The Iron Law of Important Articles

Abstract

The complaints of economists about the increasing flood of publications are not a new phenomenon. Lovell states that there is a 'knowledge explosion' in economics, it is at least a century old [10, 27]. According to Borchardt this complaint can even be traced back to the 15th century [2], which means it is considerably older than our science itself. In economic literature the attention of scientists has almost exclusively been attracted to the production side of publications. There exists a multitude of studies to assist potential authors, e.g., the prestige of suitable journals [1; 4; 7; 9; 11; 13; 15; 16], the criteria affecting the acceptance rates of articles [3], the publication-lags in economic journals [18], and the optimal order for submitting manuscripts [12]. On the other hand there exist almost no comparable studies to assist the potential consumers of those articles. This paper attempts to point out some thoughts with respect to this neglected complex of problems which may prove instructive if not helpful for the consumers of scientific literature.