VHB Publication Media Rating 2024

The VHB Rating 2024, published on April 18, 2024, replaces the VHB‑JOURQUAL3 and provides a quality framework for publication media in German‑language business administration. It comprises 18 sub‑ratings that assess the scientific quality from the perspective of the 18 scientific commissions (Wissenschaftliche Kommissionen – WK) of the VHB.

The German Academic Association for Business Research (VHB) is committed to a comprehensive, multi‑dimensional evaluation of academic achievements. The VHB Publication Media Rating 2024 serves as a standardized element of this multi‑dimensional quality assessment framework for significant publication media in German‑language business studies (BWL), replacing the VHB‑JOURQUAL3 (JQ3) published in 2015.

Implementation and results

The VHB Publication Media Rating 2024 is a rating of business‑relevant publication media based on assessments by voting VHB members within their Scientific Commissions (SCs). Each SC was responsible for its area rating. The publication media catalogues were compiled by the SCs themselves in the fall of 2023, completed either via a bottom‑up approach, a top‑down approach, or a committee‑based approach, and cross‑checked in a rigorous, multi‑stage quality assurance process.

In addition to the “scientific quality” (A+, A, … D), some SCs also surveyed transfer relevance (*** – “), practical relevance (1‑5), and discipline reference (no category shown). The criterion ‘scientific quality’ is defined as the extent to which the medium advances business studies as a scientific discipline.

Rating categories (scientific quality)

Responsible use of the VHB Rating 2024

The rating serves as a guide for authors submitting their articles, helping early career researchers understand the reputation of a publication medium within the scientific community. However, it should not be used as the sole measure of an individual researcher’s performance. Evaluating research performance by simply summing articles weighted by rating scores is problematic for three main reasons:

• The scatter problem: Reputation is built over time on average quality, but individual articles vary greatly. There are groundbreaking articles in less reputable journals and weak articles in top journals.
• The incompleteness problem: The rating focuses on journals, selected proceedings, and legal commentaries. Other outputs, such as monographs or prototypes, are not evaluated.
• The opportunism problem: Performance evaluation based on few metrics may lead to optimisation of those metrics rather than genuine research quality, potentially causing “salami publications” and other undesirable practices.

The VHB stresses the importance of reading the publications themselves to fully evaluate originality, theoretical stringency, and methodological rigour. Academic research is only one part of the extensive tasks of university teachers and researchers; teaching, self‑administration, and services to the research community are also important.

Genesis and stakeholders

In 2018, the VHB Rating 4.0 working group began work on a successor to JOURQUAL3. After extensive discussions and revisions, the Steering Committee decided in November 2022 to conduct the VHB Rating 2024 in its present form, based on a member survey and adapted to the specific requirements of the scientific commissions.

The preparatory organisation, creation of media catalogues, preliminary survey, and main survey were handled by a working group established by the VHB Advisory Board in early 2023. The working group comprised seven members representing the 18 scientific commissions and was chaired by Prof. Dr. Christian Koziol, Head of Research and Publications on the VHB Executive Board. The pre‑ and main surveys were programmed by QUESTIONSTAR survey specialists.

Context and further reading

The VHB supports the call for responsible research assessment and advises against the uncritical use of ratings. For more detailed information, please consult the VHB Rating 2024 White Paper (available in German and English) and the article “The VHB Rating 2024—more than Just Another Rating” published in SBUR – Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research (August 2025).

The VHB Rating 2024 increases transparency and provides guidance, but it is essential to use it responsibly and in conjunction with qualitative evaluation of individual research outputs.

This presentation is based on the VHB Rating 2024 White Paper and the official VHB website. It attempts to read these documents as a statement of values and a practical guide to the methodology.