Research by Turner College Economist Ranks Top Economics Departments in U.S. South

Although publications and citations to prior academic research mainly impact prospects for merit raises, tenure and promotion at the individual level, the aggregation of research production and impact at the department level has implications for the maintenance of institutional accreditation and other signals of academic reputation. A number of academic studies, dating back to at least 1975, have produced rankings of economics departments (faculties) in the U.S. South. A new study by Turner College economist Frank Mixon and Kamal Upadhyaya of the University of New Haven builds on this prior research by considering economics departments at all (i.e., more than 160) of the U.S. News & World Report-classified national universities and colleges located in the U.S. South, which is a list that has grown considerably in recent years. To rank economics departments, Mixon and Upadhyaya examine citations to economists’ prior work rather than publication counts, with one iteration using mean citations from all of a department’s faculty and another iteration relying on mean citations from an elite core of department’s economics faculty.

     The two ranking approaches presented in the study, which is scheduled to appear in a future issue of the American Journal of Economics and Sociology, indicate that the top economics departments in the U.S. South are those affiliated with the University of Maryland and Duke University, respectively. Ranked closely behind these two are the economics departments affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, the University of Virginia, Vanderbilt University and George Mason University, depending on which methodology is considered.  Among the Georgia-based institutions, Georgia State University ranks from 6th to 7th, Emory University ranks from 13th to 16th, the University of Georgia ranks from 25th to 35th, Georgia Tech ranks from 34th to 40th, Kennesaw State University ranks from 52nd to 67th, the University of West Georgia ranks from 70th to 74th, Georgia Southern University ranks from 73rd to 76th, Mercer University ranks from 74th to 79th, and Valdosta State University ranks from 75th to 90th.