IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/empeco/v57y2019i3d10.1007_s00181-018-1466-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Which leading journal leads? Idea diffusion in economics research journals

Author

Listed:
  • Allen Bellas

    (Metropolitan State University)

  • Lea-Rachel Kosnik

    (University of Missouri-St. Louis)

Abstract

Do general interest journals set the trends in research attention to particular topics, or is it field journals that have greater initial influence? In this paper, we focus on the subfield of environmental economics and attempt to empirically identify whether it has been the leading general interest journals or the top environmental economics field journal that has set the research trends on climate change, air pollution, water pollution, and other topics. We use textual analysis and Granger causality tests to investigate the question of which journals lead in publication of papers related to these topics in environmental economics. Our results indicate that leadership depends on the topic; however, there is some evidence that the top field journal in environmental economics generally took the lead in more controversial topics.

Suggested Citation

  • Allen Bellas & Lea-Rachel Kosnik, 2019. "Which leading journal leads? Idea diffusion in economics research journals," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 901-921, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:57:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s00181-018-1466-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-018-1466-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00181-018-1466-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00181-018-1466-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sascha O. Becker & Ludger Woessmann, 2013. "Not the Opium of the People: Income and Secularization in a Panel of Prussian Counties," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 539-544, May.
    2. Kosnik, Lea-Rachel, 2015. "What have economists been doing for the last 50 years? A text analysis of published academic research from 1960-2010," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 9, pages 1-38.
    3. Björk, Bo-Christer & Solomon, David, 2013. "The publishing delay in scholarly peer-reviewed journals," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 914-923.
    4. Lea-Rachel Kosnik, 2016. "In Tandem Or Out Of Sync? Academic Economics Research And Public Policy Measures," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 34(1), pages 190-202, January.
    5. Walter N. Thurman & Mark E. Fisher, 1988. "Chickens, Eggs, and Causality, or Which Came First?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 70(2), pages 237-238.
    6. David N. Laband & Robert D. Tollison & Gokhan Karahan, 2002. "Quality Control in Economics," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 315-334, August.
    7. E. Han Kim & Adair Morse & Luigi Zingales, 2006. "What Has Mattered to Economics Since 1970," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(4), pages 189-202, Fall.
    8. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Brandice Canes-Wrone & Steven J. Davis & Jonathan Rodden, 2014. "Why Has US Policy Uncertainty Risen since 1960?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 56-60, May.
    9. Kosnik, Lea-Rachel, 2015. "What have economists been doing for the last 50 years? A text analysis of published academic research from 1960-2010," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 9, pages 1-38.
    10. Daniel S. Hamermesh, 2013. "Six Decades of Top Economics Publishing: Who and How?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 51(1), pages 162-172, March.
    11. David Card & Stefano DellaVigna, 2013. "Nine Facts about Top Journals in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 51(1), pages 144-161, March.
    12. Michael A. Kelly & Stephen Bruestle, 2011. "Trend Of Subjects Published In Economics Journals 1969–2007," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(3), pages 658-673, July.
    13. Matthew Gentzkow & Jesse M. Shapiro, 2010. "What Drives Media Slant? Evidence From U.S. Daily Newspapers," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(1), pages 35-71, January.
    14. Stelios Katranidis & Theodore Panagiotidis & Costas Zontanos, 2017. "Economists, Research Performance and National Inbreeding: North Versus South," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 46(1), pages 145-163, February.
    15. Granger, C W J, 1969. "Investigating Causal Relations by Econometric Models and Cross-Spectral Methods," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 37(3), pages 424-438, July.
    16. repec:bla:kyklos:v:55:y:2002:i:3:p:315-34 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Whaples, Robert, 1991. "A Quantitative History of the Journal of Economc History and the Cliometric Revolution," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(2), pages 289-301, June.
    18. Peter Kennedy, 2003. "A Guide to Econometrics, 5th Edition," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 5, volume 1, number 026261183x, April.
    19. David N. Laband & Robert D. Tollison, 2000. "Intellectual Collaboration," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(3), pages 632-661, June.
    20. Raquel Carrasco & Javier Ruiz-Castillo, 2014. "The Evolution Of The Scientific Productivity Of Highly Productive Economists," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(1), pages 1-16, January.
    21. Anet Weterings & Roderik Ponds, 2009. "Do Regional and Non-regional Knowledge Flows Differ? An Empirical Study on Clustered Firms in the Dutch Life Sciences and Computing Services Industry," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 11-31.
    22. Pantelis Kalaitzidakis & Theofanis P. Mamuneas & Thanasis Stengos, 2003. "Rankings of Academic Journals and Institutions in Economics," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(6), pages 1346-1366, December.
    23. Tove Faber Frandsen & Jeppe Nicolaisen, 2011. "Praise the bridge that carries you over: Testing the flattery citation hypothesis," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 62(5), pages 807-818, May.
    24. Loet Leydesdorff, 2008. "Caveats for the use of citation indicators in research and journal evaluations," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 59(2), pages 278-287, January.
    25. Tove Faber Frandsen & Jeppe Nicolaisen, 2011. "Praise the bridge that carries you over: Testing the flattery citation hypothesis," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 62(5), pages 807-818, May.
    26. Rosell, Carlos & Agrawal, Ajay, 2009. "Have university knowledge flows narrowed?: Evidence from patent data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 1-13, February.
    27. Paul C. Tetlock, 2007. "Giving Content to Investor Sentiment: The Role of Media in the Stock Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(3), pages 1139-1168, June.
    28. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:3:p:1259-1294 is not listed on IDEAS
    29. Nelson, Charles R, 1979. "Granger Causality and the Natural Rate Hypothesis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(2), pages 390-394, April.
    30. Kosnik, Lea-Rachel, 2014. "Determinants of contract completeness: An environmental regulatory application," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 198-208.
    31. Lydia L. Lange & P. A. Frensch, 1999. "Gaining scientific recognition by position: Does editorship increase citation rates?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 44(3), pages 459-486, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Simon Ek & Magnus Henrekson, 2019. "The Geography and Concentration of Authorship in the Top Five: Implications For European Economics," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 66(2), pages 215-245, May.
    2. Andrei Dubovik & Clemens Fiedler & Alexei Parakhonyak, 2022. "Temporal Patterns in Economics Research," CPB Discussion Paper 440, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    3. Lea-Rachel Kosnik, 2018. "Cap-and-trade versus carbon taxes: which market mechanism gets the most attention?," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 151(3), pages 605-618, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Allen Bellas & Lea-Rachel Kosnik, 2019. "Which leading journal leads? Idea diffusion in economics research journals," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 901-921, September.
    2. Lea Kosnik, 2016. "JEL Codes: What Do They Mean and Are They Used Consistently?," Working Papers 1011, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Department of Economics.
    3. Lea†Rachel Kosnik, 2018. "A Survey Of Jel Codes: What Do They Mean And Are They Used Consistently?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 249-272, February.
    4. Kosnik, Lea-Rachel, 2015. "What have economists been doing for the last 50 years? A text analysis of published academic research from 1960-2010," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 9, pages 1-38.
    5. Lea-Rachel Kosnik, 2016. "In Tandem Or Out Of Sync? Academic Economics Research And Public Policy Measures," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 34(1), pages 190-202, January.
    6. Kosnik, Lea-Rachel, 2015. "What have economists been doing for the last 50 years? A text analysis of published academic research from 1960-2010," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 9, pages 1-38.
    7. Lea-Rachel Kosnik, 2018. "Cap-and-trade versus carbon taxes: which market mechanism gets the most attention?," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 151(3), pages 605-618, December.
    8. Thiago Dumont Oliveira & Marwil J. Dávila-Fernández, 2020. "From modelmania to datanomics? The rise of mathematical and quantitative methods in three top economics journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 123(1), pages 51-70, April.
    9. Kube, Roland & Löschel, Andreas & Mertens, Henrik & Requate, Till, 2018. "Research trends in environmental and resource economics: Insights from four decades of JEEM," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 433-464.
    10. Ernest Aigner & Florentin Gloetzl & Matthias Aistleitner & Jakob Kapeller, 2018. "The focus of academic economics: before and after the crisis," ICAE Working Papers 75, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.
    11. Grażyna Bukowska & Jan Fałkowski & Beata Łopaciuk-Gonczaryk, 2014. "Teaming up or writing alone - authorship strategies in leading Polish economic journals," Working Papers 2014-29, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    12. Laurent Linnemer & Michael Visser, 2016. "The Most Cited Articles from the Top-5 Journals (1991-2015)," Working Papers 2016-26, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    13. José Edwards & Yann Giraud & Christophe Schinckus, 2018. "A quantitative turn in the historiography of economics?," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 283-290, October.
    14. Lutz Bornmann & Klaus Wohlrabe, 2024. "Recent Temporal Dynamics in Economics: Empirical Analyses of Annual Publications in Economic Fields," CESifo Working Paper Series 10881, CESifo.
    15. Katharina Rath & Klaus Wohlrabe, 2016. "Trends in economics publications represented by JEL categories between 2007 and 2013," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(9), pages 660-663, June.
    16. Püttmann, Vitus & Thomsen, Stephan L. & Trunzer, Johannes, 2020. "Zur Relevanz von Ausstattungsunterschieden für Forschungsleistungsvergleiche: Ein Diskussionsbeitrag für die Wirtschaftswissenschaften in Deutschland," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-679, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, revised Mar 2021.
    17. Katharina Rath & Klaus Wohlrabe, 2015. "Koautorenschaft in der Volkswirtschaftslehre," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 68(16), pages 51-53, August.
    18. Ali Sina Önder & Sergey V. Popov & Sascha Schweitzer, 2021. "Leadership in Scholarship: Editors’ Appointments and the Profession’s Narrative," Working Papers in Economics & Finance 2021-05, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth Business School, Economics and Finance Subject Group.
    19. José Alberto Molina & Alfredo Ferrer & David Iñiguez & Alejandro Rivero & Gonzalo Ruiz & Alfonso Tarancón, 2020. "Network analysis to measure academic performance in economics," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 995-1018, March.
    20. Onder, Ali Sina & Popov, Sergey V & Schweitzer, Sascha, 2018. "Leadership in Scholarship: Editors' Influence on the Profession's Narrative," Cardiff Economics Working Papers E2018/2, Cardiff University, Cardiff Business School, Economics Section.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental economics; Textual analysis; Granger causality; Research diffusion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A10 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - General
    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:57:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s00181-018-1466-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.