Subdiscipline-Specific Journal Rankings: Whither Applied Economics?

Abstract

We use SSCI data to generate subdiscipline-specific rankings of economics journals for each of 16 different JEL categories. Not surprisingly, a small core of elite journals dominate all subdisciplines. Beyond that core, however, there is considerable variation in journal rankings, depending on the subdiscipline involved. This disaggregated approach also permits estimation of the relative weights implicitly associated with each field in traditional disciplinary journal rankings -- applied economics fields implicitly carry zero weight -- and the construction of alternative journal rankings based on explicit weighting of subdisciplines, as might be more appropriate, for example, in judging the publications records of individuals with job descriptions focused on particular, applied fields in economics.

Note: This is not the actual abstract but a description of the paper.

JEL Classification: A1