A Journal of Retailing Retrospective Based on ISI Web of Knowledge

In this article, we attempt two things. First, we begin with reviewing the three principal ways by which academic institutions make their quality assessments regarding different journals. We conclude this section with an assertion that citation-based measures of journal influence are the “most objective.” Second, we review the history of Journal of Retailing (from 1956 Issue 1 to 2009 Issue 2) using citation counts as a surrogate for quality assessment using the citation data contained in the ISI Web of Knowledge database. 2 We conclude with noting the recent impressive scores of the Journal of Retailing in terms of these citation scores and a discussion of what we perceive to be the next set of challenges for the Journal of Retailing.