ABSTRACT
How has publishing in top economics journals changed since 1970? Using a data set that combines
information on all articles published in the top-5 journals from 1970 to 2012 with their Google Scholar
citations, we identify nine key trends.  First, annual submissions to the top-5 journals nearly doubled
from 1990 to 2012. Second, the total number of articles published in these journals actually declined
from 400 per year in the late 1970s to 300 per year most recently. As a result, the acceptance rate has
fallen from 15% to 6%, with potential implications for the career progression of young scholars.  Third,
one journal, the American Economic Review, now accounts for 40% of top-5 publications, up from
25% in the 1970s.  Fourth, recently published papers are on average 3 times longer than they were
in the 1970s, contributing to the relative shortage of journal space.  Fifth, the number of authors per
paper has increased from 1.3 in 1970 to 2.3 in 2012, partly offsetting the fall in the number of articles
per year.  Sixth, citations for top-5 publications are high: among papers published in the late 1990s,
the median number of Google Scholar citations is 200.  Seventh, the ranking of journals by citations
has remained relatively stable, with the notable exception of the Quarterly Journal of Economics, which
climbed from fourth place to first place over the past three decades. Eighth, citation counts are significantly
higher for longer papers and those written by more co-authors. Ninth, although the fraction of articles
from different fields published in the top-5 has remained relatively stable, there are important cohort
trends in the citations received by papers from different fields, with rising citations to more recent
papers in Development and International, and declining citations to recent papers in Econometrics
and Theory.