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Article Excerpt
ABSTRACT
This research provides a comprehensive historical analysis of articles published in The Journal of Risk and Insurance over the 75-year period from 1932 to 2006. Historical statistics are provided including the number of articles, number of authors per article, geographic location of contributors, leading contributors, author affiliation (industry or academic), the proportion of articles that are theoretical and empirical, and topics covered. Statistics relating to the entire 75-year period are provided as well as breakdowns by decade. The results indicate that the contributors to The Journal of Risk and Insurance have become more international over time, average article length and average number of authors per article have increased over time, and empirical articles appear more frequently than theoretical articles.
INTRODUCTION
The first issue of The Journal of Risk and Insurance (hereafter JRI) was published in 1932 by the American Association of University Teachers of Insurance (AAUTI), the forerunner to the present American Risk and Insurance Association (ARIA) (Corbett, 2000). Now the JRI is recognized as the premier journal in risk and insurance by standard quality measures such as citation counts (e.g., Colquitt, 1997, 2003). Because of its importance, studies of the journal itself have been undertaken to determine features such as leading authors and leading contributing institutions (e.g., Cox and Gustavson, 1990; Colquitt, Dumm, and Gustavson, 1998; Browne, 2003). But these studies have been sporadic at best and leave much to learn about the development of the journal and the field of risk and insurance in general over time. Since the JRI has now been published for 75 years, it is fitting to undertake a study of the JRI itself.
The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive historical perspective of the JRI from its inception to 2006 (i.e., 75 years). This research is beneficial for several reasons. First, this research is important because it provides insight into how issues have helped to shape the field of risk and insurance over time. For example, tax issues related to employee benefit plans and the effect of an aging baby-boomer population had not appeared on the radar when the journal was first published. Instead, early issues of the journal were more concerned with the effect of the Depression on insurance. Many other issues have arisen over time to expand the field such as developments in healthcare financing, new types of life insurance contracts, evolving legal systems (e.g., no-fault insurance), and catastrophe financing such as for earthquakes and hurricanes. These are all issues of national and international importance, and the effect of these issues on the field can be traced through articles published in the journal.
Risk and insurance is a field that draws upon several disciplines simultaneously, such as law, finance (pricing, financial risk management), microeconomics (insurance demand, adverse selection), macroeconomics (Social Security and Medicare), and human resources (employee benefits, workers compensation). The relative contributions of these fields over time can be determined by looking at the historical content of articles published in the JRI.
Risk and insurance is well established in developed countries, and risk and insurance courses or programs exist at many universities. However, elsewhere in the world risk and insurance is still in the development stages. By looking at the origin of risk and insurance research geographically, one can gauge the development and importance of this field internationally.
An historical perspective of the JRI also can provide insight into the relative role industry and academics play in research and the relative importance of empirical versus theoretical work. Finally, this research is important for the intrinsic value of documenting the historical evolution of this journal over the past 75 years.
This research proceeds as follows. In the next section, a broad overview of the journal's history is provided, including information on the number of issues and articles published and the number of contributing authors. In the succeeding section, more detailed information about the authors is provided such as the leading authors, classification of authors by affiliation, and classification of authors by geographic area (i.e., Asia, Europe, etc.). Following this, information is provided about the content of articles by topic and by whether the research is empirical or theoretical. The last section summarizes the most important basic results of this study.
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
The JRI began in 1932 as an annual publication. The first issue, whose cover is presented in Figure 1, was a publication of a roundtable discussion that occurred at the 1932 American Economic Association (AEA) meetings. It was published in the American Economic Review (AER) and separately by the AAUTI (Corbett, 2000, p. 64). During the war years of the 1940s, the journal was no longer published as a Proceedings (since the annual meeting was suspended for several years during the war). Instead, during this time, the publication was called, Property and Casualty Insurance During War Time (Corbett, 2000). It continued to be published annually until 1955. The JRI became its current quarterly publication in 1958, fulfilling a goal of the organization since the post-1940 war years. (1)
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
Over the 75-year period 1932 to 2006, the JRI has published 1,739 articles covering 25,871 pages. (2) The total number of articles published varies by decade as indicated in Figure 2. In the 1930s, a total of 43 articles were published. The total number of articles published peaked during the 1960s at 378, and the total number of articles published during the most recent complete decade (the 1990s) was 296. Until 1997, the JRI published "Feature Articles" and "Shorter Articles." (3) Figure 2 also indicates the number of Feature Articles over time. Beginning with the 1970s, the number of Feature Articles has exceeded the number of Shorter Articles.
The number of pages published also varies by decade, as indicated in Figure 3. In the 1930s, a total of 457 pages were published in the journal. The total number of published pages increased dramatically in the 1960s (after the JRI became a quarterly publication) and has been growing steadily since. The total number of pages published in the most recent completed decade (the 1990s) was 5,572. Beginning with the 1960s, the number of pages accounted by Feature Articles exceeded the number of pages accounted for by Shorter Articles.
The average numbers of pages per JRI article and Feature Article have been increasing since the 1960s as well. In the 1960s the average numbers of pages per JRI article and Feature Article were approximately 11 and 16, but increased to approximately 19 and 21, respectively, in the most recent completed decade reported, according to Figure 4.
Over its 75-year history, the JRI lists 2,583 individuals as authors, where the number of authors is calculated by counting the authors of multiple articles multiple times. (4) Figure 5 indicates the number of articles...
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