The quality landscape of economics: The top five and beyond

Abstract Whereas a growing number of studies evidence that research quality notions and evaluative practices are field- and context-specific, many focus on single evaluative practices or moments. This paper introduces the concept of quality landscape to capture dynamics of interrelated quality notions, evaluative moments and practices in a research field. This concept shifts focus to (1) the field-specific universe of practices, devices and notions of research quality; (2) ways that interrelated valuations provide structure and boundeness to a landscape; (3) ways that perspectives on a shared landscape may change with position within the landscape; and (4) ways in which a quality landscape is intertwined with the field’s socio-epistemic conditions. With extensive interview data from top ranked departments in three Scandinavian countries, we use economics as a case for exploring the value of a quality landscape lens. We find that the field’s journal hierarchy and its ‘Top 5’ journals dominate the landscape, while other important evaluative practices beyond the top five are interlinked with the journal hierarchy. However, quantitative evaluative metrics common in other fields are virtually absent. We further find that national and local policy reinforce the journal hierarchy emphasis, and that career stages affect quality perspectives. We argue that the quality landscape is structured as a quality hierarchy with a focus on the core ‘general interest’, and suggest the notion of ordinalization (the process of rank ordering) as an organizing principle linking the quality landscape to the field’s socio-epistemic conditions. Finally, we offer suggestions for further research.