A Study of Business Education Research Outlets

ABSTRACT Business school faculty are seeking to respond to a renewed emphasis on the scholarship of teaching and must find publication outlets for their work. Though a number of studies have assessed the source and content of education-oriented journal publications in specific business disciplines, no cross-disciplinary assessment of business education publishing opportunities exists. This paper presents the findings of an analysis of historical and current education-related publishing opportunities for business school faculty. Initial findings indicate that the number of publication outlets has increased, but remains a small percentage of business outlets. Overall circulation of education-related business journals has increased, though a larger percent of current journals have relatively small circulations. Recent trends identified in the analysis include the introduction of journals that are distributed exclusively on-line and the increasing dominance of blind, rather than editorial, reviewed journals. Findings indicate both an increase in interest in the scholarship of teaching and an increase in competition among contributors. A STUDY OF BUSINESS EDUCATION RESEARCH OUTLETS INTRODUCTION Publishing in journals that focus on teaching accomplishes several goals within the academic community. It demonstrates commitment to and insight about good teaching (Boyer, 1990). Additionally, it provides evidence for individual faculty in the review process. From a university perspective, faculty publishing education-related articles provides evidence of scholarly productivity for institutions accredited by or seeking accreditation by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSBI), particularly given the new "mission-linked" standards. Institutions with teaching as a primary mission now are able to seek accreditation without the same burden of basic research as would be expected from a research institution. Business faculty seeking to respond to this renewed emphasis on the scholarship of teaching must find publication outlets for their work. A large body of research exists that attempts to assess "quality" of journals; however, only a small number of studies have assessed education oriented journal publications in specific business disciplines (e.g., Clark and Hanna, 1986; Clark, 1995), and no cross-disciplinary assessment of business education journals exists. The purpose of this paper is to conduct an analysis of the education-related publishing opportunities for business school faculty and how they have changed in recent decades. Such an analysis should provide insight previously unavailable about the changing nature of educationrelated publications in business. This insight can inform those who seek to encourage activity in the field of business education scholarship, as well as serve as a benchmark for understanding productivity in the scholarship of teaching. BUSINESS DISCIPLINES AND THE SCHOLARSHIP OF TEACHING Higher education in America is under close scrutiny from many different constituencies (Mundt, 1998) including legislators and other policy makers who increasingly operate with distrust of higher education and question faculty productivity (Clausen, 1996). Criticism of the university culture paints a picture of an elitist academy of self-proclaimed scholars with little interest in teaching (Anderson, 1 992), system-wide indifference to the needs of undergraduate students (Sykes, 1988), and focus on theory rather than competence of graduates (Bennis and O'Toole, 2005; Stewart, 2005). These misplaced priorities have led to the perception of many that higher education is "falling short in its attempts to transfer knowledge to students" (B inks, Starkey, and Mahon, 2006, p. 2). Another factor affecting universities in general and business schools in particular is rising accountability standards that require professors to demonstrate the effectiveness of their teaching via outcome based assessments (Smart, Kelley, and Conant, 1999). …