In this paper we assess the reading preference for marketing journals by deriving a journal utility scale based on click responses to table of contents postings to the ELMAR virtual community. Use of ELMAR data provides a unique window into journal importance, allowing us to look at table of contents reading behavior rather than citing behavior or attitudinal constructs as has been the case in previous studies. At the time of the study, there were more than 5,100 ELMAR subscribers, easily making this the largest journal ranking study ever undertaken. The external validity of our sample is high since ELMAR subscribers include a high percentage of the population of those interested in scholarly research in marketing. Our results are based on actual choice behavior of subscribers as they simply decide what tables of contents to read. The list of journals included in the study contains 165 different titles posted during the study period, which spanned a year. During that period there were multiple issues posted of these 165 journals, resulting in a replicated field study with high reliability. In fact, our journal reading utility measurement yielded a model with an R 2 value of .95. We use this model to suggest ways that researchers might come to a richer understanding of the journal consumption process.Keywords Journal perceptions . Journal status . Utility model . Clicking behavior Determining the relative importance of the field's journals has been a persistent pursuit of marketing scholars in the past decades. In this paper we contribute to the quest to understand journal importance in marketing by developing a model for clicking behavior on journal tables of contents. The model is based on a version of random utility theory and includes a term for journal reading utility. We calibrate this utility using one year's click-through data from ELMAR tables of contents postings for 165 different journals, which are distributed to over 5,100 marketing academics on a weekly basis. Our use of table of contents reading choice behavior from thousands of marketing academics, rather than the claimed preference of small samples, makes ours a unique investigation into journal importance.We frame our choice model within a more general discussion of the journal consumption process. We identify three components to journal consumption. There is an attitudinal component and two behavioral components: reading behavior and citing behavior. Our study focuses on reading and captures data at the point in which the scholar is deciding what is worth reading.The overall sequence of this paper is as follows: First, we review the extensive literature on journal rankings, covering a variety of measurement approaches found in the literature. Since our Web-based choice approach is relatively new, we present a simple conceptual overview of the journal consumption process and how our and previous approaches fit into that process. We then present and estimate our model. One important output of the model is a set of interval-level table of contents ...