'Publish or perish' has been the rule in academic economics since forever, but there is a widespread perception that publishing in the best journals has become harder and much slower. This column presents new evidence confirming the perception. The number of articles published in top journals has fallen, while the number and length of submissions have risen. The profession should consider recalibrating publication demands to reflect this new reality.

This column measures the quality of university economics research in Europe and the UK by concentrating on within-journal rankings of influential articles. The UK and Europe are doing relatively well, and top-level research output is not concentrated at half a dozen world-famous institutions. Science-funding policies by European governments should reflect this diversity.

Publishing in economics journals is a long and arduous process. Rejection can’t be made painless, but this column suggests that it could be quicker. Using confidential data on a decade of submissions to the Journal of International Economics, the authors find that the editors usually make the right decision but take nearly half a year to do so when they could reject almost 40% of papers without consulting referees.