Publishing in the Majors: A Comparison of Accounting, Finance, Management, and Marketing

Edward P. Swanson
Texas A&M University

Abstract: Publication in top-tier journals is the primary criterion for promotion at many business schools and a strong influence on salary, teaching load, and research support. Business schools evaluate publication records by comparing the quality and quantity of top-tier research articles to those of peers within the same discipline (intradisciplinary) and to academics from other business disciplines (interdisciplinary). I examine the period from 1980 to 1999 and find that significant differences exist in the number of articles and proportion of faculty who published in the “major” journals in accounting, finance, management, and marketing. Most notably, top-tier accounting journals publish substantially fewer major articles than journals in the other three business disciplines. In addition, I find the proportion of doctoral faculty publishing a major article has declined in all four disciplines over the 1980 to 1999 period. These results are consistent with predictions from the q-r model of the research review process.

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