Measuring Performance Evolution of Academic Journals in Management Science and Operations Research: A DEA-Malmquist Approach

Abstract

This paper aims to measure the productivity of academic journals in the field of management science and operations research on the basis of a data envelopment analysis (DEA)-Malmquist approach. Using the empirical results, we make the following findings: (1) Compared with the DEA-CCR (Charnes, Cooper, Rhodes) model, the DEA-BCC (Banker, Charnes, Cooper) model may overestimate the performance of journals with a shorter cited half-life and fewer articles, and may underestimate the performance of journals with a longer cited half-life and more articles; (2) The average performance of journals in the management science and operations research field progressed by 1.8% during 2007–2014, which was a result of the frontier-shift effect; (3) The gap between the best journals on the DEA frontier and the rest of the journals is increasing because the best journals grow relatively faster; (4) High-level journals have made more progress and their performance is more stable, and the difference between high-level journals was also smaller during 2007–2014; and, (5) A higher total factor productivity value corresponds to higher Association of Business Schools rankings for certain journals.