Evaluating Operations Management–Related Journals via the Author Affiliation Index

Abstract

We evaluate operations management–related journals based on a novel indicator of journal quality—the Author Affiliation Index (AAI). We explain the basic rationale behind the AAI, as well as its advantages and disadvantages with respect to other such indicators of journal quality. We provide a specific recipe for its calculation and apply it to 27 journals in which researchers in the field of operations management might wish to publish. We compare the resulting journal rankings to those from published survey reports and citation analyses and test AAI for sensitivity to its inputs. We find the rankings from AAI to be consistent with other studies and to be robust with respect to changes in inputs.

Author Affiliation Index, finance journal ranking, and the pattern of authorship

“…To obtain these sample articles, we begin with the latest issue of each journal as of July 2005, and work backward until 60 articles are selected. Gorman and Kanet (2005) demonstrate that the AAI becomes stabilized when the size of m increases to 50 or larger.…”

“…It is subsequently employed in evaluating operations management journals (Gorman and Kanet, 2005). The original formula (Harless andReilly, 1998, andGorman andKanet, 2005) for the Index takes the form of:…”

“…To see how Equation (1) works, we use hypothetical data in Table 1 for the purpose of demonstration. According to Harless and Reilly (1998), which was later adopted in Gorman and Kanet (2005), both the numerator and the denominator in Equation (1) take account of only US academics. That is, datasets x and y contain only US academics.…”

“…Gorman and Kanet (2005) conduct sensitivity analysis to see if changes of the size and composition of dataset x would lead to significant journal ranking alterations in the discipline of operations management. Both studies, however, focus only on US academics.…”

The influence of co-authorship on article impact in OR/MS/OM and the exchange of knowledge with Finance in the twenty-first century

“…According to Tahai and Meyer (1999, p.282) citation analysis can be construed as a leading indicator of future changes in perceptions. We also include two more categories, namely, behavior-based analysis (see Holsapple and Lee-Post 2010) and author affiliation index (see Gorman and Kanet 2005). However, approaches within these categories can vary substantially both in research design and results.…”