Research Productivity in the Journal of Business Research: 1985–1999

Abstract

This article presents a thorough analysis of the research published in the Journal of Business Research ( JBR) during the period of 1985–1999. First, each article published in JBR was categorized into a primary content area according to the broad subject areas covered by the journal's editorial review boards. Marketing represents the largest area with 33% of the articles, followed by buyer behavior (18%) and international business (16%). Second, the contributing authors during the period of 1985–1999 were ranked according to the number of articles they had published in the journal. William R. Darden was the most published author with 9 articles, whereas Cynthia Webster was ranked first when adjusting for coauthorship. A similar analysis was conducted at the institutional level, with Louisiana State University being the top publisher with 27 articles. Additionally, we examined the impact of the published JBR articles in the top 12 journals corresponding to the JBR content areas. In this analysis, we found that JBR articles are heavily referenced in JBR, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science ( JAMS), Journal of Marketing ( JM), Journal of Retailing ( JR), Journal of Marketing Research ( JMR), Journal of International Business Studies ( JIBS), and Journal of International Marketing ( JIM). Individually, the JBR contributions by Robert E. Spekman and Shelby D. Hunt have had the most impact in the 12 journals used in the citation analysis. On the article level, the contribution by Emin Babakus and Gregory W. Boller titled “An Empirical Assessment of the SERVQUAL Scale” (published in 1992) has been the most frequently referenced article, having been cited 16 times since its publication.