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Abdulai, Awudu; Mishra, Ashok
Article — Published Version
Agricultural Economics at 50: Scholarship of the
global agricultural economics community
Agricultural Economics
Provided in Cooperation with:
John Wiley & Sons
Suggested Citation: Abdulai, Awudu; Mishra, Ashok (2019) : Agricultural Economics at 50:
Scholarship of the global agricultural economics community, Agricultural Economics, ISSN
1574-0862, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, Vol. 51, Iss. 1, pp. 3-15,
https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12537
This Version is available at:
http://hdl.handle.net/10419/230273
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DOI:10.1111/agec.12537
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Agricultural Economics at 50: Scholarship of the global
agricultural economics community
AwuduAbdulai1 AshokMishra2
1Department of Food Economics and Abstract
Consumption Studies, University of Kiel, Last year, Agricultural Economics reached its 50th volume, after 34 years. In this
Kiel, Germany
2Morrison School of Agribusiness, W. P. article, we reflect on the evolution of the journal during this period. We describe the
Carey School of Business, Arizona State evolving editorial structure of the journal and the composition of the editorial board
University, Tempe, Arizona from only editorial advisory board to both associate editors and editorial advisory
Correspondence board. Wealsoemploybibliometricanalysistoshowcasetheevolutionoftheaverage
AwuduAbdulai,DepartmentofFoodEco- number of pages per article, number of articles per volume, authorship patterns that
nomicsandConsumptionStudies,University reflect the steady rise in collaborative research, article content, research coverage,
ofKiel,Olshausenstrasse40,24118Kiel,
Germany. as well as the journal’s impact as chronicled by its citations over the period under
Email:aabdula@food-econ.uni-kiel.de consideration.Weconcludebybrieflydefiningsomegoalsandprovidingperspectives
for the future of the journal in the face of the evolving publishing landscape. We found
that although articles published in the journal remain predominantly on agricultural
topics, significant changes in topical coverage has occurred in the last two decades.
While20yearsago,onlyveryfewarticleswereclassifiedunderenvironmentalissues
and mathematical and quantitative methods, the share of articles published in these
areas increased by 19% and 45%, respectively, over this time period.
KEYWORDS
agricultural economics, citation impacts, co-authorship, editorial structure
JEL CLASSIFICATION
B20, O10, Q01
1 INTRODUCTION Economists and their professional colleagues.” He also out-
lined the broader range of interests that the IAAE had iden-
This year, Agricultural Economics reached its 50th volume. tified to serve the journal’s audience. Three general areas
The journal was launched in 1986 by the International Asso- for coverage were outlined in the journal’s policy statement
ciation of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) to serve as its to help define its scope. First, the journal was to cover dis-
flagship publication. In its inaugural issue, the first editor- ciplinary topics in economics applied to problems in the
in-chief, Douglas D. Hedley, characterized the journal as agricultural and food sectors. Second, the journal was to
“designed to serve the breadth of the needs faced by the cover multi-disciplinary or subject matter topics that com-
members of the International Association of Agricultural bine relevant evidence and information about the food and
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original
workis properly cited.
©2019TheAuthors.Agricultural Economics published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Association of Agricultural Economists
Agricultural Economics. 2020;51:3–15. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/agec 3
4 ABDULAIANDMISHRA
agricultural sector. Third, the journal was expected to pub- of three decades of evolution of the journal for the future.
lish articles dealing with a broad range of problem-solving In particular, the adoption of web-based manuscript manage-
approaches and techniques in a range of fields, from farm mentsoftwarein2007helpedtoreducetheneedforsecretariat
management, extension, marketing, and market development support, as well as increase manuscript turnaround through
to decision-making in farming, government, national or inter- fast communications between editors, authors, and reviewers.
national organizations, private enterprise, and research insti- To ensure a broader reflection on the evolution of the jour-
tutions. The above outlined policy statement was crafted by nal, we engaged with some of the past editors to solicit sug-
GlennJohnson, Jim Hildreth and Theodor Dams in the Exec- gestions and comments on the contents and structure of this
utive Committee and was to be included on the inside cover article. Specifically, Douglas Hedley, the inaugurating editor,
of every issue. Stephan von Cramon-Taubadel, and Gerald Shively provided
The inaugural issue contained five articles that employed valuableinformationonsignificantmeasuresthatwereimple-
rigorous empirical analyses on various policy relevant topics mentedatvariousstagesintheevolutionofthejournal,aswell
covering different countries. In seeking articles for the jour- as the structure of this article.
nal, Editor Hedley emphasized the significance of providing In particular, we describe the evolving editorial structure
the readership with a balance across all major regions of the of the journal, as it moved from one editor-in-chief to two co-
worldandacrossthethreegeneralareasofinterestmentioned editors, and the composition of the editorial board from only
above. He further indicated: “the diversity of concerns and editorial advisory board to both associate editors and edito-
professional interests of IAAE members, as well as the differ- rial advisory board. We also employ bibliometric analysis to
ences in methodology, style and approach to research around showcase the evolution of the average number of pages per
the world represent a major challenge for the journal to record article, number of articles per volume, authorship patterns,
and report.” He concluded that the journal was intended as article content, research coverage, as well as the journal’s
another pillar to support the shared communication that takes impactaschronicledbyitscitationsovertheperiodundercon-
place between members at the triennial meetings, on a more sideration. To the extent that the journal continues its role as
continuous basis than the meetings can achieve. theflagshippublicationoftheIAAEandoneofthetopoutlets
At this stage, it is proper to acknowledge the contribution in the profession, we conclude by briefly defining some goals
of members of the IAAE who helped in setting up the jour- for the future of the journal.
nal. First, Yujiro Hayami and John Dillon helped a very great
dealintryingtoassureworld-wideaccesstothejournal.They
worked with Douglas Hedley to assure that different styles 2 EVOLVINGEDITORIAL
and research methodologies could have access to the journal. STRUCTUREOFTHEJOURNAL
In particular, they wanted to ensure that the research method-
ology that was driven by Hayami, and was quite common in The editorial structure of the journal has evolved over the
muchofAsia,neededtobeseenandpublished. period under consideration, changing from single editor-in-
The journal’s accumulated archive of more than 1,800 chief to two co-editors. At its inception in 1986, only one
high-quality research articles covering various subject areas editor-in-chief, Douglas Hedley, was appointed, and he han-
in the field of agricultural economics is an accomplishment dled volumes 1–7. The next three editors that followed were
made possible by past editors and editorial board members, also single editors. We provide a detailed timeline of the edi-
andarticle authors with support from the association’s board. tors and co-editors with their respective tenure of service and
In the 25th volume of the journal, in which all the previous affiliations in Table 1. Bruce Greenshields handled volumes
editors were highlighted with their biographies, then Editor- 8–11, Stanley Johnson handled volumes 12–23, and Stephan
in-Chief Stephan von Cramon-Taubadel rightly pointed out von Cramon-Taubadel handled volumes 24–37. Volume 38
that “anniversaries are an opportunity to look both back and sawtheshifttoco-editorswithstaggeredtermsofoffice,with
forward, to review what has been attained in the past and to the pairings of William Masters (volumes 38–42) and Gerald
define goals for the future.” In his review, he asked “what Shively (volumes 38–46), Gerald Shively and Awudu Abdu-
th
will the Editor-in-Chief be looking back upon in our 50 lai (volume 44–46 onward), and Awudu Abdulai and Ashok
anniversary issue?” Almost all the potentially dramatic tech- Mishra (volume 47 onward) taking responsibility, with some
nical innovations he identified are now in use at the journal. caveats.
Electronic manuscript subscription and processing, involv- Gerald Shively and William Masters handled volumes 38–
ing the review process and checking proofs, as well as elec- 42together, before William Masters relocated from Purdue to
tronic publication and password-enabled subscriber access to Tufts in Boston, and decided to step down from the journal’s
an online journal site are now fully in place. editorship position. Gerald Shively then continued as editor-
These changes present an opportunity to review what has in-chief, and handled volumes43and44alone,servingatotal
been achieved in the past, and to outline some implications of 9 years as editor. Awudu Abdulai joined Gerald Shively as
ABDULAIANDMISHRA 5
TABLE 1 AgriculturalEconomicseditortimeline
Douglas Hedley Ottawa, Canada Volumes1–7
Bruce Greenshields EconomicResearch Institute, United States Volumes8–11
Department of Agriculture, United States
Staley R. Johnson Iowa State University, United States Volumes12–23
Stephan von Cramon-Taubadel University of Göttingen, Germany Volumes24–37
William Masters Purdue University, United States Volumes38–42
Gerald Shively Purdue University, United States Volumes38–46
AwuduAbdulai University of Kiel, Germany Volumes44–50
AshokMishra Arizona State University, United States Volumes47–50
Submissions, 1997- June 2019
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Submission Accepted
FIGURE 1 SubmissionsandacceptanceofmanuscriptscompiledfromtheannualEditorReports[Colorfigurecanbeviewedat
wileyonlinelibrary.com]
co-editor in July 2012, with volume 43, although the articles Masters changed the structure when they took over in 2007.
published in this volume and in volume 44 were solely han- Their approach was to recruit a small advisory board to look
dled by Gerald Shively. When Gerald Shively’s tenure ended at the overall direction of the journal, and a larger set of asso-
in June 2015, Ashok Mishra joined Awudu as co-editor of the ciate editors to help with the individual manuscripts. The
journal starting in July 2015. journal has maintained this structure until now. Generally,
The journal did not have a systematic labeling of the indi- the members of the editorial advisory board are prominent
vidual volumes per year until 2009. For example, volume 1 leaders in the discipline, representing a wide range of fields
spanned the years 1986–1988 with four issues, while volume and institutions, and are normally consulted by the editors
13 contained articles for 1995/1996. On average, there were on issues relating to special issues for the journal. The asso-
twovolumes, with three to four issues per year between 1986 ciate editors are distinguished colleagues, with specializa-
and 2008. The journal shifted to one volume with six issues tions in particular regions and methods. They support the edi-
per year, starting with volume 40 in 2009. tors in choosing referees and making editorial decisions, as
With regard to the editorial board, the journal initially well as assisting in the process of selecting the best article
established an editorial advisory board that consisted of award.
26 members to help the editor with editorial decisions on Christopher Delgado and Gerald Norton, who supported
manuscripts. The editorial structure changed when Stanley the editors with book reviews, occupied the position of book
Johnson took over the editorship in 1994, from the editor- review editor for the journal over many years. When Ger-
in-chief and editorial advisory board to an editorial board ald Shively and William Masters took over, they recognized
that consisted of the editor-in-chief, five associate editors and that the world of book publishinghadchangedfundamentally,
twenty-eighteditorialadvisoryboardmembers.Thiseditorial especiallywiththeinnovationofonlinereviewsatplacessuch
structure remained the same during the tenure of Stephan von as Amazon. Hence, they did not attempt to replace the book
Cramon-Taubadel (2000–2006). Gerald Shively and William editors.
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