Publishing behavior of individuals and most prolific authors in the economics literature

Abstract

This paper examines the publication behavior of individuals and identifies the most prolific authors in the top 20 economics journals. This study finds that the majority of authors (57.7 percent) published only once in these journals from 1963 to 1988, while 11.5 percent of these authors contributed more than five times. Among the articles published by these authors, 68.1 percent are single authored, 27.3 percent are biauthored, and 4.4 percent are triauthored. The average percentage of one time authors (72.5) for individual journals is greater than that (57.7) for all 20 journals as a whole, suggesting that authors tend to diversify their publications across different journals. The rankings of top economists reinforce the notion that quantity is not always quality. Three of the top 50 economists won Nobel prizes, while four of the second 50 won Nobel prizes. Large numbers of Nobel Laureates are not ranked. Last, this paper finds that the top three graduate programs have produced more than 50 percent of the top 100 scholars, indicating strong institutional dominance in the production of the most prolific writers.

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