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An examination of the reliability of prestigious scholarly journals: evidence and implications for decision-makers
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Oswald, Andrew J. (2006) An examination of the reliability of prestigious scholarly journals: evidence and implications for decision-makers. Working Paper. Coventry: University of Warwick, Department of Economics. Warwick economic research papers (No.744).
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Official URL: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/resear...
Abstract
In universities all over the world, hiring and promotion committees regularly hear the argument: “this is important work because it is about to appear in prestigious journal X”. Moreover, those who allocate levels of research funding, such as in the multi-billion pound Research Assessment Exercise in UK universities, often come under pressure to assess research quality in a mechanical way by using journal prestige ratings. This paper’s results suggest that such tendencies are dangerous. It uses total citations over a quarter of a century as the criterion. The paper finds that it is far better to publish the best article in an issue of a medium-quality journal like the Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics than to publish the worst article (or often the worst 4 articles) in an issue of a top journal like the American Economic Review. Implications are discussed.
Item Type: | Working or Discussion Paper (Working Paper) | ||||
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Subjects: | Z Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources > ZA Information resources L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Research Assessment Exercise (Great Britain), Universities and colleges -- Finance, Periodicals -- Publishing, Government aid to higher education, Research -- Evaluation | ||||
Series Name: | Warwick economic research papers | ||||
Publisher: | University of Warwick, Department of Economics | ||||
Place of Publication: | Coventry | ||||
Official Date: | 3 April 2006 | ||||
Dates: |
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Number: | No.744 | ||||
Number of Pages: | 14 | ||||
Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Status: | Not Peer Reviewed | ||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) |
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