External Influence as an Indicator of Scholarly Importance

33 Pages Posted: 18 Sep 2013

See all articles by Ho Fai Chan

Ho Fai Chan

Queensland University of Technology

Bruno S. Frey

CREMA; University of Basel

Jana Gallus

UCLA Anderson

Markus Schaffner

Queensland University of Technology

Benno Torgler

Queensland University of Technology; CREMA; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research)

Stephen Whyte

Queensland University of Technology

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Date Written: September 18, 2013

Abstract

The external influence of scholarly activity has to date been measured primarily in terms of publications and citations, metrics that also dominate the promotion and grant processes. Yet the array of scholarly activities visible to the outside world are far more extensive and recently developed technologies allow broader and more accurate measurement of their influence on the wider societal discourse. Accordingly we analyze the relation between the internal and external influences of 723 top economics scholars using the number of pages indexed by Google and Bing as a measure of their external influence. Although the correlation between internal and external influence is low overall, it is highest among recipients of major key awards such as the Nobel Prize or John Bates Clark medal, and particularly strong for those ranked among the top 100 researchers.

Keywords: academia, scholarly importance, role of economics, social importance of economists, external and internal influence, academic performance, awards

JEL Classification: A110, A130, Z180, Z190

Suggested Citation

Chan, Ho Fai and Frey, Bruno S. and Gallus, Jana and Schaffner, Markus and Torgler, Benno and Whyte, Stephen, External Influence as an Indicator of Scholarly Importance (September 18, 2013). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 4390, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2327485 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2327485

Ho Fai Chan

Queensland University of Technology ( email )

2 George Street
Brisbane, Queensland 4000
Australia

Bruno S. Frey

CREMA ( email )

Südstrasse 11
Zurich, CH 8008
Switzerland
+41 44 380 00 78 (Phone)

University of Basel ( email )

Peter Merian-Weg 6
Basel, 4002
Switzerland

Jana Gallus

UCLA Anderson ( email )

110 Westwood Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1481
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.janagallus.com/

Markus Schaffner

Queensland University of Technology ( email )

2 George Street
Brisbane, Queensland 4000
Australia

Benno Torgler (Contact Author)

Queensland University of Technology ( email )

GPO Box 2434
2 George Street
Brisbane, Queensland 4001
Australia

CREMA

Gellertstrasse 18
Basel
Zurich, CH 8006
Switzerland

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

Stephen Whyte

Queensland University of Technology

2 George Street
Brisbane, Queensland 4000
Australia

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