Research in accounting : What is done in top reviews ?

This paper reports the results of a one-year review of the four top accounting research journals (AOS, JAE, JAR and TAR) and of EAR in a comparison purpose. 158 research articles are reviewed. Topics, methods of data collection, methods of data processing and researchers' nationalities are analysed.This study clearly shows that U.S. authors publish the most articles in these five reviews, and even in the two European reviews. U.K. authors are the second contributors to those reviews. During 2003, in proportion, AOS and EAR published more non-European authors than JAE, JAR and TAR did with non-U.S. authors. This fact is discussed to the light of the editorial boards' composition.Moreover, this study shows differences in American and European profiles. American authors and reviews seem to have a non shared interest in finance, forecasting and taxation whereas European authors are the only people publishing on accounting history or social effects of accounting. American authors and reviews also have an obvious preference for quantitative methods, whereas European authors and reviews publish articles with more diversified methods. These findings suggest that culture affects accounting research publications, and this idea is discussed.Finally, this paper can be a source of information for aspiring authors who would like to submit in the studied journals.