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

Abstract

The increased emphasis on the publication requirements for accounting academics in recent years has made the quality of academic journals a frequently debated issue. Perhaps many of the debates that arise between academic researchers on the issue of journal quality may be due to differences in perspective. Given that one's perspective may depend on a number of factors such as their geographic location, research interests, or academic rank, this study examines how such factors effect journal perceptions among accounting faculty. Based on an online survey, we examine the journal quality perceptions and readership patterns of a worldwide sample of 1,231 accounting academics. The perceived quality of journals is measured across a number of dimensions including journal popularity, average rank position, percent of respondents who classify a journal as top tier, and readership. In addition to providing alternative measures of journal quality across a large worldwide sample, this study contributes by demonstrating that significant variations exist in the ranking and readership of journals, depending on the respondents' geographic origin, research interests, seniority and journal affiliation.

JEL Classification: M40