Tracing the evolution of finance research: A topic modeling analysis of AJG-ranked journals

IF 9.8 1区经济学 Q1 BUSINESS, FINANCE

International Review of Financial Analysis Pub Date : 2025-09-02 DOI:10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104559

Yang Su , Brian M. Lucey , Ashish Kumar Jha , Yuqi Zheng

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of evolving research trends in academic finance, using data from 78,822 articles published across 110 finance journals between 2000 and 2022, and tracks citation changes for 96% of these articles over an 18-month period. Structural Topic Modeling (STM) identifies 20 key research topics grouped into five broader themes: Financial Markets, Corporate Finance, Risk and Reward, Money, Credit and Banks, and Other Finance. Findings indicate that Corporate Governance and Corporate Finance dominate publication volume and citations, reflecting their continued influence, while interest in Option Pricing and Market Volatility has declined in favor of rapidly growing areas such as Alternative Finance. Through comparative word-frequency analysis, we observe minor but notable thematic differences in finance research topics before and after the financial crisis. Furthermore, our analysis reveals increased collaborative research, especially in top-tier journals, alongside insights into topic performance across journal tiers using linear regression modeling. We also find that certain ABS4 journals under-perform in citation impact compared to the average performance of ABS3 journals. Overall, this study provides a data-driven overview of the structure and evolution of finance research, offering practical insights for scholars, journal editors, and policymakers. By mapping topic dynamics and citation performance across time and journal tiers, the study serves as a valuable reference for shaping future research agendas, publication strategies, and funding priorities in the finance discipline.

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追踪金融研究的演变：ajg排名期刊的主题建模分析

本研究利用2000年至2022年间110种金融期刊上发表的78,822篇文章的数据，对学术金融领域不断发展的研究趋势进行了全面分析，并追踪了其中96%的文章在18个月内的引用变化情况。结构主题模型（STM）确定了20个关键研究主题，分为五个更广泛的主题：金融市场、公司融资、风险与回报、货币、信贷与银行以及其他金融。研究结果表明，公司治理和公司金融在出版物数量和引用中占据主导地位，反映出它们的持续影响力，而对期权定价和市场波动的兴趣下降，有利于替代金融等快速增长的领域。通过比较词频分析，我们发现金融危机前后金融研究主题的主题差异虽小但显著。此外，我们的分析还揭示了合作研究的增加，特别是在顶级期刊中，以及使用线性回归模型对期刊各层次的主题表现的见解。我们还发现，与ABS3期刊的平均表现相比，某些ABS4期刊在引文影响方面表现不佳。总体而言，本研究对金融研究的结构和演变进行了数据驱动的概述，为学者、期刊编辑和政策制定者提供了实用的见解。通过绘制跨时间和期刊层级的主题动态和引文表现，该研究为制定未来的研究议程、出版策略和金融学科的资助优先事项提供了有价值的参考。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

International Review of Financial Analysis BUSINESS, FINANCE-

CiteScore

10.30

自引率

9.80%

发文量

366

期刊介绍： The International Review of Financial Analysis (IRFA) is an impartial refereed journal designed to serve as a platform for high-quality financial research. It welcomes a diverse range of financial research topics and maintains an unbiased selection process. While not limited to U.S.-centric subjects, IRFA, as its title suggests, is open to valuable research contributions from around the world.