Judging the quality of research in business schools: The UK as a case study

This article examines how the research quality of management departments and business schools may be assessed. It defines the most influential business and management studies journals by their 10-year citation impact. Most of these journals are based in the US. The paper examines the extent to which UK business schools publish in the most cited journals, and finds a surprisingly small presence, even from those business schools classified as ‘internationally excellent’ by the most recent government-sponsored Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). Comparisons are made with US business schools. It then shows that British academics publish mainly in British-based journals. Reasons for this situation and reactions to it are discussed.