A paradigm sensitive perspective on the ranking of accounting journals: A web-based survey approach

Abstract

This paper reports the result of a web-based perception study of the ranking of widely-held accounting journals in Australia. Journal ranking studies have generally adopted citation techniques or academic perceptions as the basis for assessing journal quality. The survey instrument was designed to take advantage of the capabilities of a web site to enable an interactive perception based survey. The research contributes to the existing literature in two main ways, (1) applying a web-based survey technique and (2) a new approach to journal ranking that allows respondents to classify the journals according to methodological perspective. The aim of our research is to address specific shortcomings in the existing literature and construct an alternative view of how we might more appropriately assess journal “quality” within a “paradigm” sensitive framework. The results of the survey indicate that journals that represent an ‘alternative’ approach to the mainstream U.S. journals are more highly ranked that in previous U.S. and U.K. studies. A comparison with a recent survey by Cassar & Holmes (1999) also suggests that the Australian rankings have changed over time.