| dc.description.abstract | This thesis explores the multidimensional evolution of academic research, with a primary focus on finance journals and a broader comparative analysis across other disciplines. By examining 937,162 abstracts and related metadata from AJG 2021-ranked journals, the study employs an extensive methodological framework, integrating multiple topic modeling techniques and econometric methods. This approach provides a comprehensive understanding of the evolving research priorities, authorship dynamics, sustainability alignment, and thematic trends over the past two decades.
The findings reveal a growing alignment between finance research and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, areas like water resources and marine ecology remain among the least explored within finance journals, highlighting a significant opportunity for future interdisciplinary research to bridge these gaps. Using Structural Topic Modeling (STM), the study uncovers the temporal evolution of research topics, grouping them into five overarching themes: Financial Markets, Money, Credit and Banks, Risk and Reward, Corporate Finance, and Other Finance. Corporate Governance stands out as a dominant theme, reflecting its critical role in addressing modern financial and regulatory challenges. Meanwhile, emerging topics such as fintech and alternative finance have gained prominence due to technological innovation, while traditional areas like market volatility and option pricing have seen a decline in scholarly attention. These thematic shifts are accompanied by a substantial rise in collaborative research, with the average number of authors per paper increasing significantly, particularly in high-ranking journals. This trend underscores the growing complexity of financial research.
The study also highlights persistent gender disparities in academic finance, with female authors remaining underrepresented. Nevertheless, female-authored papers in top-tier journals achieve higher citation impact, suggesting that journal prestige plays a mitigating role in addressing gender-based inequities. Beyond finance, structural inequalities in resource allocation and thematic representation are evident, particularly in disciplines like economic history and strategy, where fewer high-ranking journals exist.
By integrating advanced topic modeling techniques and empirical analysis, this thesis offers a comprehensive and multidimensional framework for understanding the evolution of academic finance. Its contributions are threefold: first, it bridges finance research with global priorities such as the UN SDGs, identifying critical gaps and opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. Second, it advances knowledge on structural dynamics, demonstrating how journal ratings, gender disparities, and authorship patterns influence scholarly output and its impact. Third, it provides actionable insights for fostering a more inclusive and diverse academic ecosystem, highlighting the importance of collaborative, cross-disciplinary research in addressing complex financial and societal challenges.
The findings underscore the need for academia to adapt its methodologies and priorities to remain at the forefront of global challenges, from sustainability to technological disruption. By offering a roadmap for aligning scholarly inquiry with real-world needs, this thesis not only enriches the theoretical foundations of finance but also charts a path for impactful, socially responsible, and forward-looking research. It calls for a collective effort among scholars, institutions, and policymakers to ensure that academic finance continues to evolve as a catalyst for innovation and societal progress. | en |
