Cumming, Douglas J. (June 5, 2026 Version) The Revenue of Finance Journals: Networks, Pricing Power, and Publication Volume
Other working papers in progress (details available on request).
Alexander, Carol, and Cumming, Douglas J., 2026. Concentrated Networks and Citation Growth: Evidence from Finance Journal of Banking & Finance, forthcoming.
The published paper is available for free until July 2 here: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1n5WQ1M2rGdSWO
There are two SSRN versions:
Per SSRN's own policy (see also PDF of policy and this screenshot of the specific policy on this SSRN page), authors retain copyright and the right to remove their paper from SSRN at any time, and SSRN takes only a non-exclusive right to post. Nevertheless, SSRN's Content Director determined the December 2024 paper could not be removed or revised.
The December 2024 version is the one originally submitted to the Journal of Banking and Finance (JBF). There are no data errors in the December 2024 version. The paper underwent four rounds of independent peer review by the JBF editor and three external reviewers, who requested additional tests and data updates. The core findings were validated and accepted for publication in the April 2026 version. The peer review process therefore directly contradicts the SSRN editorial note, which raises unspecified concerns about data and interpretation: those concerns were examined by independent reviewers across four rounds of review and did not prevent acceptance. The April 2026 version reflects updates requested during peer review, not corrections to errors.
EDITORIAL NOTE:
SSRN is aware of concerns raised about this preprint relating to data and interpretation of findings.
Editorial Notes are used to provide important context regarding a preprint or to alert readers to potential issues or concern that have been raised for that preprint.
Preprints are preliminary versions of a manuscript that have not undergone formal peer review.
A rebuttal to this paper can be found here:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5137897
Note: the paper has since completed four rounds of peer review and been accepted by JBF, and the April 2026 SSRN version accepted by JBF still has this Editorial Note attached.
As of June 2026, this appears to be the only paper among SSRN's 1.6+ million preprints to carry an editorial note of this kind. SSRN is owned by Elsevier. The note was placed on February 14, 2025, without prior notice to or consultation with the authors. The paper subsequently completed four rounds of peer review and was accepted for publication by the Journal of Banking & Finance (an Elsevier journal) in April 2026. The editorial note remains on both SSRN versions of the paper, including the version accepted by JBF.
A rebuttal to our paper is linked in the SSRN editorial note (SSRN abstract_id=5137897; link). Note that SSRN blocks archiving of this page by the Wayback Machine. The rebuttal was authored entirely by editors of the journals examined in our paper, as disclosed in their own conflict-of-interest footnote, and presents no independent data or empirical analysis. Since the rebuttal was posted, two of its authors are no longer editors at Elsevier journals: Brian Lucey (removed October 2025) and Samuel Vigne (removed December 2025), as reported by Retraction Watch. The JBF editors and reviewers, who conducted four rounds of formal peer review, accepted the paper for publication.