I am pleased to announce that the 2019 Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) Journal Quality List and its accompanying Report are now available.

The 2019 List follows an extensive review conducted by Expert Panels, which assessed journals relating to Business and Taxation Law; Economics; Finance including Actuarial Studies; Information Systems; Management, Commercial Services and Transport and Logistics; Marketing and Tourism; and other areas.

We wish to thank the seven Panel Chairs for their outstanding leadership, the Panel members for their significant work, and the members of the ABDC Steering Group for their important input during the review process.

The 2019 List endorses 2,682 journal entries with the following classifications:

A* 7.41% (199)

A  24.27% (651)

B  31.69% (850)

C  36.61% (982).

It includes 144 upgrades; 17 downgrades; the addition of 157 new journals; and the removal of 241 journals.

In 2019, for the first time in the history of the ABDC Journal Quality List, the number of journals removed from the List has exceeded the number added.

The removal of 241 journals from the previous (2016) ABDC List is the result of a careful focus to ensure that the 2019 List reflects currency and continues to assist business researchers to target appropriate, quality outlets for their work.

All journals on the List must meet the substantive business element test and fall within relevant Australia and New Zealand Fields of Research (FoR) codes.

It is just over a decade since we launched the Journal Quality List and so, in the second half of 2020, ABDC will be calling for feedback from key stakeholders as part of a review into the List’s frequency, methodology, and scope.

Professor David Grant, ABDC President