| ECONOMICS |
College of Business and Public Administration
Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa 50311 |
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As in many other disciplines, new research in economics usually appears first in scholarly journals. Papers submitted to journals for possible publication are typically sent by the editor to two or three referees (or reviewers) for evaluation. Referees are experts in the subject area of the paper, typically college or university professors. To ensure an unbiased evaluation, most journals use a "blind" referee process, whereby the author is not told the identity of the referees. Some journals use a "double-blind" process, whereby the referees are not told the identity of the author, either. After receiving the evaluations, the editor decides whether to publish the paper, suggest revisions and encourage resubmission of a revised paper, or reject the paper outright. The time from original submission to publication is usually at least one year.
Most of the following journals are available at Cowles Library. All other economics journals may be accessed by interlibrary loan or through Cowles Library on-line sources.
Top journals. Almost anyone's list of the top journals in economics would probably include the following. However, articles in these journals are mostly quite technical and hard to read for nonspecialists.
More accesssible journals. The following journals rank slightly lower in quality, but are easier to read and often cover topics of clear policy relevance.
Survey journals.The following journals focus on summarizing and evaluating an existing body of research, rather than reporting new research. Papers are usually invited, rather than submitted at the author's initiative.
Student discounts. Many journals offer subscriptions at discount prices to students. To get the discount, often you must submit a copy of your student ID card. Most journals grant the student discount only for a limited number of years. Membership in the American Economic Association (about $30 for students) is an especially good deal, because you get American Economic Review, the Journal of Economic Literature, and the Journal of Economic Perspectives.
Journal publishers. Elsevier North-Holland publishes dozens of journals in economics and finance. This cite offers tables of contents and abstracts (summaries) for free over the internet. In a few cases, the full text of articles are also available for free. The University of Chicago Press publishes several high-quality economics journals. The Journal of Economic Literature maintains a page of links, by journal, to publishers.
The Archive for the History of Economic Thought at McMaster University offers links to classic works posted on-line.
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