If you’re a graduate student who signed up for Academic Sequitur(or thinking about signing up), but aren’t quite sure who or what to follow, here are my suggestions for you. Generally, I suggest that you follow the top 5-10 general interest journals in economics or finance, as well as the top 1-2 journals in your planned field. General interest journals that tend to publish the highest-quality papers in economics include (in alphabetical order to avoid controversy): American Economic Review, Econometrica, Economic Journal, Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Review of Economic Studies, and Review of Economics and Statistics. Following these journals will give you a good idea about what is viewed as important in economics as a whole. For finance, follow Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, andReview of Financial Studies.

If you’re not sure what the top 1-2 journals in your field are, ask your advisor.1I also suggest that you browse the site-wide updates 1-2 times a week and follow authors whose papers you like. Finally, think of 3-5 keywords that reflect research that you’re interested in (for example, “risk”, “health insurance”, “monetary policy”, and so on) and add them to your portfolio. This will give you a broad idea of what kind of research people are doing in these areas.

1 I don’t want to get into the debate about what the top journals in particular fields are. Your advisor will be more than happen to tell you his or her opinion. Plus, when was the last time you talked to your advisor? And if you don’t have an advisor, this is a great chance to start a conversation with someone in your field. You’re welcome.