The Real Estate Academic Leadership (REAL) Rankings for 2011–2015

Abstract

The intellectual contributions of real estate to the larger body of knowledge makes real estate interdisciplinary, often creating difficulty related to where real estate publications stand compared to the traditional disciplines of economics, finance, marketing, urban studies, public administration, and sociology. The purpose of the Real Estate Academic Leadership (REAL) rankings is to highlight the authors and institutions demonstrating achievement in intellectual contributions to the field of real estate. The rankings provide an opportunity to measure the authors and institutions engaged in real estate research against one another. Moreover, for those being evaluated for promotion and tenure, REAL offers a source for evaluation relative to one's peers. Ultimately, the REAL rankings index allows outside institutions and individuals to understand where the greatest occurrence of high-level research is currently being conducted.It is widely documented and accepted in the peer-reviewed literature that the top three real estate journals are the Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, the Journal of Real Estate Research, and Real Estate Economics. These three journals serve as the basis for the REAL author and institutional rankings. Over time, should existing real estate journals rise in prominence, or should one of these journals be deemed less worthy, the core journals for these rankings may also change.