Faculty Perceptions and Readership Patterns of Finance Journals: A Global View

Abstract:     
With an increased pressure to publish in internationally highly regarded journals, faculty evaluations frequently depend on journal rankings. Nonetheless, debates about journal rankings frequently arise since they do not take into account the underlying diversity of the finance research community. Therefore this study examines how contextual factors such as a researcher's geographical origin, research interests, seniority and journal affiliation may influence their journal quality perceptions and readership patterns. Our analysis is based on a worldwide sample of 862 finance academics where the perceived journal quality is measured across a number of dimensions, including journal familiarity, average rank position, percent of respondents who classify a journal as top tier, and readership. The results support that while there is remarkable consistency in identifying the top journals, for the remaining journals a significant variation on journal quality perceptions exists based on a researcher's geographic origin, research interests, seniority and journal affiliation.

Keywords: Journal Rankings, Finance, Diversity

JEL Classifications: M40, G00

Working Paper Series