Has Concentration in the Top Accounting Journals Changed Over Time?

Prior work has found high levels of concentration in top academic accounting journals relative to finance, management, and marketing. Moreover, concentration has been increasing in accounting while concentration in other disciplines has been decreasing or remaining about the same. We investigate whether recent efforts by the American Accounting Association, among others, have altered these trends. We examine concentration trends in top accounting journals from 1990 to 2014 and compare these trends with those in other major business school disciplines. Ratios of publications to faculty are lowest for accounting across all years, suggesting that accounting has relatively fewer "slots" available for top journal publications than other disciplines. In addition, our results suggest that concentration has decreased in accounting journals in recent years but that concentration has also decreased in other business disciplines. Thus, accounting has retained its position as a discipline where publications in top journals seem more difficult to attain relative to other business disciplines.