150 Issues of The Australian Economic Review: The Changing Face of a Journal over Time

Melbourne Institute Working Paper No. 01/06

Date: January 2006

Author(s):

Daina McDonald

Abstract

The June 2005 issue of The Australian Economic Review (AER) was its 150th issue. This paper describes the changing face of the AER over this period. When it was launched in the late 1960s, the new journal was modelled on the National Institute Economic Review (NIESR) and its aims were similar. The content of the AER has changed over the years and it is no longer a clone of the NIESR. Neither is it a standard academic journal whose only or dominant aim is to publish refereed, contributed articles. The changes in content over time reflect the balancing of aims such as the dissemination of knowledge, participation in the economic policy debate and the maintenance of a readership base in a period during which there have been rapid advances in information technology, a growth in sub-specialties in economics, a greater use of objective measures of performance for academics and major changes in printing and publication technology.

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