June 30, 2009
Clark's Economic Geography journal making an impact
Economic Geography, an internationally peer-reviewed journal owned by Clark University and housed in the University's Graduate School of Geography since 1925, is a premier scholarly resource for academics and policy makers around the world. In an ISI/Thomson Reuters report released in June, the journal ranked 4 of 51 peer-reviewed scholarly journals in Geography and 7 of 209 in Economics, reflecting its status among those most cited by and influential among researchers.
Economic Geography is committed to publishing cutting-edge research that makes theoretical advances to the discipline. The journal states its "long-standing specialization is to publish the best theoretically-based empirical articles that deepen the understanding of significant economic geography issues around the world."
The Institute for Scientific information (ISI) "impact factors" are measurements derived by tracking and indexing the number of citations, or references, made to papers in a scholarly journal, thus indicating a level of quality and influence on particular fields and research. According to ISI/Thomson Reuters, these indexing tools help scientists "expedite their research process, evaluate the impact of their work, spot scientific trends, and trace the history of modern scientific thoughts."
The journal is edited by an international team of scholars. Professor Yuko Aoyama (Clark) serves as editor-in-chief, with Professor Gernot Grabher (HCU Hamburg), Professor David Rigby (UCLA), and Professor Henry Wai-Chung Yeung (National University of Singapore) as editors. Professor James T. Murphy (Clark) serves as Book Review Editor and Joanne Miller (Clark) as Managing Editor. The editorial board includes 23 prominent scholars in economic geography, many of whom are highly cited authors in the discipline. Clark University maintains an editorial office for the journal on campus.
"Economic Geography has always been one of the top scholarly journals in geography, and we are proud that Clark University founded and still maintains the journal of such high caliber. The journal's reputation compliments that of Clark's Graduate School of Geography, which is also top ranked in the nation," said Yuko Aoyama, editor-in-chief and professor at Clark.
Economic Geography covers independent scholarly research conducted around the world and represents a broad range of epistemological traditions and methodological orientations. The journal also publishes annual Roepke lectures delivered at the Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meetings. The journal's July 2009 issue features an article by Clark research professor Susan Hanson, titled "Changing Places through Women's Entrepreneurship," which discusses geographic studies of women's entrepreneurship and access to microcredit in Botswana, India, Peru, and the United States.
Among past Economic Geography editors from Clark are Provost David Angel (1999-2006), Professor Hanson (1992-1999), Professor Richard Peet (1992-1998), and founding editor Wallace Atwood (1925-1945), who was Clark's second president.