Another day, another use for bibliometric analysis. I was recently at a conference where the editor of AMJ strongly recommended to read the mission statement of a journal before submitting; hitting the target is key to get it considered, and published.

There is no doubt this is important. However, some of these mission statements are a little fuzzy on the concrete topics they tend to favour. One way to see what topics are most relevant, is to look at what has actually been published in past issues. A Co-occurrence analysis of keywords can then give a map, of what keywords are researched, and how they are done so in relation to each other.

I have done so for five journals, ranked as 4* in the ABS list, namely:

  • Journal of Applied Psychology (JAP)
  • Academy of Management Journal (AMJ)
  • Organizational Science (OrgSci)
  • Journal of Management (JoM)
  • Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS)

..from 2009 to July 2018.

While all maps are dominated by the keyword: “performance”, the maps show different topics, though at times subtle differences, others, such as the contrast between JIBS and JAP. As for the unit of analysis, it seems that JIBS is focused on topics at the international organizational unit of analysis, OrgSci at the organizational and unit level, and JAP at the individual level of analysis.

Before submitting an article, it may be worth the minutes it takes to map the journal and see 1) how prominent the keywords that match your is in the map; and 2) possible ways to position your study to make it as relevant as possible.

JIBS Keywords

Top Keywords by cluster in JIBS*

Cluster 1 Cluster 2 Cluster 3 Cluster 4 Cluster 5
Multinational-enterprise Determinants Competitive advantage Cultural distance Entry mode
Firm Institutional environment Institutional theory International-business Joint ventures
Knowledge Governance Knowledge transfer Distance International joint ventures
Research-and-development Emerging markets Resource-based view Entry mode choice Strategic alliances
Innovation Ownership Strategy Diversity Direct-investment

JAP Keywords

Top Keywords by cluster in JAP*

Cluster 1 Cluster 2 Cluster 3 Cluster 4 Cluster 5
Job-performance Decision-making Leadership Performance Job-satisfaction
Personality Satisfaction Transformational leadership Behavior Commitment
Motivation Task-performance Organizations Consequences Turnover
Individual-differences Self-regulation Teams Perspective Job satisfaction
Self-efficacy Conflict Multilevel Power Organizational commitment
Job performance Stress Transactional leadership Attitudes Employee turnover

AMJ Keywords

Org.Sci. Keywords

 

 

* Please contact me for more information on how these were extracted and ranked; the process is part of so-far unpublished research.

Share This