Abstract
Here we show how the same organizational structures can arise across seemingly unrelated domains of human activities. To this end we examine the example of academic journals publishing and stock market. A number of academic journals with low-prestige and limited resources may compete in the same selection process of high-quality manuscripts. This shared selection process is performed by an independent editorial committee. A journal editor is interested in maximizing the growth rate of journal wealth based on an optimal strategy of allocations on candidate manuscripts. Here we introduce the system of optimality equations for the maximization problem. Next, we find an optimal set of manuscripts to allocate on, as well as the optimal allocation fractions. It can be easily implemented by a simple algorithm for use at the shared selection process of high-quality manuscripts. The proposed structure presents a loose network of economic transactions, i.e. journal editors compete on somewhat like manuscript market by making stakes and risking their money. We provide a publicly available suite of web-based tools designed to the computation of the optimal set of manuscripts and the respective allocation fractions. Examples of the performance of the Web application for allocating journal resources are presented for two different selection processes of high-quality manuscripts.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Boyd, S., & Vandenberghe, L. (2004). Convex optimization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 244.
Edwards, R., & Shulenburger, D. (2003). The high cost of scholarly journals (and what to do about it). Change, 35(6), 10–19.
Garcia, J. A., Rodriguez-Sanchez, R., & Fdez-Valdivia, J. (2011). Overall prestige of journals with ranking score above a given threshold. Scientometrics, 89(1), 229–243.
Garcia, J. A., Rodriguez-Sanchez, R., & Fdez-Valdivia, J. (2013). The selection of high-quality manuscripts. Scientometrics. doi:10.1007/s11192-013-1034-4.
Garfield, E. (2006). The history and meaning of the journal impact factor. Journal of the American Medical Association, 295(1), 90–93.
González-Pereira, B., Guerrero-Bote, V. P., & Moya-Anegón, F. (2010). A new approach to the metric of journals’ scientific prestige: The SJR indicator. Journal of Informetrics, 4(3), 379–391.
Kalaitzidakis, P., Stengos, T., & Mamuneas, T. P. (2003). Rankings of academic journals and institutions in economics. Journal of the European Economic Association, 1(6), 1346–1366.
Kelly, J. (1956). A new interpretation of information rate. Bell System Technical Journal, 35, 917–926.
Loève M. (1960). Probability theory. New York: Van Nostrand.
Smoczynski, P., & Tomkins, D. (2010). An explicit solution to the problem of optimizing the allocations of a bettors wealth when wagering on horse races. Mathematical Scientist, 35(1), 10–17.
Waltham, M. (2009). The future of scholarly journals publishing among social science and humanities associations. New Jersey: Mary Waltham Publishing Consultant, from http://www.MaryWaltham.com. Accessed April 2013.
Wellcome Trust. (2003). Economic analysis of scientific research publishing: A report commissioned by the wellcome trust. Histon, Cambridgeshire: SQW Limited.
Acknowledgments
This research was sponsored by the Spanish Board for Science and Technology (MICINN) under Grant TIN2010-15157 cofinanced with European FEDER funds. Sincere thanks are due to the reviewers for their insightful comments, constructive suggestions, and help.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
García, J.A., Rodriguez-Sánchez, R. & Fdez-Valdivia, J. How the same organizational structures can arise across seemingly unrelated domains of human activities: the example of academic publishing and stock market. Scientometrics 99, 447–461 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-013-1184-4
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-013-1184-4