EJCEYear: 2005, December. Volume: 2 - Issue: 2
Concentration in Knowledge Output: A case of Economics Journals
Paul Gopuran Devassy Bino ; Sasidharan Subash ; Ananthakrishnan Ramanathan
View this articleStart page: 261 - End page: 279
Keywords:
Concentration; Lotka's Law
Abstract:
This paper assesses the degree of author concentration in seven economics journals, which were published in India during 1990-2002. To measure the degree of author concentration, Lotka's Law was used. Moreover, we also make an exploratory analysis of the geographic, economics subfield and institutional concentration in 704 economics journals. An important finding of this paper is that specialized journals in the sample report the highest degree of author concentration. This result is quite similar to the findings by Cox and Chung (1991). Furthermore, there are several instances showing that the journals lean towards certain norms; this may affect the flow of innovative ideas into economics. We conclude that a knowledge activity, involving the high degree of concentration and a biased publication process, may affect the flow of new ideas into the discipline.
Jel code: A14
Jel code: B50
Jel code: B52
