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Prestige and relevance of the scholarly journals: Impressions of SIOP members

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2020

Scott Highhouse*
Affiliation:
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, USA
Michael J. Zickar
Affiliation:
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, USA
Sarah R. Melick
Affiliation:
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

Abstract

Prestigious journals are widely admired for publishing quality scholarship, yet the primary indicators of journal prestige (i.e., impact factors) do not directly assess audience admiration. Moreover, the publication landscape has changed substantially in the last 20 years, with electronic publishing changing the way we consume scientific research. Given that it has been 18 years since the publication of the last journal prestige survey of SIOP members, the authors conducted a new survey and used these results to reflect on changing practices within industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology. SIOP members (n = 557) rated the prestige and relevance of I-O and management journals. Responses were analyzed according to job setting, and were compared to a survey conducted by Zickar and Highhouse (2001) in 2000. There was considerable consistency in prestige ratings across settings (i.e., management department vs. psychology department; academic vs. applied), especially among the top journals. There was considerable variance, however, in the perceived usefulness of different journals. Results also suggested considerable consistency across the two time periods, but with some increases in prestige among OB-oriented journals. Changes in the journal landscape are discussed, including the rise of OHP as a topic of concentration in I-O. We suggest that I-O programs will continue to attract the top researchers in talent management and OHP, which should result in the use of a broader set of journals for judging I-O program impact.

Type
Focal Article
Copyright
© Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Inc. 2020

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Footnotes

We are grateful to Margaret Brooks, Alexis Hirvo, and Brendan Lortie for their contributions to this project.

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