Starry-eyed II: the logistics journal ranking debate revisited

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 431-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan C. McKinnon
Keyword(s):  
Academic Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Research Quality ◽  
Journal Ranking ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Journal Rankings ◽  
Cast Doubt ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Paper Quality

Purpose In a previous paper (McKinnon, 2013), the author questioned the principle and practice of journal ranking and discussed its effects on logistics research. Since then several important developments have occurred prompting a fresh review of the issues. The paper summarises the results of this review with the aim of stimulating further discussion on the subject. Design/methodology/approach New literature on the journal ranking debate has been reviewed. The validity of the journal ranking as a proxy measure of paper quality is explored using data from the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) assessment. Changes to the ranking of ten logistics/supply chain management (SCM) journals in four listings are analysed, and possible reasons for the relatively low status of the journals are examined. Findings The influence of journal rankings on the academic research process is strengthening while the debate about their legitimacy has intensified. UK REF data cast doubt on the reliability of the journal ranking as an indicator of a paper’s merit. Logistics/SCM journals continue to occupy mid-to-lower tier positions in most listings, though there has been some improvement in their standing. Research limitations/implications The paper aims to alert those managing and undertaking logistics research to the dangers of overreliance on journal rankings in the measurement of research quality and productivity. Practical implications The paper may help logistics/SCM scholars to defend the position of their discipline and resist journal-ranking-induced pressures to marginalise it and devalue its outputs. Social implications In this paper, academic recruitment, promotion and motivation are considered. Originality/value The paper sheds new light on the relationship between journal ranking and individual paper quality, on recent changes in the rating of logistics/SCM journals and on the wider debate about the use of bibliometrics in assessing research quality.

scholarly journals Users and Social Science Research: Policy, Problems and Possibilities

1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 69-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Rappert
Keyword(s):  
Research Policy ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
User Involvement ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Policy Problems

Recent times have seen a significant reorientation in public funding for academic research across many countries. Public bodies in the UK have been at the forefront of such activities, typically justified in terms of a need to meet the challenges of international competitiveness and improve quality of life. One set of mechanisms advanced for further achieving these goals is the incorporation of users’ needs into various aspects of the research process. This paper examines some of the consequences of greater user involvement in the UK Economic and Social Research Council by drawing on both empirical evidence and more speculative argumentation. In doing so it poses some of the dilemmas for conceptualizing proper user involvement.

scholarly journals Improving UK retail academic-practitioner research: insights from relationship marketing

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-19
Author(s):  
Nelson Blackley ◽  
Sheilagh Mary Resnick ◽  
Kim Cassidy
Keyword(s):  
Relationship Marketing ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Retail Sector ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Building Relationships ◽  
Research Relationship ◽  
Multiple Data ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Relationship Benefits

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons for the continuing “gap” between UK retail academic research and practice. A relationship marketing (RM) lens, focussing on relationship antecedents, is used to develop a deeper understanding of the barriers to collaboration and propose new solutions to close the gap. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts a qualitative methodology to compile the evidence, using multiple data sources to identify the dynamics of the retail academic-practitioner divide. Findings The research illustrates a marked absence of the majority of the customer focussed, seller focussed and dyadic antecedents, essential for effective relational exchanges, and highlights that at the heart of the problem lies a lack of shared understanding of mutual relationship benefits with academics currently neither motivated nor incentivised to develop such relationships. Research limitations/implications Further research is needed to explore what characterises a successful sustainable research relationship. There is also a pressing need to understand the experience, skills and knowledge of “boundary spanners” who operate successfully in both academic and business cultures. Practical implications Universities should adopt a strategic approach towards building relationships with retailers based upon relationship antecedents. Reward structures should be developed to encourage academics to develop research relationships. Resources should be allocated to better defining and communicating the benefits of a university research relationship with retailers. Originality/value There has been limited empirical research on the academic-practitioner gap within the context of the UK retail sector. The RM lens draws attention to new insights about barriers to successful relationships and generates concrete ideas for closing the gap moving forward.

Knowledge Co production and Behavioural Change, Collaborative approaches for promoting low carbon mobility

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stewart Barr ◽  
Gareth Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Behavioural Change ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Productive Process ◽  
Emergent Literature ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Personal Travel

Behavioural change has become regarded as a key tool for policy makers to promote behavioural change that can reduce carbon emissions from personal travel. Yet academic research has suggested that promoting low carbon travel behaviours, in particular those associated with leisure and tourism practices, is particularly challenging because of the highly valued and conspicuous nature of the consumption involved. Accordingly, traditional top-down approaches to developing behavioural change campaigns have largely been ineffectual in this field and this chapter explores innovative ways to understand and develop behavioural change campaigns that are driven from the bottom upwards. In doing so, we draw on emergent literature from management studies and social marketing to explore how ideas of service dominant logic can be used to engage consumers in developing each stage of a behavioural change campaign. Using data and insights from research conducted in the south-east of the UK, we outline and evaluate the process for co-producing knowledge about low carbon travel and climate change. We illustrate how behavioural change campaign creation can be an engaging, lively and productive process of knowledge and experience sharing. The chapter ends by considering the role that co-production and co-creation can have in developing strategies for low carbon mobility and, more broadly, the ways in which publics understand and react to anthropogenic climate change.

Usage of Journal Rankings: An International Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ervin L. Black ◽  
Lesley Stainbank ◽  
Dan Elnathan ◽  
Begoña Giner ◽  
Sidney J. Gray ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Small Groups ◽  
Task Force ◽  
International Perspective ◽  
Research Quality ◽  
Journal Ranking ◽  
Promotion And Tenure ◽  
Journal Rankings ◽  
Global Engagement ◽  
Faculty Research Productivity ◽  
Set Up

ABSTRACTEstablished by the Global Engagement Task Force, this committee was charged with examining the usage of journal rankings internationally. Through questionnaires, literature review, and discussions with various international accounting organizations we gain a better understanding of the uses and challenges of journal rankings. Journal rankings are used by governments, professional accounting bodies, university organizations, individual universities, schools, and departments to evaluate the quality and quantity of faculty research productivity. Rewards for journal publications differ around the world, but can range from promotion and tenure to monetary rewards. Publishing in a journal that is on a journal list does provide some weight or legitimacy to the publication and thereby assists in promoting the academic's career, yields monetary awards, or is in other ways beneficial to the academic. However, there is a danger in using a one-size-fits-all model. We caution strongly against using journal rankings to primarily assess the research quality of individuals or even small groups, because rankings are by design unsuited for this purpose. When journal rankings are used, they should be used in conjunction with other metrics. It is highly unlikely that a single solution with regard to the usage of journal ranking lists can be proposed. Rather, different accounting schools and/or departments need to set up their own guidelines as to how journal ranking lists can be used in decision making. The balance of the evidence suggests that journal ranking lists should be used with caution, and should not be used to assess individuals or small groups, or to assess research quality across disciplines.

Is there a commendable regime for combatting money laundering in international business transactions?

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Emerson Clarke
Keyword(s):  
International Business ◽  
Money Laundering ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
State Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Enforcement Mechanisms ◽  
The Uk

Purpose Money laundering and grand business corruption continue to plague the global economy, accounting for 2%-5% of the global gross domestic product. Illicit funds, produced through grand corruption, are laundered using complex layering schemes that cloak them in legitimacy by concealing their origins. Lamentably, weak anti-money laundering (AML) frameworks promote economic instability, unjust commercial advantages and organized crimes. This study aims to highlight the need for comprehensive anti-corruption and AML frameworks by critiquing the exploitable gaps in the global AML regime created by heterogeneous state-level AML regimes to date. Design/methodology/approach This study welcomes the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and the financial action task force (FATF) recommendations but underscores the limitations of their effectiveness by investigating state-level enforcement mechanisms to determine these instruments’ true impact or lack thereof. The mutual evaluation reports (MERs) and state-level AML regimes in the UK, the USA and Canada are analyzed to illustrate the distinct implementation of international soft law in domestic legislation. Findings This study finds that UNCAC and the FATF recommendations are pivotal steps towards the establishment of a global AML regime for international business, albeit, one that remains imperfect because of the inconsistency of state-level AML frameworks. Consequently, international cooperation is needed to navigate and improve the discrepancies in varied AML legislation. Originality/value The author provides an in-depth and balanced analysis of current state-level AML developments and relies upon the recent 2016-2018 MERs to indicate the successes and flaws of various AML legislation. Therefore, this critique may guide stakeholders to construct robust AML frameworks and contributes to academic research in AML.

scholarly journals What counts for quality in interdisciplinary accounting research in the next decade

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Guthrie ◽  
Lee D. Parker ◽  
John Dumay ◽  
Markus J. Milne
Keyword(s):  
Core Values ◽  
Research Quality ◽  
Journal Ranking ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
The Core ◽  
Citation Metrics ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the focus and changing nature of measuring academic accounting research quality. The paper addresses contemporary changes in academic publishing, metrics for determining research quality and the possible impacts on accounting scholars. These are considered in relation to the core values of interdisciplinary accounting research ‒ that is, the pursuit of novel, rigorous, significant and authentic research motivated by a passion for scholarship, curiosity and solving wicked problems. The impact of changing journal rankings and research citation metrics on the traditional and highly valued role of the accounting academic is further considered. In this setting, the paper also provides a summary of the journal’s activities for 2018, and in the future. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on contemporary data sets, the paper illustrates the increasingly diverse and confusing array of “evidence” brought to bear on the question of the relative quality of accounting research. Commercial products used to rate and rank journals, and judge the academic impact of individual scholars and their papers not only offer insight and visibility, but also have the potential to misinform scholars and their assessors. Findings In the move from simple journal ranking lists to big data and citations, and increasingly to concerns with impact and engagement, the authors identify several challenges facing academics and administrators alike. The individual academic and his or her contribution to scholarship are increasingly marginalised in the name of discipline, faculty and institutional performance. A growing university performance management culture within, for example, the UK and Australasia, has reached a stage in the past decade where publication and citation metrics are driving allocations of travel grants, research grants, promotions and appointments. With an expanded range of available metrics and products to judge their worth, or have it judged for them, scholars need to be increasingly informed of the nuanced or not-so-nuanced uses to which these measurement systems will be put. Narrow, restricted and opaque peer-based sources such as journal ranking lists are now being challenged by more transparent citation-based sources. Practical implications The issues addressed in this commentary offer a critical understanding of contemporary metrics and measurement in determining the quality of interdisciplinary accounting research. Scholars are urged to reflect upon the challenges they face in a rapidly moving context. Individuals are increasingly under pressure to seek out preferred publication outlets, developing and curating a personal citation profile. Yet such extrinsic outcomes may come at the cost of the core values that motivate the interdisciplinary scholar and research. Originality/value This paper provides a forward-looking focus on the critical role of academics in interdisciplinary accounting research.

The Australian accounting academic in the 1950s

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin E. Persson ◽  
Christopher J. Napier
Keyword(s):  
Academic Research ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Personal Connections ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Uk

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges faced by an Australian accounting academic, R. J. Chambers, in the 1950s, in breaking into the accounting research community, at that time, almost entirely located in the USA and the UK. For academics outside the networks of accounting research publication in these countries, there were significant, but not insurmountable obstacles to conducting and publishing accounting research. We examine how these obstacles could be overcome, using the notion of “trials of strength” to trace the efforts of Chambers in wrestling with intellectual issues arising from post-war inflation, acquiring accounting literature from abroad and publishing his endeavours. Design/methodology/approach – The article uses actor-network theory to provide an analytical structure for a “counter-narrative” history firmly grounded in the archives. Findings – Documents from the R. J. Chambers Archive at the University of Sydney form the empirical basis for a narrative that portrays accounting research as a diverse process driven as much by circumstances – such as geographical location, access to accounting literature and personal connections – as the merits of the intellectual arguments. Research limitations/implications – Although the historical details are specific to the case being studied, the article provides insights into the challenges faced by researchers on the outside of international research networks in achieving recognition and in participating in academic debates. Practical implications – The findings of this article can provide guidance and inspiration to accounting researchers attempting to participate in wider academic communities. Originality/value – The article uses documents from perhaps the most extensive archive relating to an individual accounting academic. It examines the process of academic research in accounting in terms of the material context in which such research takes place, whereas most discussions have focussed on the underlying ideas and concepts, abstracted from the context in which they emerge.

Accounting-education trends by authors from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 390-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Bernardi ◽  
Taylor L. Delande ◽  
Kimberly A. Zamojcin
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Accounting Education ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Faculty ◽  
Journal Rankings ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Uk

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the trends in accounting-education publications and the influence of journal rankings for authors from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. Design/methodology/approach – The authors included the publications in ten accounting-education journals for the 20-year period from 1993 to 2012. Findings – The data provide insights into the perceptions of accounting-education journals by authors from four countries. The authors found that, while the use of Accounting Education as a publication outlet for accounting authors from Australia and the UK was relatively stable, the use of Accounting Education as a publication outlet increased (decreased) for the accounting authors from New Zealand (Canada). The authors also found that, while coauthoring by the accounting authors from Australia and the UK increased slightly, coauthoring by the accounting authors from Canada and New Zealand increased during the 20-year period. Research limitations/implications – The data suggests a tendency by the authors from these four countries to publish their accounting-education research in journals that had been ranked as a top accounting journal. Originality/value – This paper is the first paper to consider trends in international accounting-education publications. The data in this research can be used by accounting faculty wishing to assess which journals their colleagues publish in most frequently.

Understanding the audience: Purbeck Folk Festival

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle Robyn Pilcher ◽  
Nick Eade
Keyword(s):  
Research Process ◽  
Family Type ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Family ◽  
Potential Difficulty ◽  
Quota Sampling ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into

Purpose – Despite the ongoing research into visitor motivation in the live events and tourism industries, only a limited amount of research has examined the motivational factors exhibited in individual segments of society. The purpose of this paper was to identify a relationship between visitor demographics and visitor motivation, for the purpose of enhanced market research at folk festivals in the UK. Design/methodology/approach – In this research, a qualitative study of visitor demographics and their accompanying motivation to attend Purbeck Folk Festival is reported. The study was conducted in the form of interviews, which investigated the underlying motivation behind visitor attendance to Purbeck Folk Festival in 2014. The research process, guided by the literature of Robson (2011) and Bryman (2012), aimed to establish the extent to which visitor demographics did or did not impact visitor motivation to attend the event. Findings – The study revealed five motivational dimensions, and from this devised five core audience segments including: the escapists, the socialites, the family type, the experience seekers and the folkniks. This study highlights the correlation between visitor demographics and visitor motivation and suggests further applications of this research and similar research in the field of live events. The study contributes an insight into the audience of Purbeck Folk Festival and may be used to provide an understanding of audience profile and behaviour at folk festivals within the UK. Research limitations/implications – Due to the nature of the research, participants will be secured through non-probability quota sampling, which is a method of convenience. This approach may place limitations on the validity of the findings, as researcher bias may occur when selecting participants, for example, avoiding visitors who look intimidating or abnormal (Robson, 2011). The use of open-ended questions in the capacity of a greenfield event was identified as a potential difficulty, as participants are required to think about their answers and provide opinions, unlike a closed question method, which although quicker and easier, may not be as effective (Kumar, 2014). Therefore, to keep participants engaged and willing to provide further information, the interview design was kept short and questions are easily comprehendible. Originality/value – The research study reflects early the work of Mayo (Dickson, 1973), Maslow (1954) and Herzberg (1966), and builds on more recent literature by Kruger and Saayman (2012), which analysed the relationship between audience profile and motivation to attend.

Ranking of finance journals: a stochastic dominance analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 312-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin H. Kao ◽  
Chuan-Hao Hsu ◽  
Yunlin Lu ◽  
Hung-Gay Fung
Keyword(s):  
Stochastic Dominance ◽  
Convincing Evidence ◽  
Research Quality ◽  
Journal Ranking ◽  
Citation Distribution ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
Over Time

Purpose – Prior studies in citation-based journal rankings tend to be static to compare across journals. One journal may be judged better in citations than other journals at some points in time but not at the others. The assumption that the citation distribution is normally distributed and that the citation observations are independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) may not be appropriate. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses a stochastic dominance (SD) analysis, which overcomes the dynamic nature of changes in citation over time. The SD method proposed by Linton, Maasoumi, and Whang (hereafter LMW, 2005) does not require the data to be i.i.d. We use the LMW method to compare the relative ranking of 23 finance journals using citations for all articles from them during 1990-2010. Findings – The study indicates that the citation distribution changes over time. Thus a SD analysis is a better approach for a comparison of journal ranking. The findings unambiguously place JF, JFE, RFS, JFQA, and JFI in the top five spots of the finance journal ranking. The “near-top” journals, such as JBF, JCF, and FM, are not clear cut in the SD analysis. Research limitations/implications – The results confirm that ranking for the lower ranked journals may change over time especially, but the top three journals appear to be robust across methods and over time. Originality/value – The results of SD analysis provides more convincing evidence on finance journal ranking and could be useful to rank academic institutions, faculty research quality, and help the authors to decide what to read and which journals are influential.

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