Global ranking of knowledge management and intellectual capital academic journals

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a global ranking of knowledge management and intellectual capital academic journals. Design/methodology/approach An online questionnaire was completed by 233 active knowledge management and intellectual capital researchers from 41 countries. Two different approaches: journal rank‐order and journal scoring method were utilized and produced similar results. Findings It was found that the top five academic journals in the field are: Journal of Knowledge Management, Journal of Intellectual Capital, Knowledge Management Research and Practice, International Journal of Knowledge Management, and The Learning Organization. It was also concluded that the major factors affecting perceptions of quality of academic journals are editor and review board reputation, inclusion in citation indexes, opinion of leading researchers, appearance in ranking lists, and citation impact. Research limitations/implications This study was the first of its kind to develop a ranking system for academic journals in the field. Such a list will be very useful for academic recruitment, as well as tenure and promotion decisions. Practical implications The findings from this study may be utilized by various practitioners including knowledge management professionals, university administrators, review committees and corporate librarians. Originality/value This paper represents the first documented attempt to develop a ranking of knowledge management and intellectual capital academic journals through a survey of field contributors.