sorin M.S.; Belkouja, Mustapha; Yoon, David
  2. The effects of citation-based research evaluation schemes on self-citation behavior By Giovanni Abramo; Ciriaco Andrea D'Angelo; Leonardo Grilli
  3. Concentration of power at the editorial boards of Economics journals. By Lorenzo Ductor; Bauke Visser

  1. By: Krammer, Sorin M.S.; Belkouja, Mustapha; Yoon, David
    Abstract: Despite inherent differences across disciplines, collaboration in general and larger teams of co-authors in particular, are prevalent strategies to increase research performance via academic publications. We take a more fine-grained view of this relationship by distinguishing between two dimensions of research performance, namely impact (i.e., subsequent citations of a paper) and prestige (i.e., top academic journals). Different from prior literature, we argue that there are both benefits and pitfalls in having larger teams, and these trade-offs will affect differently the impact and prestige of academic research. Specifically, we propose that while team size will enhance linearly the impact of a paper, it will contribute in a non-linear fashion to its prestige. Furthermore, these relationships will be moderated by the knowledge and international diversity of the team. We test these hypotheses using bibliometric data on more than 40,000 publications between 1994 and 2013 papers across 21 sub-fields within the realm of Business and Management. Our results broadly support our theoretical assertions. We discuss some practical implications for assessing and stimulating the research performance of academics in business schools.
    Keywords: Team size, citations, co-authorship, research performance.
    JEL: I23 M0 Z0
    Date: 2019–03–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:104548&r=all
  2. By: Giovanni Abramo; Ciriaco Andrea D'Angelo; Leonardo Grilli
    Abstract: We investigate the changes in the self-citation behavior of Italian professors following the introduction of a citation-based incentive scheme, for national accreditation to academic appointments. Previous contributions on self-citation behavior have either focused on small samples or relied on simple models, not controlling for all confounding factors. The present work adopts a complex statistics model implemented on bibliometric individual data for over 15,000 Italian professors. Controlling for a number of covariates (number of citable papers published by the author; presence of international authors; number of co-authors; degree of the professor's specialization), the average increase in self-citation rates following introduction of the ASN is of 9.5%. The increase is common to all disciplines and academic ranks, albeit with diverse magnitude. Moreover, the increase is sensitive to the relative incentive, depending on the status of the scholar with respect to the scientific accreditation. A further analysis shows that there is much heterogeneity in the individual patterns of self-citing behavior, albeit with very few outliers.
    Date: 2021–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2102.05358&r=all
  3. By: Lorenzo Ductor (Department of Economic Theory and Economic History, University of Granada.); Bauke Visser (Erasmus University Rotterdam and Tinbergen Institute)
    Abstract: Evolutionary arguments and incentive theory point to the importance of variety and rotation of editorial board members to stimulate innovative research. Using a unique dataset covering more than 100 economics journals over the period 1990-2011, we document trends in the incidence of multiple positions, editorial duration and institutional background for more than 6,100 board members. We put these figures into perspective using the literature on boards of directors and measures of market concentration. The picture that emerges is of a discipline with a high concentration of institutional and individual power, especially at the more prestigious journals. Evidence suggests this indeed matters; there is a strong negative association between editorial duration and journal impact.
    Keywords: editorial boards, journals, concentration, power, busyness, innovation, impact
    JEL: A11 A14 O31
    Date: 2021–03–28
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gra:wpaper:21/01&r=all

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