Some reflections on incentives for publication: the case of the CAPES' list of economic journals

Abstract

This paper discusses the strengths, idiosyncrasies and weaknesses of the CAPES' list of economic journals. Its strength lies on the lower differential among international journals' weights, which favors higher international productivity. The weaknesses of the CAPES' list lie on: 1) the low weight differential between international and domestic journals and 2) the huge number of domestic journals. The weaknesses make domestic journals more attractive than international journals. In order to improve the international performance of the Brazilian research in Economics, CAPES must place more importance in international journals relatively to domestic journals, and it should stimulate the internationalization of the top domestic journals.