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This paper provides an analysis of the citation counts of articles published in the leading finance journals. It identifies the determinants of the most prevalent measure of inf luence for finance journals, the Social Sciences Citation Index impact factors. It finds that impact factors are affected by citations outside the finance field, are not affected by the distribution of published articles across subfields, and are good predictors of the long-term citation counts of articles. The citation impact factors are reduced for both the Journal of Financial Economics and The Journal of Finance by their publication of other than regular articles.

This study examines differences in finance research productivity and influence across 661 academic institutions over the five-year period from 1989 through 1993. We find that 40 institutions account for over 50 percent of all articles published by 16 leading journals over the five-year period; 66 institutions account for two-thirds of the articles. Influence is more skewed, with as few as 20 institutions accounting for 50 percent of all citations to articles in these journals. The number of publications and publication influence increase with faculty size and academic accreditation. Prestigious business schools are associated with high publication productivity and influence.

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This study explores knowledge preservation in accounting research through an examination of a sample of 428 published accounting articles and their nearly 11,000 citations. The examination shows that accounting scholars tend to cite very recent literature. The small volume of cited pre-1960 literature (preponderantly from non-accounting sources) and the low incidence of historical research articles in most non-historical journals suggests that earlier accounting knowledge may become lost to future generations of accounting scholars. This conclusion implies that accounting scholars can play an important role in the preservation and dissemination of previous generations of accounting knowledge.In his article entitled 'The Need For A Theory of Citing', Blaise Cronin evocatively wrote:citations are frozen footprints in the landscape of scholarly achievement; footprints which bear witness to the passage of ideas. From footprints it is possible to deduce direction; from the configuration and depth of the imprint it should be possible to construct a picture of those who have passed by. (1981, p. 16) Using a set of published accounting articles and their bibliographic citations, this study explores several of Cronin's themes. Specifically this research examines how knowledge is preserved in accounting research, the extent of use and sources of older literature in current accounting research, and the related journal differences. The role of accounting history in non-historical accounting journals is also examined. These themes will be operationally explored in an analysis which reveals: (a) the age distribution pattern of all of the citations; (b) the occurrence of historical articles and their distribution by journal; (c) the distribution of all cited documents which were published before 1960 by citing journal; and (d) the extent of accounting versus non-accounting literature in the pre-1960 citations.This study helps accounting scholars understand and critically evaluate how knowledge from previous research and literature is incorporated into current research, the extent to which early research remains explicitly significant in current research, the potential importance of the preservation of this knowledge, and the role that accounting scholars can play in the preservation of this knowledge.