A Bibliometric Review of World Englishes (2010-2020)

This study conducts a bibliometric review of World Englishes (WE) from 2010 to 2020 using CiteSpace. Based on the articles in the four leading journals of WE retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) database, several findings have been found. First, the number of articles has been gradually increasing from 2010 to 2020, with its citation frequency increasing enormously. Second, the landmark articles in WE research mainly focus on two aspects: the reconceptualization of theoretical frameworks, and the study of English varieties, with an emphasis on English in China. Third, WE research over the past decade includes four major areas: the study of Asian Englishes; language ideology, perceptions, and attitudes toward WE; WE in social media and popular culture; and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF).

The Provenance Problem: Research Methods and Ethics in the Age of WikiLeaks

How should political scientists navigate the ethical and methodological quandaries associated with analyzing leaked classified documents and other nonconsensually acquired sources? Massive unauthorized disclosures may excite qualitative scholars with policy revelations and quantitative researchers with big-data suitability, but they are fraught with dilemmas that the discipline has yet to resolve. This paper critiques underspecified research designs and opaque references in the proliferation of scholarship with leaked materials, as well as incomplete and inconsistent guidance from leading journals. It identifies provenance as the primary concept for improved standards and reviews other disciplines’ approaches to this problem. It elaborates eight normative and evidentiary criteria for scholars by which to assess source legitimacy and four recommendations for balancing their trade-offs. Fundamentally, it contends that scholars need deeper reflection on source provenance and its consequences, more humility about whether to access new materials and what inferences to draw, and more transparency in citation and research strategies.

Progress of graph model for conflict resolution in conflict analysis: A systematic review and bibliometrics research

Conflict is an inevitable social phenomenon and the analysis of it can effectively resolve disputes, improve the position of decision makers (DMs), forecast compromise solutions as well. At present, the Graph Model for Conflict Resolution (GMCR), a completely non-quantitative decision support system (DSS) based on DM’s ordinal preference information, is constructed to combat conflict analysis complicated by multiple participant or multiple criteria or both. The purpose of the study is to introduce an overview of GMCR in conflict analyzing through bibliometrics. In order to achieve this goal, a systematic review of articles in leading journals of Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) during 1987–2019 is posed, referring to the distribution of countries, institutions, authors, subjects and journals, research topics and hotspots exploration as well as frontiers prediction, by utilizing VOSviewer and CiteSpace. The contributions of this study are not only providing a handy method to grasp generalized scientific research situation, but also demonstrating status quo and emerging trends of GMCR for researchers and everyone who interested in.

Blockchain technology in the smart city: a bibliometric review

Blockchain can function as a foundational technology with numerous applications in smart cities. The objective of this paper is twofold. First, it provides a detailed overview of the extant literature on blockchain applications in smart cities; second, it reveals the trends and suggests future research directions for scholars who wish to contribute to this rapidly growing field. We conducted a bibliometric review using a keyword co-occurrence network and article co-citation analysis. The analysis includes the assessment of 148 articles published between 2016 and 2020 in 76 academic journals. The review results demonstrate that the number of articles devoted to the study of blockchain applications and smart cities has increased exponentially in recent years. More importantly, the research identifies some of the most influential studies in this area. The paper discusses trends and highlights the challenges related to the deployment of blockchain in smart cities. To the authors’ best knowledge, this represents the first study to review the literature from leading journals on blockchain applications in smart cities using bibliometric techniques.

Three-stage publishing to support evidence-based management practice

This article proposes a 4-step model for scientific dissemination that aims to promote evidence-based professional practice in Operations Management or Human Resource Management as well as research with a more transparent and reproducible process. These 4 steps include:1 social network announcements,2 dissemination to scientific journals, 3 dissemination to social networks, and 4 scientific dissemination to professional journals. Central to the 4-step model is a three-stage publication process within the second step, which adds an additional stage to the two previously proposed (Marin-Garcia, 2015). These three publication stages begin with a protocol paper, are followed by a data paper, and finish with a traditional article. Each stage promotes research with merit which is citable and recognizable as such before the scientific evaluation bodies. As two of these stages are largely unknown within the fields of Business and Management, I define the details of a protocol paper and a data paper including their contents. In addition, I provide examples of both papers as well as the other steps of the science dissemination model. This model can be adopted by researchers as a means of achieving greater impact and transfer of research results. This work intends to help researchers to understand, to evaluate, and to make better decisions about how their research reaches society at large outside of academia.In this way, WPOM aligns with the recommendations of several leading journals in the field of business management on the need to promote transparent, accessible, and replicable science (Beugelsdijk et al., 2020). WPOM goes one step further in compliance with this direction by having relevant journals that not only accept, but also actively encourage the publication of protocol papers and data papers. WPOM strives to pioneer in this field of Business and Management.This article also explores the potential prevalence of protocol papers and data papers within the set of all articles published in journals indexed in Clarivate Web of Science and Scopus.With this editorial, WPOM is committed to promoting this model by accepting for review any of the three types of scientific contributions including protocol papers, data papers, and traditional papers.

Trade Journals' Research Chops

The problem of choosing the leading journals has become especially relevant due to increased number of issuable magazines. The following chapter offers identification and analysis of academic trade journals, defines the leading Russian journals on economics. The application of research chops in evaluation of academic and teaching staff's exploratory activity is of particular significance. Obtained results can be taken into account by scientific institutions for the purpose of determining strategic priority of the journals' development.

Explanatory Factors of Business Failure: Literature Review and Global Trends

This study aims to provide a bibliometric analysis of business failure research, recognise the main existing research topics and establish future research challenges. The results, based on a sample of 588 articles, show that the number of published papers and citations has grown steadily, especially in the last 14 years. The most productive and relevant journals, countries, institutions and authors are presented using bibliometric performance indicators. In addition, through the graphical mapping of strategic diagrams, this study identifies the most significant research trends and proposes several directions for future research. The results of this research may be helpful for beginner researchers and experts in business failure, as they contribute to bringing clarity to this line of investigation. These results reveal all the aspects involved in business failure research, analysing its temporal and methodological characterisation, and the most prolific authors who have participated in its study (see, i.e., H. Li), leading journals (see, i.e., Expert Systems with Applications) or academic institutions that have headed the scientific analysis of this business phenomenon. Likewise, it has been possible to identify three main areas in which the research on business failure has been focused: business, management and accounting; economics, econometrics and finance; and social sciences. In addition, a complete, synthesised and organised summary of the various definitions, perspectives and research trends are presented.

Mapping the Knowledge Domains of Emerging Advanced Technologies in the Management of Prefabricated Construction

Emerging advanced technologies (EAT) have been regarded as significant technological innovations which can greatly improve the transforming construction industry. Given that research on EAT related to the management of prefabricated construction (MPC) has not yet been conducted, various researchers require a state-of-the-art summary of EAT research and implementation in the MPC field. The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic literature review by analysing the selected 526 related publications in peer-reviewed leading journals during 2009–2020. Through a thorough review of selected papers from the state-of-the-art academic journals in the construction industry, EAT is recognised as the key area affecting the development of the MPC discipline. This study has value in offering original insights to summarise the advanced status quo of this field, helping subsequent researchers gain an in-depth understanding of the underlying structure of this field and allowing them to continue future research directions.

An Audit of Interim Analyses of Randomized Controlled Trials [RCTs] Published in Three High Impact Factor Medical Journals over a seven-year period [2012-2018]

Background: An interim analysis is an integral component of clinical research and drug development in particular and helps reduce ‘time to market’ for intervention or stop further development of unsafe and ineffective interventions. In this audit, we evaluated the extent of the use of interim analyses in published RCTs in three leading journals and their impact on regulatory approval. Methodology: RCTs published in JAMA, NEJM, and Lancet in the year 2012 to 2018 were extracted. Each RCT was scrutinized using the filter term ‘Interim’. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. The factors [therapeutic areas, nature of interventions, source of funding, and phases of trials] associated with Interim analysis and its impact on drug approval were analysed. Results: The majority of RCTs with interim analysis belonged to oncology [27%] and cardiology [17.2%] and were related to drugs [70%]. The majority of the RCTs were in phase 3 [56.3%] and funded exclusively by the Pharmaceutical industry [36.2%]. A total of 2% and 14% of studies lead to accelerated approval and normal regulatory approval. The choice of alpha spending function was not mentioned in 44.8% of studies, and 21% of studies used the O-Brien Fleming method. A total of 18.5% of studies were stopped early. The oncology trials, drug as intervention, and Phase 3 trials were associated with the conduct of interim analysis, which was associated with significantly higher numbers of accelerated and routine regulatory approvals. Conclusion: The majority of the RCTs with interim analysis were from oncology, and most did not report a stopping rule. Interventions that were drugs [rather than devices or surgical procedures] and phase 3 trials [relative to other phases of RCTs] were associated with a significantly higher number of interim analyses which was also associated with a significantly higher number of regulatory approvals.

Is the readability of abstracts decreasing in management research?

The readability of scientific texts is critical for the successful distribution of research findings. I replicate a recent study which found that the abstracts of scientific articles in the life sciences became less readable over time. Specifically, I sample 28,345 abstracts from 17 of the leading journals in the field of management and organization over 3 decades, and study two established indicators of readability over time, namely the Flesch Reading Ease and the New Dale–Chall Readability Formula. I find a modest trend towards less readable abstracts, which leads to an increase in articles that are extremely hard to read from 12% in the first decade of the sample to 16% in the final decade of the sample. I further find that an increasing number of authors partially explains this trend, as do the use of scientific jargon and corresponding author affiliations with institutions in English-speaking countries. I discuss implications for authors, reviewers, and editors in the field of management.