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The number of published articles has doubled over the past decade. It takes longer to produce a paper. Source: Kim, Morse and Zingales (2006). Electronic submissions have had an enormous impact. Revise-and-resubmit JF rejection rates, 2003-07. Journal folklore True or false?.
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The number of published articles has doubled over the past decade
It takes longer to produce a paper Source: Kim, Morse and Zingales (2006)
Journal folkloreTrue or false? • A publication in a bad journal has negative value. • There is a “Rochester effect.” • The RFS won’t publish corporate papers. • Send a paper to the JFE first in order to get an assessment of its quality.
Sole authorship is disappearing Source: Kim, Morse and Zingales (2006)
Co-authorship • Co-authoring can lead to enormous collective action problems, but it almost always improves quality. • Be careful of co-authoring with your advisor, or with someone of much higher stature. You’ll get no credit, or negative credit. • However, having numerous co-authors is a positive signal of quality.
Selecting topics • Try to be original. Study what no one else is studying. • Take risks. Don’t write the nth paper on some topic; try to write the 1st. • Pick topics that hold your own interest.
Impact: Publication counts Source: Chung and Cox , JF (1990).
Impact: Citation counts • 23% of all published articles receive 0 citations. • The median number of citations per publication is 2. • The 80-20 rule applies: the top 20% of papers receive 80% of the total citations. Source: Ederington, JF (1979)
Details about citation counts Source: Alexander and Mabry, JF (1994)
Impact: Recent trends(2008 data) • H-index: h publications each with at least h citations. • 1. Shleifer (48) • 2. Barro (39) • 3. Tirole & Heckman (tied) (38) • 93. Fama (20) • 351. Jensen (13) • SSRN downloads • 1. Jensen (355,533) • 2. Fama (247,853) • 3. Fernandez (155,799) • 25. Shleifer (52,539)
Changes in the refereeing process • Heavier workloads / less quality control? • More rounds • Authors are rarely anonymous
Referee folklore(all somewhat true) • You can disqualify someone as a referee by asking them for comments. • Some referees get the same paper over and over again. • You can appeal to the editor. • Referees can save you from embarrassing mistakes.
Invest in becoming a good referee • Build goodwill with the editor • Impress the editor with your insight • Impress the editor with your sense of fairness • Sometimes the editor is more interested in reading your referee report than in reading the paper.
How do you get promoted? • Research quality • Quality ≠ quantity • Teaching at an acceptable level • Reputation and visibility • Campus seminar invitations • Major conference appearances • Your referee is often in the audience • Good conference presentations lead to campus invitations
Strike while the iron is hot Source: Kim, Morse and Zingales (2006)