Hanna, S. D. (2000). Citations and research. Financial
Counseling and Planning, 11(2), iii-iv.
Citations
And Research
Sherman D. Hanna1
After
editing 146 regular articles that have been published in this journal since
1990, I have a good sense of the challenges of an interdiscliplinary journal.
Over 3,200 publications have been cited in the articles in this journal.
In Volume 11, 462 publications were cited, so the journal is on pace to
reach almost 8,000 citations by the end of its second decade. There are
some publications that have been cited many times, e.g., various editions
of Garman and Forgue’s personal finance textbook (Garman & Forgue,
2000) and some authors who have been cited many times (Hanna, 1999). There
are, however, at least 2,000 different publications in the reference lists
that have appeared in this journal. Keeping up with even the most important
literature is impossible in the diverse fields.
I
believe that authors should cite all relevant publications, although sometimes
articles based on dissertations may have too long a list of references.
Publications in a scholarly journal should show how research has built
upon previous research. A good example of this is Michael S. Gutter’s article
starting on page 9 of this issue – it builds upon two articles that appeared
in this journal, updating Lee and Hanna’s (1995) analyses and relating
the new results on the ratio of financial assets to total wealth to Hanna
and Chen’s (1997) analyses.
Planning
Versus Counseling
There
has never been a clear line between articles in the journal related to
counseling and those related to planning. Clearly, the Gutter article,
the Kish and Hogan article (starting on page 21,) the Hatcher article (starting
on page 77) and the Ewing and Malik article are related to financial planning.
Most of the other articles are of interest to financial counselors, although
they are also relevant to financial planners. A good example of an article
that should appeal to both types of interests is the Danes, Fitzgerald
and Doll article (starting on page 43.) A family business is definitely
of interest to financial planners, yet the issues discussed should be of
interest to counselors.
Investing
for the Future
As Kish
and Hogan note, investing is becoming increasingly important as households
become more responsible for their own financial security. The Kish and
Hogan article is one of many on investing that have appeared in this journal,
and their conclusion that small stocks are a good idea for long run investing
is similar to the conclusions from Hanna and Chen (1996) and Hanna and
Chen (1997). One interesting issue for future research is why so few 401(K)
and similar retirement plans offer small stock funds, despite the historic
superiority of such funds. As Hanna and Chen (1997) discussed (endnote
f) the method they used, which is also the method Kish and Hogan used,
is nonparametric projection. This assumption is not without controversy,
although the results are easier to communicate, e.g., if the next 20 years
in small stocks are no worse than the worst 20 year period we have seen
since January 1, 1926, this is the worst that could happen to your small
stock index fund. Ewing and Malik offer a possible way to improve upon
such one-time portfolio allocations. One final caution is that all such
analyses assume a diversified portfolio that matches the relevant indexes.
Someone with an undiversified portfolio or even an actively managed mutual
fund could do much worse than implied by analyses such as by Kish and Hogan.
International
Comparisons
The
Klingander article (starting on page 65) reports on financial counseling
in Sweden. The article covers topics somewhat similar to those in McGregor
and Berry’s (1997) article about mandatory financial counseling
in Canada. Although the primary readership of this journal is in the United
States, I believe that studies from other countries can be useful even
for those based in the U.S., and I encourage more submissions about financial
counseling and planning issues in other countries.
A
Dialogue
The
Rupured, Sherraden and Most article (starting on page 1) is not a typical
article, but the topic should be of wide interest. It has long been obvious
that the disciplines of Social Work and of Family Economics share many
issues and goals, and the article’s summary of a dialogue should get wider
attention.
Acceptance
Rate for Volume 11
Sixteen
regular articles have appeared in Volume 11, and there were 75 submissions,
for a 21% acceptance rate. However, persistent authors who start with a
concept that is not fundamentally flawed and follow the reviewers’ suggestions
usually can eventually get published.
Impacts
of the Journal
In addition
to academic citations, it is usually nice to be mentioned in the popular
press. Over the years articles in this journal have been mentioned in the Washington
Post, the Wall
Street Journal, the New
York Times, and other publications. Earlier in 2001 there was a long
item in Money.com about an article by Jay Zagorsky. Another impact
can be seen from the journal web page I have maintained since December,
1995 (www.hec.ohio-state.edu/people/shanna/ ) – as of June 11, 2001, it had over
64,000 hits. The www.afcpe.org site now maintained by AFCPE Executive Director
Sharon Burns has had additional hits, so through the web the journal has
had a considerable impact.
References
Garman,
E. T. & Forgue, R. (2000) Personal finance (6th ed.).
Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Hanna,
S. D. (1999). Most cited authors, 1990-1999. Financial Counseling and
Planning, 10(2), 101.
Hanna,
S. & Chen, P. (1996). Efficient portfolios for saving for college.
Financial
Counseling and Planning, 7, 115-122.
S. & Chen, P. (1997). Subjective and objective risk tolerance: Implications
for optimal portfolios. Financial Counseling and Planning, 8(2),
17-26.
Lee,
H.K. & Hanna, S. (1995). Investment portfolios and human wealth. Financial
Counseling and Planning, 6 147-152.
McGregor,
S. L. T. & Berry, R. E. (1997). Mandatory financial counseling for
bankrupts in Canada. Financial Counseling and Planning, 8(1),
9-17.
1. Sherman D. Hanna, Professor, Consumer and Textile
Sciences Department, The Ohio State University, 1787 Neil Ave., Columbus,
OH 43210-1295. Phone: 614-292-4584. Fax: 603-457-6577. E-mail: hanna.1@osu.edu