ABSTRACT
A 2012 study found that the names or ideas of 384 of the most cited, hence most respected, scholars rarely appear on Google.com websites or webpages. Some deans of business schools refer to research as the “paper production function”. In such scenarios, the faculty is the workforce in the paper production factories. Research factories, journals and ranking publishers thus form the three legs of the research enterprise operating today. Journals and school rankings are important to business schools. Highly ranked schools attract the best students, outstanding scholars, research grants and endowments. Schools value the highly ranked journals because only these are counted in school rankings. However, evidence is mounting that publication in top academic journals is no guarantee that these articles are of high quality or relevance. Socially responsible scholarship should aim to understand how firms could be people-friendly and planet-friendly.
