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Documente Cultură
Barbara D. Davis
University of Memphis
Roberta H. Krapels
University of Mississippi
This study compares the top six journals selected in an earlier survey of Association for Business
Communication members as the top journals in which to publish for professional advancement. Those
journals include Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Administrative
Science Quarterly, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Journal of Business
Communication, and Management Communication Quarterly. Using variables found in other
disciplines journal assessment articles, comparisons were made with the following: length of articles
published, disciplines of authors, statistical methodology included, major discipline of article focus,
number of references included, and research methods used with sample size where appropriate. The
analysis indicated significant differences among many of these journals. In selecting where to publish
BMOC (business, management, organizational communication) articles, prospective authors in the
area will find the information on these six journals informative and beneficial.
Keywords:business and management communication journal rankings; journal quality criteria;
citations; promotion and tenure
The majority of educators who teach business and management communication courses do so through business schools, based on Association for
Business Communication (ABC) responses in recent surveys (Cyphert,
Jeanette St. Clair Martin, professor of business communication at the University of Mississippi,
University, MS. Barbara D. Davis, associate professor of business communication at The University
of Memphis, Memphis, TN. Roberta H. Krapels, emeritus associate professor of business
communication at the University of Mississippi, University, MS. Correspondence concerning this
article should be addressed to Jeanette St. Clair Martin, University of Mississippi, PO Box 1848,
University, MS 38677-1848; e-mail: jmartin@bus.olemiss.edu.
Journal of Business Communication, Volume 49, Number 1, January 2012 3-20
DOI: 10.1177/0021943611425239
2012 by the Association for Business Communication
The different BMOC academic areas include business, English, communication, business education, and other areas considered service or
support units; therefore, superiors and peers of our members most likely
encourage publication in journals from a variety of disciplines. Graham
and Thralls (1998) discuss this question of identity and multidisciplinarity
that exists, noting that we should give up the notion of business communication as a single discipline or even a unified discipline and admit
that our field (discipline) is multidisciplinary (p. 10). The diversity of the
accepted publications, in many cases, may prompt misunderstanding or
even contempt from members of other disciplines (Cyphert, 2009).
Although the diversity of the discipline often sparks contumacious comments from a member of one home area about a viewpoint espoused by
a member of another home area, this very difference establishes the
need for promulgating a list of top journals within and across the field. As
Shelby (1996) notes, a discipline encompasses an organized body of
knowledge and theoretical propositions in which the academics within a
field or discipline do their research. That basic premise sets the stage for
the need to identify regular publication expectations for such information.
Rentz (2009) reinforces that idea with her discussion of The Journal of
Business Communication (JBC) as a niche journal and of great value to
all members of our profession. For members of BMOC to perceive the
discipline as a legitimate one, they must share a perception of the journals
in the discipline that generate innovative theories and methodologies
(Krapels & Arnold, 1996). Our journals need acceptance rates comparable
to other business disciplines as well as the highest quality articles in our
field, and according to the standards in some departments, inclusion in the
Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) Citation List. Since the highest
percentage of respondents on the two prior surveys worked in colleges or
schools of business, the fact that the top six BMOC journals from those
two surveys included some of the top journals for the management area
reflects business faculty opinion.
Because article publication constitutes an important factor in determining academic prestige both for schools and for individuals (Bohrer &
Dolphin, 1985; Browne & Becker, 1985; Fry, Walters, & Scheurmann,
1985; McCullough, Wooten, & Ryan, 1981; Pierce & Garven, 1995; Rogers
et al., 2007), this study provides important knowledge for BMOC academicians. With top journal identification, individuals can offer research-based
data concerning our journals to committees, department chairs, and other
university officials interested in publication outlets that focus on BMOC
topics of interest. Future promotion or reward decisions using publications as a factor can consider the relevance to the field of BMOC, and
members can select publications with greater credibility for their research
and theoretical articles.
Another means of evaluating journals includes counting citations. Journals listed in the SSCI Citation List are included in this process. The SSCI
includes self-citations as well as editorials and other articles in its numbers, and those figures can bias the citation rates. Large numbers of academicians within a discipline can increase the number of citations of
someone publishing within that field. Based on that fact, Russell (1999)
noted that citation counts were not sufficient to correctly identify the
best journals (p. 30). Presently, the only BMOC journal listed in SSCI
is Management Communication Quarterly (MCQ). However, SSCI does
include Academy of Management Journal (AMJ), Academy of Management Review (AMR), and Administrative Science Quarterly (ASQ). Journal impact factors rate the influence of articles within the publications by
the number of citations received throughout the discipline and outside of
the discipline. Academic disciplines with a large number of publication
outlets automatically receive higher journal impact scores. Many specialty
journals, such as those favored by BMOC academicians, receive much
lower impact factors or are not included at all. Reinsch and Reinsch
(1996) stated, The SSCI does not cover business communication periodicals but does include them when they are cited by other periodicals; it
thus provides an exterior view of business communication (p. 29); however, recent ABC decisions regarding its publications, Journal of Business
Communication and Business Communication Quarterly, resulted in
the publication board discovering our journals must be cited more
often in articles published in our as well as in other journals included
in the SSCI.
We wanted to discover how these journals compare on content as it
relates to article discipline, number of references, length of articles, disciplines of authors, statistical methods used, research methods used, and
sample sizes. ABC members can use this information in determining
where to publish BMOC articles. BMOC faculty housed in business will
find the information valuable for preparing documents for tenure and
ANALYSIS
Article Discipline describes the area of topic focus such as ethics, impression management, international business, communication, legal environment, intercultural communication, and so on. Article discipline preference
in a journal tells an author whether or not the article is likely to be accepted
for publication based on the subject matter of the article. If a journal publishes very few articles from BMOC, then less likelihood exists for authors
to expect that journal to accept their article.
The results of the chi-square test indicated significance, 2 = (250,
N = 2,077) = 2177.032, p < .000. Crosstabs showed result differences.
AMJ published 41.2% of the management-oriented articles, with AMR
Chi-square testing the differences in length of articles showed significance, 2 = (25, N = 2,078) = 734.365, p < .000. Crosstab results for page
length and journal found the majority of AMJs (64.2%) and AMRs
(57.0%) articles length of 11 to 20 pages. Other journals showed no
majority for page length but the largest percentage(s) for each included
the following: JBTC, 21 to 30 at 31.9% and 11 to 20 at 31.4%; JBC, 21 to
30 at 39.7% with 11 to 20 at 33.5%; ASQ, 21 to 30 at 44.0% and 31 to 40
at 45.2%; and MCQ, 1 to 10 with 32.8%.
During the period of 1996 to 2007, AMJ and AMR significantly reduced
the length of their articles, overall publishing shorter pieces. Also, AMJ
and AMR generally publish six issues a year versus the four-issue format
that the other journals use. Both authors while reading the articles in AMR
and AMJ noted shorter literature reviews as well as shorter summaries,
conclusions, and recommendations at the end of the articles than those in
the other journals. Articles in AMJ intertwined literature with the analysis
in empirical pieces.
Number of References
Author Discipline
AMJ
AMR
JBTC
JBC
MCQ
ASQ
Total
Business administration
Communication
Management
Organizational behavior
Strategic management
133
2
594
163
147
85
5
308
137
96
0
82
8
11
0
7
150
53
20
0
7
224
33
34
0
6
7
172
63
4
238
470
1,168
428
247
51 to 100, 224 articles in the range 101 to 150, 265 articles in the range 151
to 200, and 248 articles with more than 200 references.
The crosstabs showed ASQ (60.5%), AMJ (54.9%), AMR (50%), and
MCQ (35.1%) most likely to contain articles with 51 to 100 references.
Percentages for journals having articles with 11 to 50 references included
JBTC (67.0%), JBC (55.4%), and MCQ (44.2%).
The articles with the most references tended to be theoretical articles.
Overall, AMR, AMJ, and ASQ included significantly more references per
article, especially in the earlier years than JBTC, MCQ, or JBC. When
AMR and AMJ went to the shorter article format, the number of references
per article dropped.
Discipline of Authors and Number of Authors per Article
The data tracked up to eight authors for each article. Only two articles
(both in AMJ) included more than eight authors. A significant difference
existed between the authors discipline and the journal, 2 = (330, N = 2,073) =
2444.571, p < .000.
All articles contained in the studys journals had at least one author
credited (no anonymous articles were published). Furthermore, author to
article comparison indicated two authors listed for 1,432 articles; three
authors for 610 articles; four authors for 171 articles; five authors for
37 articles; six authors for 15 articles; seven authors for 7 articles; and
eight authors for 8 articles.
The largest group of authors published articles in the discipline area of
management with 1,168, in AMJ, AMR, and ASQ. JBTC, JBC, and MCQ
most likely published authors whose discipline was Communication. These
results confirmed the expectations of the authors.
Statistical Method
AMJ
AMR
JBTC
JBC
MCQ
ASQ
Total
Descriptive
Correlation
Modeling/theory
Regression
Factor analysis
Chi-square
Content analysis
Discrete time logic analysis
Interactions/post hoc tests
Standard deviation
445
507
133
420
73
97
54
3
68
0
1
0
467
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
39
3
18
0
2
1
22
31
0
0
58
28
0
12
23
7
6
47
0
3
37
23
11
102
20
10
18
0
2
20
170
119
19
20
24
16
11
57
9
49
750
680
646
554
142
131
111
108
75
72
The statistical methods used varied significantly across the journals. The results
of the chi-square test showed significance, 2 = (220, N = 2,014) = 2790.652,
p <.000.
Table 2 looks at the top 10 statistical methods the six journals used.
Many research-based articles used more than one statistical method, with
many names given for regression tests. Our final coding lumped all regression types into one category. Asking and answering this question showed
readers the types of statistical methods the six journals used, since a particular journal may expect certain statistics in a research article submitted.
Frequency counts showed that in 2,013, a large majority of the articles
used at least one statistical measurement; 936 articles used two methods;
Research Method
AMJ
AMR
JBTC
JBC
MCQ
ASQ
Total
Theory
Questionnaire
Historical analysis
Interview
Database
Observation
Content analysis
Case study
Experiment
Model
Coding
Ethnography
33
317
156
88
169
66
4
29
33
27
32
7
458
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
48
15
69
29
1
30
10
15
21
7
9
6
26
62
52
35
0
17
38
16
15
10
12
6
68
52
38
47
3
24
83
23
10
13
10
3
55
71
84
59
29
28
1
22
11
32
1
18
688
517
400
258
202
165
136
105
90
89
64
40
695 articles used three methods; 348 articles used four methods; 121
articles used five methods; 32 articles used six methods; 13 articles used
seven methods; and 6 articles used eight different statistical measurements.
However, AMR showed only modeling/theory as the primary methodology
in 467 of its articles.
Table 2 allows you to see very quickly that AMJ and ASQ researchers
included greater varieties of statistical analysis in their articles. Researchers publishing in AMJ used regression, correlation, and descriptive statistics heavily, whereas only AMJ, JBC, and JBTC included articles with
discrete time logic analysis. BMOC authors need to know journal preference for statistical methods when considering article submissions. If submitting an article to AMJ or ASQ, consider using more than one statistical
method in analysis. Likewise, having written a theory piece, appropriate
journal choices include AMR or JBTC. Possible publication outlets choice
for either quantitative or qualitative communication-oriented articles
include both MCQ and JBC.
Research Methods Used
With the exception of one piece, AMR articles included no data samples due to its primarily conceptual focus. Although the majority did use
sampling, approximately 42% of the articles did not include a samplebased research method. Data samples tended to be more than 100, with
the majority (67.9%) of the 1,177 samples using 101 or more. Looking at
this table, one can see AMJ tended to have larger data sets; however, all
the journals except AMR accepted articles with data sets of varying sizes.
A significant difference exists between whether the articles published
used qualitative, quantitative, or both, 2 = (15, N = 2,079) = 1627.231,
Sample Size
AMJ
AMR
JBTC
JBC
MCQ
ASQ
Total
0
1-50
51-100
101-200
201-300
301-400
401-500
501-600
601-1,000
1,001+
32
63
74
155
90
43
31
36
44
117
457
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
94
45
15
4
1
1
3
0
3
2
90
40
20
28
15
7
13
2
7
2
157
46
17
26
3
6
1
3
4
2
40
36
21
26
18
16
19
7
15
50
870
230
147
239
128
73
66
48
73
173
p < .000. Qualitative articles accounted for 906 of the articles; quantitative
articles totaled 212. However, 960 articles included both qualitative and
quantitative analyses.
AMJ published 92.9% of its articles with both types of analyses; AMR
published 98.5% qualitative; JBTC, 77% qualitative and 23% both; JBC,
49.6% qualitative, 19.2% quantitative, and 31.3% both; MCQ, 30.9%
quantitative, 40.4% qualitative, and 28.7% both; and ASQ, 48.4% both,
26.6% qualitative, and 25% quantitative. Although not a lone factor when
selecting a journal for submission of an article, in combination with other
factors such as author discipline and number of pages, knowledge of the
percentages of qualitative or quantitative pieces published does have
some relevance to BMOC members.
Editors
All journals had four to seven regular editors during the period 1996 to
2007, with AMR having seven, MCQ six, AMJ and JBC five, and JBTC
and ASQ four. However, the number of articles editors reviewed and published varied considerably in recent years due to AMJ and AMR going for
the shorter article page length, with more articles per issue as well as
additional special issues each year.
Although journal analyses showed limited publication of BMOC articles historically, under a certain editor they showed a higher probability
of acceptance. A significant difference existed between editors and the
article disciplines that they published. Only one AMJ editor published
will provide greater visibility for our discipline as well as change the way
academicians from other disciplines perceive the journals in which their
BMOC colleagues publish. Those two outcomes can also provide a concrete foundation for employment as well as promotion or tenure decisions
made by department chairs or deans.
APPENDIX
Journals Appropriate for BMOC Articles (Study 1)
Journal
Journal of Business Communication
Business Communication Quarterly
Management Communication Quarterly
Journal of Business & Technical Communication
Communication Quarterly
Communication Research
Journal of Technical Writing & Communication
Human Communication Research
Journal of Communication
Organizational Behavior & Decision Processes
Communication Monographs
Communication Theory
Technical Communication Quarterly
Communication Research Reports
International Journal of Conflict Management
Groups and Organization Studies
Western Journal of Communication
Communication Education
Written Communication
International Journal of Intercultural Relations
IEEE Transaction on Professional Communication
Quarterly Journal of Speech
Womens Studies in Communication
Public Relations Review
Speech Communication
Communication
Language and Communication
Educational Technology Research and Development
Journal of Social & Personal Relations
Critical Studies in Mass Communication
Media, Culture, and Society
Journalism Quarterly
Telecommunications Policy
Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media
Academy of Management Journala
Journal of Applied Communication Researcha
Number of
Respondents (N = 163)
144
140
135
131
104
101
100
95
94
94
85
80
77
76
74
73
73
71
71
61
60
53
52
50
50
46
44
40
40
37
35
33
32
29
16
16
(continued)
APPENDIX (continued)
Number of
Respondents (N = 163)
Journal
Business Education Foruma
Delta Pi Epsilon Journala
Academy of Management Reviewa
Administrative Science Quarterlya
College Composition and Communicationa
Organization Sciencea
Communication Studies
Journal of Education for Businessa
Journal of International Listening Association
Journal of Technical Communication
College Englisha
Information Systems Researcha
Journal of Marketing Communication
Harvard Business Reviewa
Academy of Management Executivea
Journal of Applied Psychologya
MIS Quarterlya
NABTE Review
Organizationa
Career Development Internationala
Corporate Communication an International Journala
Executive Developmenta
Journal of Contemporary Ethnographya
Journal of Small Group Behaviora
Management Decisiona
Psychological Reportsa
Qualitative Inquirya
Strategic Directiona
Studies in Organization Behaviora
Symbolic Interactiona
Training for Qualitya
Public Opinion Quarterly
15
14
13
12
10
9
7
7
7
7
6
6
5
4
3
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Valid Cases
Sum
Weighted Mean
67
61
52
115
64
76
117
109
104
250
141
172
1.7463
1.7869
2.0000
2.1739
2.2031
2.2632
(continued)
APPENDIX (continued)
Communication Monographs
Organizational Behavior & Decision Processesa
Communication Researcha
Delta Pi Epsilon Journala
Communication Theorya
Human Communication Researcha
Journal of Communicationa
Quarterly Journal of Speecha
Technical Communication Quarterly
Business Communication Quarterly
Valid Cases
Sum
Weighted Mean
49
28
43
69
29
38
42
24
35
127
117
68
108
174
74
103
110
64
94
359
2.3878
2.4286
2.5116
2.5217
2.5517
2.7105
2.6190
2.6667
2.6857
2.8268
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