LSM Journal Classification System
This note is approved by the ILSM Board 27/04/2011 for immediate application.
1. Background
The need to create a common classification system was evoked already at the establishment of the LSM centers of excellence in 2007 by the LSM Research Commission, chaired by Prof. Rudy De Winne. The first classification system was based on the journal rankings of CNRS (Comité National de la Recherche Scientifique, FR) (section 37) and ABS (Association of Business Schools, UK), complemented with adjustments for journals not represented in any of the two and open arbitrage in the case of diverging classifications in the two rankings.
The classification system has been used in the annual research reports for LSM 2007, 2008 and will be applied for Institute ILSM 2009, 2010 and henceforth.
2. Objective and scope
The objective of the LSM journal classification system is to provide guidance to members of the institute with respect to orientation for part of their scientific production, to define the priority areas of publishing for the institute and to provide a tool to monitor and manage the quality and volume of scientific publication within Centers and the institute at large.
The scope of the LSM journal classification system is to encompass:
- All peer-reviewed scientific journals within the field of management, as represented by thescientific orientation of the ILSM centers of excellence.
- 2. Peer-reviewed scientific conference proceedings in information science.
As the number of potential items is large and increasing, the system is built on a principles for continuous expansion and inclusion of new journals based on verifiable criteria and peer judgment. The scope of ‘management’ is interpreted widely as far as the primary authorship of an active member of ILSM of an article in a journal is seen as a strong indication that the journal covers a field related to management. Even journals that are not in any of the fields listed by the reference lists used as background sources are considered, but given a lower ranking in management as ‘peripheral’ journals. This mention is important as it defines the LSM journal classification system in a normative sense towards specific journals in the field of scientific concentration, which is consistent with its use as a strategic instrument to indicate where the Institute aims to make an impact. However, it also means that the system cannot be used for generic assessment of faculty productivity at e.g. a university level. Moreover, the LSM journal classification system must explicitly take into account peer-reviewed journals edited in French in certain disciplines, although these may not always be listed and ranked in the references conventionally used to measure impact and standing. As a
consequence, the resulting classification will to some extent be unique and not fully apply to e.g. Anglo-Saxon management schools.
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