Turner College Research Update ― October 15, 2025

If you've been following Turner Business lately you will have noticed that where possible we are now posting news about faculty research projects before they are published by academic journals. This is being done to avoid delays in letting you know what our faculty are working on in terms of research. Later, when that research is published, we will circle back around and provide those details in what we are titling "Turner College Research Update." This is the first installment in that new series. Although it's too soon to report on a publication at this point, there are some research items to cover in this one. For example, our recent interview with MIS professor Yoon Lee indicates that he is one of only six Turner College faculty who published in an A-rated journal during 2024, the year used to determine the recent merit raise recipients. Since that point was mentioned in the interview, the table below provides the omitted details. Lee's 2024 publication in the International Journal of Production Economics is listed near the top of the table. At the top of the table is management professor Kevin Hurt's 2024 publication in American Business Review. Hurt also chatted recently with Turner Business about his research endeavors. 

Also included in the table above are computer scientists Rahmatullah Roche and Yi Zhou. Roche published in Nucleic Acids Research during 2024, while Zhou added a 2024 publication in IEEE Transactions on Computers. Lastly, Ed O'Donnell (marketing) added a paper in the Journal of International Marketing, while Frank Mixon (economics) published in four separate A-rated journals during 2024, which are Empirical Economics, Evaluation Review, Journal of Institutional Economics and Scientometrics. Congrats to all six of these Turner College faculty members.

The second item is an update to the Turner College's AACSB accreditation efforts. The Turner College is nearing the end of the third year of its current accreditation cycle. While previous cycles have spanned five years, the AACSB now utilizes a six-year accreditation cycle. The bottom two rows of the table below show where the Turner College was after the third year of its prior two AACSB accreditation cycles in terms of academic research, while the second row shows where the Turner College is now with 2.5 months left in the third year of its current cycle. After three years of the accreditation cycle that ended just before 2020, Turner College business faculty had produced 92 journal publications, with 25 (27.2%) of those appearing in A-rated journals. Of the remaining publications, 27 (29.3%) appeared in B-rated journals and 14 (15.2%) appeared in C-rated journals. Next, after three years of the most recent accreditation process, Turner College business faculty had produced 98 journal publications, with 29 (29.6%) of those appearing in A-rated journals. Of the remaining publications, 28 (28.6%) appeared in B-rated journals and 14 (14.3%) appeared in C-rated journals. The results across these two accreditation cycles are remarkably similar.

In terms of the current accreditation cycle, Turner College business faculty have so far produced 69 journal publications. Thus, with only 2.5 months of the first three years remaining, they need to produce another 29 journal publications to meet the most recent accreditation effort. This shortfall can be made up over the second half of the process by producing nine to 10 journal publications above and beyond the schedule for each year. Turner Business wishes the business faculty good fortune going forward into the upcoming accreditation effort. Stay connected for more.