The FNEGE publishes every three years the Journal Quality List (JQL) of academic journals in management sciences. The previous ranking was established in 2022. The next revision will take place in 2028.
FNEGE 2025: A dual‑committee methodology for journal ranking
The 2025 FNEGE Journal Quality List from the Fondation Nationale pour l’Enseignement de la Gestion des Entreprises uses a dual‑committee methodology that combines quantitative metrics with qualitative expert judgement. It moves beyond simple citation indices to resist over‑reliance on any single indicator, while giving special recognition to the French‑speaking management science community.
The evaluation process rests on two distinct pillars: one for international journals (relying exclusively on publicly available external data) and one for journals from the French‑speaking community (based on a standardised questionnaire with multi‑criteria assessment). Both feed into a general cross‑ranking irrespective of the journal’s origin.
Key features of the 2025 ranking:
- Dual committees – Separate procedures for international and French‑speaking journals, reflecting distinct intellectual traditions.
- Multi‑criteria assessment – For French‑speaking journals: governance (30%), review quality (40%), dissemination and impact (30%).
- Cross‑ranking – General classification from 1* (exceptional) to 4 (recognised), with an ’emerging’ category for new outlets.
- Continuous improvement – Scopus indexing required for levels 2 and 3; 2028 will introduce WoS/JCR eligibility for level 2.
New in 2025: an enlarged committee (from 6 to 10 members) with gender balance and representation from both universities and business schools; an updated questionnaire for French‑speaking journals; and a revised list of sub‑fields. The ranking now includes 59 French‑speaking journals (up from 55 in 2022) and 843 international journals (up from 622). A total of 353 new international journals were proposed, with 132 excluded for not falling within the scope of management or for insufficient scientific quality.
The five‑tier rating system — from 1* (exceptional) to 4 (recognised standard) — captures quality dimensions beyond citation performance. A level 4 journal is not “low quality”; it meets normal scholarly standards. The ’emerging’ category (created in 2019) draws attention to promising new outlets from the French‑speaking community.
The FNEGE 2025 classification covers a wide range of management sub-fields. Detailed rankings for each domain — including Accounting, Business History, Business & Society, Education, Finance, General Management, Health Management, Human Resource Management, Innovation, International Business, Logistics, Information Systems, Marketing, Organisation Studies, Public Management, Sectoral Studies, and Strategy — will be published on Business Science Daily in the coming weeks.
Presentation of the FNEGE Journal Quality List
The FNEGE, in partnership with its Scientific College, publishes every three years the Journal Quality List (JQL) of academic journals in management sciences. The previous ranking was established in 2022. The next revision will take place in 2028.
The list of scientific journals included in the FNEGE Ranking is supported by the 24 scholarly associations that are members of the Scientific College: AAIG, ADERSE, AEI, AFC, AFFI, AFM, AFMAT, AGecSO, AGRH, AHMO, AIM, AIMS, AIREPME, AIRL-SCM, AIRMAP, ARAMOS, ARIHME, ATLAS-AFMI, GEM&L, IAS, I.P&M, RIODD, SFM, SPSG. The shared objective is to establish a categorisation that reflects the specificity of research in management schools and considers the diversity of teaching and research activities.
① Scientific quality
Based primarily on criteria of scientific quality and rigour, not favouring specific epistemological approaches.
② Diversity
Includes leading international journals from economics, sociology, psychology, and social sciences when relevant to management.
③ French‑speaking community
Recognises unique intellectual traditions and the specific features of research published in French‑language journals.
④ Cross‑ranking
Differentiated methodologies for international and French‑speaking journals, with a general cross‑ranking irrespective of origin.
More fundamentally, the FNEGE ranking enables the recognition of the specific features of research published in journals from the French‑speaking management science community, particularly when these journals prioritise publication in the French language. They are disadvantaged by traditional international scientific quality and impact metrics based on co‑citation, and are therefore very rarely included in foreign rankings. This is the main reason for the existence of the FNEGE ranking.
FNEGE 2025 ranking procedure
The launch of the 2025 ranking procedure was preceded by an in‑depth reflection conducted throughout 2024, based on the work of a committee chaired by Renaud Lunardo and Amandine Pascal. This committee extensively consulted the French‑speaking community through a questionnaire, interviews, and working groups.
Notably, the methodology used for ranking international journals relies exclusively on publicly available external quantitative data, and the journals themselves are not consulted. Conversely, the methodology for journals from the French‑speaking community relies primarily on a standardised questionnaire completed by the editorial teams of journals explicitly requesting to be ranked.
Journal classification levels
Committee for journals from the French‑speaking community
The committee was composed of: Alexandre Asselineau, Nicolas Berland, Jean‑Philippe Bootz, Nathalie Commeiras, Hélène Delacour (Chair), Alain Fayolle, Carine Girard, Marine Le Gall, Ely‑Frédéric Prévot, and Cédrine Zumbo‑Lebrument. The ranking proposal was adopted unanimously.
FNEGE received 59 ranking requests. The committee met five times between February and July 2025. The evaluation grid was organised into three main categories: journal governance (30%), quality of the review process and regularity of publication (40%), and dissemination and impact (30%). Each category was subdivided into several items.
- 59 ranking requests received from French‑speaking journals.
- 5 committee meetings held to evaluate and deliberate.
- 55 → 59 journals assessed (increase from 2022).
- Scopus indexing required for levels 2 and 3 (with grandfather rule).
Committee on international journals
The committee was composed of: Jesus Gonzales‑Feliu, Pepa Kraft, Alice Le Flanchec, Christophe Leyronas, Liliana Mitkova, Nil Ozaglar‑Toulouse, Joel Petey, Francois‑Regis Puyou (Chair), Anuragini Shirish, and Mike Szymanski.
The committee reviewed the 622 international journals already ranked by FNEGE in 2022, plus 353 new proposals. After removing duplicates and excluding journals that did not fall within the scope of management, 843 international journals were ultimately ranked.
| Six rankings used | ABDC, AJG, VHB, EJL, FMS, FNEGE 2022 |
| Four metrics | Web of Science 5‑year IF, JIF 2023, JCI 2023, SJR (Scopus) |
| Additional indicators | SNIP, CiteScore, quartiles, PCA |
| Final count | 843 international journals ranked |
Appeals committees
Each committee acted as the appeals committee for its counterpart. For French‑speaking journals, 11 appeals were received; 8 were declared admissible and examined, with 1 upheld. For international journals, only one appeal was submitted and accepted (one journal was upgraded from rank 3 to rank 2).
These decisions were presented at the plenary meeting of the FNEGE Scientific College on 11 December 2025 and formally approved.
Perspectives for the 2028 FNEGE Journal Quality List
FNEGE and the Scientific College have already decided that the 2028 Journal Quality List will introduce an eligibility criterion for journals from the French‑speaking community to obtain level 2 (Web of Science / JCR at least in the “Emerging” category). This aligns with the continuous improvement approach underlying the ranking and aims to enhance the international visibility of French‑speaking journals.
For journals from the French‑speaking community, the summary reports supporting the proposed ranking levels include suggestions for improvement. For the 2028 ranking, editors‑in‑chief will be required to show how they have acted upon these suggestions during the intervening period.
This post is based entirely on the 2025 FNEGE Journal Quality List – Methodology & Process report. It is an attempt to read that document not as a technical annex, but as a statement of values.
If you are looking for other business and management journal rankings — such as the CABS Academic Journal Guide, the ABDC Journal Quality List, or the SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) — you can find them via the links below:
Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC):
- Accounting
- Business & Taxation Law
- Marketing
- Information Systems
- Transportation, Logistics & Supply Chain Management
- Tourism Management
- Strategy, Management, and Organizational Behaviour
- Economics
- Finance
Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS):
- Authoritative Guideline
- Accounting & Finance
- Economics & Business History
- Operations & Technology Management
- Organizational Psychology
- Information Systems
- Marketing
- Entrepreneurship & Innovation
- Organization, Management & Strategy
SCImago Journal Rank (SJR):
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