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1. Introduction and purpose of the study
In 1665, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, the world’s first academic journal, published its inaugural issue and established the principles of scientific rigor and the tradition of peer-review. In the introduction to its first issue, Oldenburg (1665), the founding editor, indicated that for “the improvement of Philosophical Matters”, “the advancement of Learning and profitable Discoveries” and the dissemination of ideas to “other parts of the World”, the journal’s mandate was to ensure that academic “[p]roductions being clearly and truly communicated” so that like-minded peers were able to “search, try, and find out new things, impart their knowledge to one another, and contribute what they can” (pp. 1-2). For the following three and a half centuries, peer-reviewed journals have served perhaps the utmost role in scientific advancement by certifying the quality of academic works, convening communities of researchers and curating manuscripts (Davis, 2014). Many academic journals, especially the elite ones, may dramatically influence the development of entire schools of thought, establish the predominance of inquiry methods, facilitate paradigm shifts and form a discipline’s identity. In many disciplines, including management, a record of publication in scholarly journals has become a de facto standard of assessment of one’s academic achievements.
Due to the importance of academic journals, it is critical to understand their role in scientific development from the perspective of discipline stakeholders. One way to achieve this is through the construction of journal ranking lists which serve many purposes. First, ranking lists help to understand the collective opinion of active research consumers about the perceived level of scientific merit of each journal. Second, they may guide novice researchers and students through the elaborate maze of available outlets and help them focus on the ones that are relevant, known and respected. Third, ranking lists inform scholars looking for appropriate venues for their manuscripts about the available alternatives. Fourth, they help libraries justify the allocation of limited subscription resources toward relevant and respected outlets. Fifth, ranking lists signify the very existence of an academic discipline and inform other fields about its core body of knowledge.
The purpose of this study is to update the ranking of knowledge management and intellectual capital (KM/IC) academic journals that were developed previously in 2008...