Monday, February 18, 2019

Ranking Economic Journals by Speed, Updated

I decided to update my previous ranking on economics journals ranked by speed.

In the table below, # is the journal's rank by citations (may be 2 years old, I didn't update this), and then there is data on the acceptance rate, desk rejection rate, average time to acceptance, median time to acceptance, and the 25th and 75th percentiles (all in terms of months). Only journals with at least 5 observations were included. Data come from here.

There are some similarities with the previous ranking by speed. The QJE is still the fastest, and the JME still brings up the rear -- despite the fact I've doubled the sample size.

One note is that I just copy-pasted and ran my previous code, so if you notice any errors below, please let me know.

My big hesitation with doing this is that I think it may not purely be a good thing to incentive journals to respond quickly. They tend to do this by desk-rejecting more papers, and I worry that desk-rejections are often done on the basis of institutional affiliation, or perhaps after a less-than-fully-thorough examination of the paper. I may do an updated version which conditions on the paper going out to journals. Nevertheless, if you are contemplating which journal to submit a paper to, this may be helpful.

# Journal Name Accept % Desk Reject % Avg. Time Median Time 25th Percent. (Months) 75th Percent. (Months) N =
1 Quarterly Journal of Economics 1% 61% 0.59 0 0 1 82
80 Journal of Economic Geography 0% 80% 0.67 0 0 1 5
12 Journal of the European Economic Association 3% 58% 1.16 0 0 2 31
81 Kyklos 8% 33% 1.33 1 0.5 2 12
94 Economics and Human Biology 43% 43% 1.50 1 0 3 7
74 Management Science 18% 45% 1.55 2 0 2 22
15 Review of Financial Studies 11% 37% 1.59 2 0 2 27
78 Demography 0% 80% 1.60 1 0 2 5
14 Journal of Human Resources 15% 54% 1.60 1 0 3 46
31 European Economic Review 28% 44% 1.72 1 0 3 50
6 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 8% 37% 1.76 2 0 3 49
13 American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 8% 36% 1.83 2 0 3 36
100 China Economic Review 67% 33% 1.83 2 0.5 2 9
7 Journal of Finance 0% 33% 2.05 2 0 3 21
19 Journal of Financial Economics 24% 18% 2.06 2 1 3 17
27 Journal of Financial Intermediation 14% 29% 2.14 3 1 3 7
9 American Economic Review 7% 47% 2.16 1 0 4 91
46 Econometrics Journal 0% 50% 2.17 0.5 0 5 6
55 Review of Income and Wealth 17% 67% 2.17 0.5 0 4 6
38 Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 29% 6% 2.18 2 1 3 17
37 Journal of Population Economics 22% 44% 2.22 3 0 4 9
76 Explorations in Economic History 56% 11% 2.22 2 2 3 9
32 Theoretical Economics 8% 0% 2.23 2 2 2 13
90 Economics Letters 45% 25% 2.24 2 1 2 114
42 Review of Finance 0% 8% 2.25 2.5 1.5 3 12
16 Economic Journal 16% 45% 2.26 2 0 4 56
34 Journal of Health Economics 13% 55% 2.32 2 1 4 31
5 American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 13% 21% 2.33 2 1.5 3 24
62 Regional Science and Urban Economics 52% 14% 2.35 2 2 3 21
65 International Journal of Industrial Organization 7% 20% 2.47 2 1 4 15
91 Public Choice 14% 48% 2.48 1 0 3 29
35 Labour Economics 9% 27% 2.55 2.5 2 3 22
41 Journal of Law and Economics 0% 43% 2.57 3 1 4 14
61 Journal of Comparative Economics 27% 33% 2.63 2 0.5 4.5 15
71 European Journal of Political Economy 38% 23% 2.69 2 2 3 13
58 B.E. Journals in Economic Analysis & Policy 33% 7% 2.71 3 1 4 15
26 Journal of Urban Economics 22% 17% 2.72 3 1 4 18
30 American Economic Journal: Microeconomics 19% 25% 2.74 3 1 4 16
4 Econometrica 6% 23% 2.77 3 1 4 35
24 Journal of Applied Econometrics 9% 35% 2.78 2 0 5 23
57 Industrial and Labor Relations Review 27% 36% 2.82 2 1 5 11
64 The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 18% 27% 2.82 3 2 4 11
85 Energy Journal 38% 0% 2.88 3 2 3.5 8
36 World Bank Economic Review 8% 31% 2.92 2 2 4 13
11 Journal of Labor Economics 0% 32% 3.00 3 0 6 19
21 Journal of Public Economics 12% 27% 3.10 3 1 4 60
83 American Journal of Health Economics 43% 0% 3.14 3 2 4 7
3 Review of Economic Studies 4% 34% 3.16 3 0 5 73
23 Journal of Development Economics 17% 41% 3.16 3 1 4 54
63 Oxford Economic Papers 17% 42% 3.23 3 1 5 12
67 Journal of Banking and Finance 18% 18% 3.25 3 2 4 28
87 Southern Economic Journal 14% 14% 3.29 4 2 4 7
99 American Journal of Agricultural Economics 23% 0% 3.31 3 3 4 13
82 Journal of Macroeconomics 31% 25% 3.31 3 0.5 5.5 16
69 Economics and Politics 40% 0% 3.33 3 1 6 5
89 Journal of Economic History 17% 0% 3.33 3 2 4 6
93 Review of Economics of the Household 20% 10% 3.46 3 1 3 10
17 Journal of Economic Growth 0% 0% 3.50 2.5 2 3 10
92 Small Business Economics 25% 25% 3.50 3 1.5 5 8
10 Review of Economics and Statistics 2% 48% 3.51 2 0 5 65
56 Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 30% 27% 3.67 4 0 6 33
25 Journal of Business and Economic Statistics 20% 10% 3.70 2.5 2 5 10
49 Canadian Journal of Economics 28% 6% 3.72 4 3 5 18
53 Economics of Education Review 50% 7% 3.79 4 2 5 14
51 Journal of Industrial Economics 13% 33% 3.81 4 1.5 5.5 15
88 World Development 39% 37% 3.92 3 1 6 49
33 Journal of Economic Theory (Elsevier) 21% 18% 3.94 4 3 5 33
22 RAND Journal of Economics 6% 21% 3.97 4 3 5 34
68 Macroeconomics Dynamics (Cambridge) 57% 21% 4.07 4 1 6 14
28 Experimental Economics 38% 8% 4.08 3 2 6 13
40 Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 24% 8% 4.15 3.5 2 5 25
45 Econometric Theory 0% 40% 4.20 4 0 5 5
84 Health Economics 8% 50% 4.21 3 3 6 12
44 Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 50% 14% 4.22 3 1 4 22
54 Journal of Economics and Management Strategy 54% 8% 4.23 3 3 6 13
66 International Tax and Public Finance 14% 14% 4.29 3 2 7 7
60 B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics 63% 0% 4.33 4 2 6 8
75 Economic Theory 23% 27% 4.35 4 1 6 22
95 Energy Economics 55% 0% 4.42 4 3.5 6 11
98 Economics of Transition 71% 14% 4.50 4.5 2.5 6 7
47 Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 29% 36% 4.64 4 2 6 14
72 Environmental and Resource Economics 27% 47% 4.69 4 2.5 6.5 15
18 Journal of International Economics 18% 6% 4.71 3 3 6 17
43 Journal of International Money and Finance 40% 5% 4.75 3 2 7 20
97 Journal of Corporate Finance 14% 14% 4.75 3.5 3 6.5 7
73 Review of International Economics 30% 10% 4.91 3 3 6 10
52 Games and Economic Behavior 18% 18% 4.94 4 3 6 50
59 Economic Development and Cultural Change 27% 20% 5.00 4.5 3 6.5 15
48 Economic Inquiry 25% 25% 5.18 3 2 7 36
39 Journal of Economic Surveys 0% 40% 5.20 5 0 7 5
2 Journal of Political Economy 0% 50% 5.34 3 2 8 32
96 Empirical Economics 44% 13% 5.56 5.5 3.5 6 16
50 Economica 11% 53% 5.57 3 1 6 19
20 Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking 13% 13% 5.72 4.5 2.5 9 30
77 Journal of Public Economic Theory 27% 18% 5.86 6 3 9 11
79 The World Economy 40% 0% 6.25 5 3.5 8.5 5
70 Econometric Reviews 33% 0% 6.86 7 4 10 6
29 Journal of Econometrics 10% 10% 6.90 6.5 5 10 10
86 Journal of Empirical Finance 38% 0% 8.22 7 6 13 8
8 Journal of Monetary Economics 21% 11% 9.12 6 4 11 19