Accessibility: An Alternative Method of Ranking Marketing Journals? Michael Jay Polonsky, Gary Jones, and Megan J. Kearsley Instead of using citations or marketing academics’ percep- tual ranking of journals, this article examines the ranking of marketing journals using Australian university library hold- ings, in either hard copy or full-text electronic format. This measure was used as a proxy for broad-based accessibility of marketing journals. The study found that the accessibility rankings differed significantly from the most recent U.S. per- ceptual rankings, and it is suggested that in some situations, the accessibility ranking may be a more appropriate measure than other approaches. An examination of journal character- istics and their relationship to holdings in Australian univer- sity libraries was also undertaken. It was found that the year in which the journal started publication and its perceived importance within the United States (i.e., perceptual ranking) had a statistical impact on the proportion of Australian uni- versity libraries holding the journal. Marketing academics periodically undertake research that results in the ranking of marketing and related journals. There are, however, some differences of opinion about what makes a journal important—perceptions, citations, and the generally perceived importance of the works published, any of which could be used. One factor that has not been considered in the evaluation of a journal’s ranking is the level of accessibility to the information. It could be suggested that the more “impor- tant” the journal, the more frequently it would be used by the wider community (Jobber and Simpson 1988) and the more readily “accessible” it would be to academics, students, and business. The benefit of accessibility is that it is not subjective nor is it based on an examination of citations from any par- ticular set of journals or databases. In addition, access can be determined within different countries as well as for various marketing subdisciplines. Within this article, accessibility is based on the number of Australian university libraries hold- ing a particular marketing journal in 1996. The greater the number of university libraries holding the journal, the more accessible it is deemed to be. (This issue will be discussed in more detail later in the article.) Determining journal rankings across various disciplines appears to be increasingly important as individuals fre- quently are evaluated based on where they publish (Jobber and Simpson 1988). Some university marketing departments use these rankings to formally evaluate staff and to determine whether they should be granted tenure or promotion (Hult, Neese, and Bashaw 1997). Journal rankings also have been used in marketing and other disciplines to evaluate depart- mental or university-wide “research productivity” (Jobber and Simpson 1988; Stahl, Leap, and Wei 1988; Udell, Parker, and Pettijohn 1995). Marketing departments may even develop lists of “approved” journals to which academics must submit their work if they are to receive any “publishing credit.” The development of journal rankings can, therefore, be very important to marketing academics, but are they only use- ful for evaluating staff? There may be other reasons to rank journals such as determining the “importance” of a given journal to the development of marketing theory (Jobber and Simpson 1988). It is probable that some marketing academics will wish to ensure that theoretical work ultimately assists marketing practice, thus they will target more applied jour- nals. However, peers may evaluate applied work differently than research published in theoretical journals. There also is the possibility that marketing journals may serve different market segments, both in terms of their focus (i.e., specific area of interest) or geographic market, and, as such, a single “global” journal ranking may be inappropriate. THE ARTICLE’S FOCUS The research discussed in this article uses the alternative approach of ranking marketing journals based on accessibil- ity within Australian university libraries. The journals 181