Knowing a journal editor personally increases a researcher's publication volume by 40%, even after accounting for the quality of their work.
April 1, 2026
Original Paper
Friends in Higher Places Editorial bias in top-tier Business Journals
SSRN · 6504751
The Takeaway
We assume top-tier business journals are meritocracies where the best research wins. This study reveals that social capital creates a massive 'editorial favoritism' effect that only lasts as long as the specific editor is in power, suggesting scientific prestige is heavily distorted by who you know.
From the abstract
This article examines the institutional governance of scientific gatekeeping by estimating how editorial mandates influence journal-specific author productivity. Using a unique, manually audited dataset covering 29 leading business journals over 40 years, we employ a high-dimensional fixed-effects PPML estimator to identify editorial favoritism. Our results reveal that a co-authorship tie with an editor-inchief leads to an approximate 40.5% increase in an author’s expected publication volume, an