How Important Is Editorial Gatekeeping? Evidence from Top Biomedical Journals

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Krieger, Joshua L.; Myers, Kyle R.; Stern, Ariel D.
• 署名单位: Harvard University
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01340
• 发表日期: 2025-07
• 页码: 1159-1168
• 关键词: science; ECONOMICS

摘要

We examine editors' influence on the scientific content of aca-demic journals by unpacking the role of three major forces: journals' statedmissions, the aggregate supply of and demand for specific topics, and sci-entific homophily via editorial gatekeeping. In a sample of top biomedicaljournals, we find the first two forces explain the vast majority of variationin published content. The upper bound of the homophily effect is statisti-cally significant but practically much less important. Marginal changes tothe composition of editorial boards do not meaningfully impact journals'content in the short run. However, we cannot rule out persistent or perva-sive frictions in the publication process.