IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp6082.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Publishing Trends in Economics across Colleges and Universities, 1991-2007

Author

Listed:
  • Winkler, Anne E.

    (University of Missouri-St. Louis)

  • Levin, Sharon

    (University of Missouri-St. Louis)

  • Stephan, Paula

    (Georgia State University)

  • Glänzel, Wolfgang

    (KU Leuven)

Abstract

There is good reason to think that non-elite programs in economics may be producing relatively more research than in the past: Research expectations have been ramped-up at non-PhD institutions and new information technologies have changed the way academic knowledge is produced and exchanged. This study investigates this question by examining publishing productivity in economics (and business) using data from the Web of Science (Knowledge) for a broad set of institutions – both elite and non-elite – over a 17-year period, from 1991 through 2007. Institutions are grouped into six tiers using a variety of sources. The analysis provides evidence that non-elite institutions are gaining on their more elite counterparts, but the magnitude of the gains are small. Thus, the story is more of constancy than of change, even in the face of changing technology and rising research expectations.

Suggested Citation

  • Winkler, Anne E. & Levin, Sharon & Stephan, Paula & Glänzel, Wolfgang, 2011. "Publishing Trends in Economics across Colleges and Universities, 1991-2007," IZA Discussion Papers 6082, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6082
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp6082.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kim, E. Han & Morse, Adair & Zingales, Luigi, 2009. "Are elite universities losing their competitive edge?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3), pages 353-381, September.
    2. Ajay Agrawal & Avi Goldfarb, 2008. "Restructuring Research: Communication Costs and the Democratization of University Innovation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(4), pages 1578-1590, September.
    3. Shorrocks, A F, 1980. "The Class of Additively Decomposable Inequality Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(3), pages 613-625, April.
    4. Winkler, Anne E. & Glänzel, Wolfgang & Levin, Sharon & Stephan, Paula, 2011. "The Diffusion of Information Technology and the Increased Propensity of Teams to Transcend Institutional and National Borders," IZA Discussion Papers 5857, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Rabah Amir & Malgorzata Knauff, 2008. "Ranking Economics Departments Worldwide on the Basis of PhD Placement," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(1), pages 185-190, August.
    6. David N. Laband & Robert D. Tollison, 2003. "Dry Holes in Economic Research," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 161-173, May.
    7. Glenn Ellison, 2011. "Is Peer Review In Decline?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(3), pages 635-657, July.
    8. Ana Rute Cardoso & Paulo Guimarães & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2010. "Trends in Economic Research: An International Perspective," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(4), pages 479-494, November.
    9. William E. Becker & William H. Greene & John J. Siegfried, 2011. "Do Undergraduate Majors or Ph.D. Students Affect Faculty Size?," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 56(1), pages 69-77, May.
    10. Tracy, Joseph & Waldfogel, Joel, 1997. "The Best Business Schools: A Market-Based Approach," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(1), pages 1-31, January.
    11. Stephan, Paula E., 2010. "The Economics of Science," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 217-273, Elsevier.
    12. Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), 2010. "Handbook of the Economics of Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    13. Tom Coupé, 2004. "What Do We Know about Ourselves? on the Economics of Economics," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(2), pages 197-215, May.
    14. Daniel S. Hamermesh & Sharon M. Oster, 2002. "Tools or Toys? The Impact of High Technology on Scholarly Productivity," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(4), pages 539-555, October.
    15. Ragan Jr, James F. & Warren, John T. & Bratsberg, Bernt, 1999. "How similar are pay structures in 'similar' departments of economics?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 347-360, June.
    16. Paul Oyer, 2006. "The Macro-Foundations of Microeconomics: Initial Labor Market Conditions and Long-Term Outcomes for Economists," NBER Working Papers 12157, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Kocher, Martin G & Sutter, Matthias, 2001. "The Institutional Concentration of Authors in Top Journals of Economics during the Last Two Decades," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 111(472), pages 405-421, June.
    18. Wolfgang Glänzel & András Schubert, 2003. "A new classification scheme of science fields and subfields designed for scientometric evaluation purposes," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 56(3), pages 357-367, March.
    19. Sharon G. Levin & Paula E. Stephan & Anne E. Winkler, 2012. "Innovation in academe: the diffusion of information technologies," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(14), pages 1765-1782, May.
    20. Jerry G. Thursby, 2000. "What Do We Say about Ourselves and What Does It Mean? Yet Another Look at Economics Department Research," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(2), pages 383-404, June.
    21. Cynthia L. Harter & William E. Becker & Michael Watts, 2004. "Changing Incentives and Time Allocations for Academic Economists: Results from 1995 and 2000 National Surveys," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 89-97, January.
    22. Waverly W. Ding & Sharon G. Levin & Paula E. Stephan & Anne E. Winkler, 2010. "The Impact of Information Technology on Academic Scientists' Productivity and Collaboration Patterns," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(9), pages 1439-1461, September.
    23. Howard Bodenhorn, 1997. "Teachers, and Scholars Too: Economic Scholarship at Elite Liberal Arts Colleges," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(4), pages 323-336, December.
    24. Glenn Ellison, 2002. "The Slowdown of the Economics Publishing Process," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(5), pages 947-993, October.
    25. Therese C. Grijalva & Clifford Nowell, 2008. "A Guide to Graduate Study in Economics: Ranking Economics Departments by Fields of Expertise," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 74(4), pages 971-996, April.
    26. Paul Oyer, 2006. "Initial Labor Market Conditions and Long-Term Outcomes for Economists," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(3), pages 143-160, Summer.
    27. Hodgson, Geoffrey M & Rothman, Harry, 1999. "The Editors and Authors of Economics Journals: A Case of Institutional Oligopoly?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(453), pages 165-186, February.
    28. Howard J. Wall, 2009. "Journal rankings in economics: handle with care," Working Papers 2009-014, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    29. Kristie M. Engemann & Howard J. Wall, 2009. "A journal ranking for the ambitious economist," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 91(May), pages 127-140.
    30. James E. Hartley & Michael D. Robinson, 1997. "Economic Research at National Liberal Arts Colleges: School Rankings," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(4), pages 337-349, December.
    31. Howard Bodenhorn, 2003. "Economic Scholarship at Elite Liberal Arts Colleges: A Citation Analysis with Rankings," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(4), pages 341-359, December.
    32. Thomas Mayer, 2004. "Dry Holes in Economic Research: Comment," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 621-626, November.
    33. Michael E. Whitman & Anthony R. Hendrickson & Anthony M. Townsend, 1999. "Research Commentary. Academic Rewards for Teaching, Research, and Service: Data and Discourse," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 10(2), pages 99-109, June.
    34. Tibor Braun & Wolfgang Glänzel & András Schubert, 2006. "A Hirsch-type index for journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 69(1), pages 169-173, October.
    35. Michael Graber & Andrey Launov & Klaus Wälde, 2008. "Publish or Perish? The Increasing Importance of Publications for Prospective Economics Professors in Austria, Germany and Switzerland," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 9(4), pages 457-472, November.
    36. Zivney, Terry L & Bertin, William J, 1992. "Publish or Perish: What the Competition Is Really Doing," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(1), pages 295-329, March.
    37. Tom Coupé, 2003. "Revealed Performances: Worldwide Rankings of Economists and Economics Departments, 1990-2000," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(6), pages 1309-1345, December.
    38. Michael Graber & Andrey Launov & Klaus Wälde, 2008. "Publish or Perish? The Increasing Importance of Publications for Prospective Economics Professors in Austria, Germany and Switzerland," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 9(4), pages 457-472, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    RePEc Biblio mentions

    As found on the RePEc Biblio, the curated bibliography for Economics:
    1. > Economics Profession > Publishing in Economics

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Pedro Albarrán & Raquel Carrasco & Javier Ruiz-Castillo, 2017. "Geographic mobility and research productivity in a selection of top world economics departments," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(1), pages 241-265, April.

    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. Winkler Anne E. & Glanzel Wolfang & Levin Sharon & Stephan Paula, 2011. "The Diffusion of Information Technology and the Increased Propensity of Teams to Transcend Institutional and National Borders," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 201110, University of Turin.
    2. Daniel S. Hamermesh, 2018. "Citations in Economics: Measurement, Uses, and Impacts," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(1), pages 115-156, March.
    3. Kim, E. Han & Morse, Adair & Zingales, Luigi, 2009. "Are elite universities losing their competitive edge?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3), pages 353-381, September.
    4. Libman, A., 2010. "Economics in Germany – from National to Global," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, issue 8, pages 155-158.
    5. Rajeev K. Goel & João Ricardo Faria, 2007. "Proliferation Of Academic Journals: Effects On Research Quantity And Quality," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 536-549, November.
    6. Ding, Waverly W. & Levin, Sharon G. & Stephan, Paula E. & Winkler, Ann E., 2009. "The Impact of Information Technology on Scientists’ Productivity, Quality and Collaboration Patterns," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt80n3512q, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    7. Waverly W. Ding & Sharon G. Levin & Paula E. Stephan & Anne E. Winkler, 2010. "The Impact of Information Technology on Academic Scientists' Productivity and Collaboration Patterns," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(9), pages 1439-1461, September.
    8. Antonelli, Cristiano, 2017. "Digital knowledge generation and the appropriability trade-off," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(10), pages 991-1002.
    9. Justus Haucap & Johannes Muck, 2015. "What drives the relevance and reputation of economics journals? An update from a survey among economists," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 103(3), pages 849-877, June.
    10. João Faria & Rajeev Goel, 2010. "Returns to networking in academia," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 103-117, July.
    11. Benno Torgler & Marco Piatti, 2011. "A Century of American Economic Review," Working Papers 2011.27, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    12. Walter Novaes, 2007. "A Pesquisa em Economia no Brasil: Uma avaliação empírica dos conflitos entre quantidade e qualidade," Textos para discussão 553, Department of Economics PUC-Rio (Brazil).
    13. Bosquet, Clément & Combes, Pierre-Philippe, 2017. "Sorting and agglomeration economies in French economics departments," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 27-44.
    14. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4jn6cjcel9913942jpruv3pju6 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Jenny Bourne & Nathan Grawe & Nathan D. Grawe & Michael Hemesath & Maya Jensen, 2022. "Scholarly Activity among Economists at Liberal Arts Colleges: A Life Cycle Analysis," Working Papers 2022-01, Carleton College, Department of Economics.
    16. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6hol1fq95j9pqofr3i7rv5bssq is not listed on IDEAS
    17. 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.
    18. Franklin G. Mixon & Kamal P. Upadhyaya, 2024. "When forgiveness beats permission: Exploring the scholarly ethos of clinical faculty in economics," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 83(1), pages 75-91, January.
    19. Christian Catalini & Christian Fons-Rosen & Patrick Gaulé, 2020. "How Do Travel Costs Shape Collaboration?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(8), pages 3340-3360, August.
    20. Günther G. Schulze & Susanne Warning & Christian Wiermann, 2008. "What and How Long Does It Take to Get Tenure? The Case of Economics and Business Administration in Austria, Germany and Switzerland," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 9, pages 473-505, November.
    21. Pierre Dubois & Jean-Charles Rochet & Jean-Marc Schlenker, 2014. "Productivity and mobility in academic research: evidence from mathematicians," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(3), pages 1669-1701, March.
    22. James B. Davies & Martin G. Kocher & Matthias Sutter, 2008. "Economics research in Canada: a long-run assessment of journal publications," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 41(1), pages 22-45, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    publishing trends; research productivity; higher education; inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:iza:izadps:dp6082. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    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.