Are We Going Peerless?

Glenn Ellison of MIT surveyed trends in publication of top economics departments and finds evidence of less use of top peer-reviewed journals by faculty in those departments. He examines various possible reasons for this development and concludes that the Internet is providing an alternative method for disseminating research. Extrapolation of this finding might suggest that traditional journals will become obsolete, or at least less important.



The article does not explore trends in other fields. But it may be relevant to other disciplines as well. You can find the article at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1465-7295.2010.00261.x/pdf



The link above works for me. However, I may have access that you don’t have. You might have access through other links or you could go the library and get the journal the old fashioned way. The complete reference is Glenn Ellison, “Is Peer Review in Decline?,” Economic Inquiry, July 2011, Vol. 49, No. 3, pp. 635-657. Any earlier working-paper version is at http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic74911.files/Paper3_3-5_Ellison.pdf.