Are the works that cite Beall's List accounting journals comparable to those that cite Scopus journals of similar citation impact?
| Date | 04 October 2022 |
| Pages | 844-862 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-01-2022-0056 |
| Published date | 04 October 2022 |
| Author | William H. Walters |
Are the works that cite Beall’s List
accounting journals comparable to
those that cite Scopus journals of
similar citation impact?
William H. Walters
Mary Alice & Tom O'Malley Library, Manhattan College,
Riverdale, New York, USA
Abstract
Purpose –Th study evaluates the apparent quality of the 10 Beall’s List accounting journals with the highest
citation rates by investigating whether the works that cite those journals are comparable to those that cite 11
Scopus journals of similar citation impact.
Design/methodology/approach –The study investigates the characteristics of the works that cited the
Beall’s List and Scopus journals, 2015–2020, comparing the two groups of citing works by publication type
(article, book, etc.), extent of self-citation, inclusion in Beall’s List and Scopus, Open Access (OA) status,
publisher type, citation impact, and country/region of interest.
Findings –The Beall’s List accounting journals tend to be cited in less reputable outlets; they are especially
likely to be cited in Beall’s List journals and especially unlikely to be cited in Scopus journals. However, other
evidence suggests that these journals occupy a distinctive niche. The works that cite Beall’s List journals are
especially likely to be OA, to be published by universities and other nonprofits, and to focus on lower-income
countries. They also have relatively low journal and publisher self-citation rates.
Originality/value –Beall’s List accounting journals may be especially useful to scholars who rely on OA
journals, who see their local universities as natural publishing partners, and who investigate topics of concern
to developing countries. An increase in the number of non-predatoryjournals that cater to these authors’needs
might help resolve the apparent problem of unmet demand for journal space.
Keywords Citations, Google Scholar, Impact, Journal rankings, Predatory journals, Quality
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Researchers, practitioners, university committees, and fundingagenciesoftenrelyonajournal’s
reputation as an indicator of the type and quality of the articles published in the journal. Although
the reputation of a journal does not necessarily correspond to the quality of any particular article,
the careful evaluation of each individual paper is not always feasible (Adler and Harzing, 2009;
Ferrara and Bonaccorsi, 2016;Lozano et al.,2012;Seglen, 1994,1997). Journal rankings and
perceptions of quality therefore play an important role in the scholarly communication system.
Journal quality is not a single, straightforward construct, however, and at least six
dimensions of quality can be identified (Walters, 2022):
(1) The editors’and publishers’motives and intentions
(2) Adherence to established norms of peer review such as anonymity, use of expert
reviewers, absence of bias in reviewer selection, adequate time for review, and a
reasonable acceptance rate
(3) Adherence to norms of scholarly publishing other than peer review (e.g.
transparency, long-term preservation of content, professionalism in presentation,
and a web interface that facilitates discovery and access)
(4) Scholarly quality (e.g. subjective assessments of expert evaluators)
AJIM
75,5
844
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2050-3806.htm
Received 31 January 2022
Revised 4 May 2022
Accepted 6 June 2022
Aslib Journal of Information
Management
Vol. 75 No. 5, 2023
pp. 844-862
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2050-3806
DOI 10.1108/AJIM-01-2022-0056
(5) Impact on subsequent scholarship (e.g. number of times cited, outlets in which the
journal is cited, rate at which citations accrue, multidisciplinary impact, and extent to
which the theories, perspectives, and methods introduced in the journal are
incorporated into later work)
(6) Impact on teaching and practice, as shown by citations in textbooks, inclusion of
articles in course syllabi and reading lists, and influence on professional norms and
standards.
The distinctions among these six dimensions of quality are readily apparent when we
consider the most widely known lists of predatory journals—Open Access (OA) journals that
pose as peer-reviewed outlets but accept nearly all submissions in order to maximize revenue
from the article processing charges (APCs) paid by authors, their institutions, and their
funding agencies. For example, Beall’s List defines predatory journals based on the
publisher’s motives (dimension 1) but actually selects publishers and journals for inclusion
based on dimensions 2 and 3, neither of which directly represents the scholarly quality of the
papers published in the journals (Beall, 2012;Beall et al., 2021;Cobey et al., 2018;Krawczyk
and Kulczycki, 2021).
This study gauges the apparent quality of the papers published in Beall’s List accounting
journals by investigating whether the works that cite those journals are comparable to those
that cite Scopus journals of similar citation impact. The analysis is based on the assumption
that the papers cited in reputable journals are themselves reputable—that the authors who
publish in well-regarded journals are in a good position to judge the quality of the works they
cite. In contrast, the papers cited in less reputable outlets (such as predatory journals) are
presumably less likely to be legitimate contributions to the literature.
The paper first presents contextual information—an overview of the ways in which the 10
Beall’s List accounting journals with the greatest number of citations per article (2015–2020)
are like or unlike the other Beall’s List accounting journals. The main analysis then compares
the characteristics of the works that cited (a) the 10 Beall’s list accounting journals with the
greatest number of citations per article and (b) 11 Scopus journals of comparable citation
impact. Specifically, it compares the two groups of citing works with regard to publication
type (journal article, book, chapter, conference paper, thesis, or working paper), extent of self-
citation, inclusion in Beall’s List, inclusion in Scopus, Open Access status, publisher type
(commercial publisher, scholarly society, university, or other nonprofit), citation impact
(CiteScore and CiteScore percentile), and country or region of interest (by World Bank income
classification and for 21 particular countries and regions).
Previous research
Beall’s List
Beall’s List (Beall et al., 2021) is the oldest and best known list of potentially predatory OA
journals. It identifies more than 1,300 publishers and nearly 1,500 additional journals that
authors are encouraged to avoid. Beall’s List was removed from the web in January 2017, but
it has since re-emerged and is now maintained by an anonymous scholar. The original List is
maintained in its final form, although a new section contains additions and revisions made
since that time. As of May 2022, the latest updates were from December 2021.
As noted earlier, Beall’s List does not actually account for publishers’intentions,
predatory or otherwise, since intentions are difficult to ascertain (Beall, 2012;Cobey et al.,
2018;Krawczyk and Kulczycki, 2021). Likewise, the evaluation process does not consider the
quality or impact of the articles published in each journal. Instead, the compilers of Beall’s List
have relied on a set of subjective criteria that represent departures from the established
norms of scholarly communication. For instance, the 54 warning signs identified by Beall
Beall’s List
accounting
journals
845
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