Higher Citation Rates Research Articles

Using Citations to Evaluate the Quality of Agricultural Economics Journals

Evaluating the quality of agricultural economics journals usually involves a subjective process based on the reputations of one's colleagues. Total citations and citations per article are commonly used in economics and other subject areas to classify journals. Citation data are commonly available in such publications as the Social Science Citation Index. Many agricultural economics journals are not included in the index, and so cannot be ranked on the basis of citations. To overcome this limitation, I employed an underused resource (my teenage son) to summarize all citations published in the 1992–93 issues of nineteen agricultural economics journals. I then used the citation data to rank the nineteen journals. The results were largely as expected, but with some surprises. As expected, the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics were highly ranked. Two specialty journals, the Agricultural Finance Review and the Journal of Agricultural Cooperatives, also yielded high citation rates per article. These results suggest that, in an era of shrinking professional membership, some agricultural economics journals might enhance their chances for long-term survival by specializing in a topic area, particularly one that reaches nonagricultural economist audiences.

PUBLICATION RECORDS AND TENURE DECISIONS IN THE FIELD OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

To better define levels of accomplishment for publishing journal articles in strategic management, a bibliometric study was performed on the publication records of 96 doctorates in the field whose first post-degree job was in academics. By examining 20 journals that are outlets for research in strategic management, publication records were developed for each individual for the first 5-10 years following receipt of the doctoral degree. Two factors influenced the publication records of these new faculty. Having publications prior to receiving the doctorate and getting a first job at an institution with a graduate program in management were associated with more frequent publishing after an academic career began. As expected, the number of papers published was related to the likelihood of receiving tenure. However, despite the fact that they had produced more papers during the first 5 years than male faculty members and had higher citation rates, female faculty members were less likely to receive tenure. The findings are discussed in terms of institutional policy for hiring and evaluating new faculty.

Changes in modern psychology: A citation analysis of the Kuhnian displacement thesis.

Many psychologists believe a Kuhnian revolution—a competitive event between incommensurate paradigms in which a winner displaces losers after chaotic upheaval— has occurred in psychology. Cognitive psychology is said to be displacing behavioral psychology and psychoanalysis, but few published data support this thesis. Social science citation records from the leading journals in cognitive psychology, behavioral psychology, and psychoanalysis between 1979 and 1988 were analyzed. Results show an increasing trend for cognitive psychology but also high citation rates with no downward trends for behavioral psychology. Citation rates for psychoanalysis are not as high, but indications of decline are marginal. These findings do not support the Kuhnian displacement thesis on changes in modern psychology.

Deterrent Effects of the Police on Crime: A Replication and Theoretical Extension

This study replicates and then extends Wilson and Boland's (1978) theory of the deterrent effect of policing on crime rates in American cities by linking it to recent thinking on control of urban disorder and incivilities (Sherman, 1986; Skogan and Maxfield, 1981). The theory posits that police departments with a legalistic style tend to generate policies of proactive patrol (e.g., high traffic citation rate and frequent stops of suspicious or disorderly persons), which in turn may decrease crime rates either (1) indirectly, by increasing the probability of arrest, or (2) directly, by decreasing the crime rate through a deterrent effect regarding perceived threat of social control. We test both these propositions in an examination of robbery rates in 171 American cities in 1980. Overall, the major results suggest that proactive policing has direct inverse effects on aggregate robbery rates, independent of known determinants of crime (e.g., poverty, inequality, region, and family disruption). Moreover, when we demographically disaggregate the robbery rate the direct inverse effect of aggressive policing on robbery is largest for adult offenders and black offenders. We examine the reasons for these findings and discuss their theoretical and policy implications.

Research by regional psychiatrists, 1978-84.

An audit was undertaken of research by psychiatrists in Australia and New Zealand published in an accepted scientific journal during the seven-year period, 1978-84. The key analyses were limited to first authors only and identified 89 responsible for 372 scientific publications. Despite an increase in psychiatrists in the region there was no evidence of any increased research output during the seven years. While the distribution of researchers across the region was consistent with the overall distribution of psychiatrists, relatively strong and consistent differences in measures of quality and quantity of research output were demonstrated between geographical areas. The audit examined published research by topic, by publishing journal, and by the affiliation of the researcher. Several measures of research quality and productivity were internally and externally validated. Profiles are given of the average researcher and of those distinguished in terms of high productivity and high citation rates.

AT WHAT AGES DID OUTSTANDING AMERICAN ASTRONOMERS PUBLISH THEIR MOST-CITED PAPERS

ABSTRACT We selected 22 outstanding American astronomers whose careers terminated before 1970 and we counted the citations in 197() 79 to the papers published throughout their careers. It turns out that most (84%) of the citations are to papers published between the ages of 40 and 75 years. If we overcorrect for the fact that citations to outstanding papers decreased exponentially after a peak, the change is small: the years account for 77% of the citations and the years account for 94%. These results are not sensitive to the types of research done by these astronomers. Two likely reasons for the high citation rates in the later years are that astronomers tend to write reviews and do major studies in later years, both of which are highly cited. These results apply to outstanding normal astronomers and not necessarily to the rare revolutionary scientist.