Does Publication Timing Affect Citations and Circulation?
The NBER is amazingly consistent with the release of their working paper series. Every Monday at 12 am, the new list arrives in my inbox (I have yet to experience the epsilon probability world in which it does not, as in Rubenstein (1989)). Unlike most organizations, the NBER keeps this schedule even through the holiday season. As we continue through this period filled with food, football, and everyone’s favorite: family, papers are continually released as new working papers or publications potentially delayed by backlogs and administrative processes. This raises a natural question: are these papers’ circulation or citations being affected by their release date?
