Thirty-Five Years of Peer-Reviewed Publishing by North American Economics PhDs: Quantity, Quality, and Beyond

Ali Sina Önder,Hakan Yilmazkuday

doi:10.1515/openec-2020-0005

Ali Sina Önder, Hakan Yilmazkuday

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1515/openec-2020-0005

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Abstract

Abstract We provide a descriptive analysis of various qualities of peer-reviewed journal publications of graduates of North American economics PhD programs between 1980 and 2014. We find that the share of single-author papers in all published papers diminishes from 60% in 1980 to 50% in 1990 and then further down to 20% in 2014. All-female and mixed-gender author teams publish significantly less compared with all-male author teams between 1980 and 1999, but we find no significant difference after 2000. While male authors are over-represented in micro and macroeconomics, female authors are over-represented in labor and development economics. Although the quality of outlets for most fields does not change much over years, labor economics and economic history are published significantly better after 2000.

Highlights

North American universities produce a signi cant number of economics PhD graduates; the average size of a graduating cohort each year has been slightly more than one thousand students since the late 1980s
We provide a descriptive analysis of various qualities of peer-reviewed journal publications of graduates of North American economics PhD programs between 1980 and 2014
Such cohort sizes may be comparable to those in other competing markets, North American PhD students have a higher quality publication record on average compared with their peers in other countries or regions

Summary

Introduction

North American universities produce a signi cant number of economics PhD graduates; the average size of a graduating cohort each year has been slightly more than one thousand students since the late 1980s. Such cohort sizes may be comparable to those in other competing markets, North American PhD students have a higher quality publication record on average compared with their peers in other countries or regions.. The aim of this paper is to deliver detailed descriptive evidence on publication patterns of graduates of North American economics departments’ PhD programs, which we refer to as North American PhDs throughout this paper. We employ complete publication records from the EconLit between 1980 and 2014 for the population of North American PhDs who graduated between 1970

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