Ranking Accounting Journals by Topical Area and Methodology

• In Event: Integrating IT Into AIS

Abstract

At many institutions, only a small subset of journals “count” for accounting faculty evaluations (e.g., top 3/6 journals); yet, prior research shows these journals are not necessarily reflective of the broad topical areas of accounting research and do not publish the most cited papers in all topical areas. To address this issue, this paper creates separate rankings of a set of respected accounting journals by topical area and methodology. We separately rank journals for three different time periods by which journals publish the most highly cited articles in accounting information systems (AIS), audit, financial, managerial, tax, and other topical areas. We also create rankings by research methodologies, including analytical, archival, experimental, and other research methodologies. We find that for financial accounting, archival research, and analytical research the top 3/6 characterization is descriptive of which journals publish the most cited work. For all other topical areas and research methodologies at least one additional journal is more highly ranked than the traditional top 3/6 characterization. Thus, institutions that focus solely on rewarding publications in the top 3 or top 6 journals are not incentivizing scholars to publish in the best journals for all topical areas and research methodologies.

Authors

• John A Barrick, Brigham Young University

• Nathan W Mecham, Brigham Young University

• Scott L Summers, Brigham Young University

• David A Wood, Brigham Young University