A Stock-Flow Framework for Editorial Board Dynamics: The Case of Economics Journals, 1866-2019

2026-01-09

arXiv.org

AI Summary

This study addresses the limitations of traditional research that relies on static cross-sectional data, which struggles to uncover the long-term evolutionary dynamics of academic journal editorial boards. By constructing a novel three-layer stock-and-flow framework integrating journal demography, editorial position transitions, and individual editor mobility, this work introduces system dynamics methodology into editorial board analysis for the first time, leveraging the GOELD longitudinal database spanning 1866–2019 and covering approximately 1,700 economics journals. The analysis identifies 1946–1956 as a pivotal expansion phase marking the transition from “small science” to “big science,” and reveals that between 2006 and 2019, editorial boards entered a stable phase characterized by low turnover and high closure, thereby systematically delineating the century-long structural transformation of the academic gatekeeping system.

Technology Category

• Game Theory and Economic Paradigms: Imperfect Information
• Data Mining & Knowledge Management: Graph Mining, Social Network Analysis & Community
• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Action, Change, and Causality

Application Category

• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Models for Web evolution
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphs
• Social Networks and Social Media: Computational social science

Abstract

Research on the editorial boards of scholarly journals has predominantly relied on static, cross-sectional data, focusing on their composition or interlocking editorships at single points in time. To address this gap, a formal stock-flow framework is developed for analyzing the longitudinal dynamics of editorial boards. The model integrates three interconnected layers: journal demographics, the dynamics of editorial positions, and the dynamics of board members. This framework is applied to the Gatekeepers of Economics Longitudinal Database (GOELD), which contains annual snapshots of editorial boards for approximately 1,700 economics journals from 1866 to 2006 (by decade), plus the years 2012 and 2019. The period until 1946 was characterized by small-scale: few journals and compact editorial communities. The decade from 1946 to 1956 marked the shift toward a''big science''model, initiating an era of expansionary growth fueled primarily by the founding of new journals. The contemporary period (2006-2019) appears to represent a structural break, characterized by low flux and more stable and more closed editorial communities. The results shows that the proposed framework enables a dynamic, long-term analysis of how journals and their gatekeeping systems evolve, grow, and structure themselves.

Problem

• editorial board dynamics
• longitudinal analysis
• scholarly journals
• academic gatekeeping
• stock-flow framework

Innovation

• stock-flow framework
• editorial board dynamics
• longitudinal analysis
• academic gatekeeping
• journal evolution