title: Tools for evaluating research output. Are citation-based rankings of economics journals stable?
abstract: Journal rankings are important for evaluating research output, for academic promotions, and for allocating funds. Examining the assignment of economics journals to different quartiles of citation-based rankings, the authors found that about 60% of journals remain in the same quartile and about 95% of journals remain in the same or move in a neighborhood quartile within 5- to 10-year intervals. Top journal rankings exhibit even more inertia, which is a desirable property for decisions on promotion, tenure, or institutional evaluation. A reexamination of journal assignment to different quality categories every 5 or 10 years, therefore, suffices for practical evaluation purposes.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Economics, University of Innsbruck, Universitaetsstrasse 15/4, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria. matthias.sutter@uibk.ac.at
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sutter
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Kocher
mesh_terms: D000043:Abstracting and Indexing; D015706:Bibliometrics; D002322:Career Mobility; D004467:Economics; D006801:Humans; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012109:Research Support as Topic