Publications in nonaccounting journals are commonly omitted in accounting faculty productivity studies, and we examine whether that omission matters. We use samples consisting of two groups of new scholars who received an accounting Ph.D. (1987/88 and 1977/78 graduates) and took tenure‐track positions at U.S. universities. We combine data from multiple databases to obtain an extensive list of research publications pertaining to these individuals.
During the first seven employment years, the 87/88 (77/78) Ph.D. sample published, on average, 1.95 (1.55) total research articles per scholar, including 1.38 (1.15) articles appearing in accounting journals. These findings suggest that new scholars commonly use nonaccounting journals as publication outlets, and that publication counts increase substantially when publications in both nonaccounting and accounting journals are considered. In addition, the 87/88 scholars published in nonaccounting journals more often than did the 77/78 scholars. Finally, publications in nonaccounting journals occur somewhat later in accounting scholars' careers.
