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Faculty Research

Bloomberg Businessweek

One of the three components of the Bloomberg Businessweek (BBW) biennial ranking of U.S. MBA programs is “intellectual capital,” which accounts for ten percent of the total. BBW examines the number of articles published by the school’s full-time faculty in 20 leading academic journals over a five-year period and adjusts for faculty size. Extended articles receive more points than short articles. BBW also searches The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and its own journal to award extra points for faculty book reviews. The ranking is published in even-numbered years in late October. 

Pros:

  • Journals included are arguably the most prestigious in business academia

Cons:

  • Lacks index scores; clusters and gaps hidden
  • List of journals so select that some disciplines and sub-disciplines are missing
  • Long vs. short articles may be irrelevant for quality; book reviews in popular press may not reflect academic clout
  • Awards points for book reviews published in its own journal; biased

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Financial Times

One of the many criteria that Financial Times (FT) examines in its global rankings of MBA and executive MBA (EMBA) programs is faculty research, which accounts for ten percent of each ranking. FT examines the number of articles written by a school’s full-time faculty in a list of top-45 academic and practitioner journals over a three and a-half year window. The total is weighted for faculty size. The annual EMBA annual ranking appears in October, while the MBA ranking appears in January; ranks vary slightly on account of the different schools involved. 

Pros:

  • FT updates the top-journal list by actively seeking input from schools

Cons:

  • Lacks index scores; clusters and gaps hidden
  • Difficulty in coverage: publications in some academic fields (e.g., business law) are ignored, while those in other fields (e.g., economics) may privilege universities which happen to house them within the business school
  • Many universities would not include practitioner journals in rating a professor’s publication prowess

 

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The University of Texas at Dallas

The University of Texas at Dallas’ School of Management tracks faculty publications in 24 leading business journals over a five-year period. Higher weight is awarded for single-authored articles and university affiliation is recorded at the time of publication. The “Top 100 Business School Research Rankings,” which includes worldwide and North America tables, appears annually in February or March.

Pros:

  • Journals included are arguably the most prestigious in business academia
  • Presents article counts and scores along with rank; clustering and gaps visible

Cons:

  • List of journals so select that some disciplines and sub-disciplines are missing
  • Recording faculty affiliation at time of article publication does not reflect current faculty affiliation