Über die Arbeit wissenschaftlicher Zeitschriften in der Ökonomie

Graduate programs in economics offer courses that lead to written drafts of important research; they teach little about how to refine those drafts and, more generally, about the personell interactions that cut and polish intellectual diamonds in the rough.

(Hamermesh 1992, S. 169)

Abstract

Two separate functions are quite clearly associated with the publication of articles. In their information function they are intended to contain a high informative value for the reader as well as serving the purpose of rapidly disseminating new knowledge. At the same time they are intended, in their selection function, to contribute to the assessment of scientists, institutions and journals themselves. Here it is frequency of citation which is used as the common indicator.

Increasing growth in the number of articles published coupled with declining returns to scale of the readership calls into question the journals’ information value. Various empirical studies cast considerable doubt on the reliability of the review procedure for manuscripts. There exist several indications that reputation, professional contacts to the editor as well as a self-perpetuating tendency among members of a given school of thought all lead to distortions in the manuscript selection procedure. Similarly the citation frequency must also be viewed as a highly questionable demand-side quality indicator due to the evidence of circular citations, citing oneself and the like.

The present critique leads to an investigation of a market failure. Central problem areas are to be found in the nature of the journal as a quasi-public good as well as in inadequate conventions of what constitutes quality. Submission fees, pecuniary incentives for the referees and the possibility of an open discussion forum on review articles accessible via the Internet are all considered as pragmatic ways of achieving improvements.