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The Financial Times 50 journal list (FT50) is the set of 50 academic and practitioner journals the Financial Times uses to count faculty publications for the research component of its business school rankings. Authors and librarians search for it to check whether a target journal is on it. As of the library guides checked on 2026-11-08, the list has 50 titles, and the FT changed three of them in April 2026.
Current FT50 list
The list below follows the University of Oxford Sainsbury Library guide (updated 14 May 2026) and the McMaster University Library guide, which agree on the same 50 titles as read on 2026-11-08. The grouping by field is editorial, added by CASRAI to help you find your discipline; the FT does not publish the list in these groups. Titles are in alphabetical order within each group.
Accounting (6)
- Accounting, Organizations and Society
- The Accounting Review
- Contemporary Accounting Research
- Journal of Accounting and Economics
- Journal of Accounting Research
- Review of Accounting Studies
Economics and finance (10)
- American Economic Review
- Econometrica
- Journal of Finance
- Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis
- Journal of Financial Economics
- Journal of Political Economy
- Quarterly Journal of Economics
- Review of Economic Studies
- Review of Finance
- Review of Financial Studies
Management, strategy and entrepreneurship (15)
- Academy of Management Annals
- Academy of Management Journal
- Academy of Management Review
- Administrative Science Quarterly
- Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice
- Harvard Business Review
- Journal of Business Venturing
- Journal of International Business Studies
- Journal of Management
- Journal of Management Studies
- MIT Sloan Management Review
- Organization Science
- Research Policy
- Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal
- Strategic Management Journal
Marketing (6)
- Journal of Consumer Psychology
- Journal of Consumer Research
- Journal of Marketing
- Journal of Marketing Research
- Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
- Marketing Science
Operations, information systems and management science (8)
- Information Systems Research
- Journal of Management Information Systems
- Journal of Operations Management
- Management Science
- Manufacturing & Service Operations Management
- MIS Quarterly
- Operations Research
- Production and Operations Management
Psychology, sociology and human resources (5)
- American Sociological Review
- Human Resource Management
- Journal of Applied Psychology
- Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
- Psychological Science
What changed in 2026
In April 2026 the FT updated the list. Per the McMaster guide, three journals were added: Academy of Management Annals, American Sociological Review and Psychological Science. Both the McMaster and Oxford guides record three removals: Human Relations, Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies. Poets&Quants reported on 2026-05-08 that the FT described the replacements as more relevant, and that the FT said its wider review of the research ranking was ongoing and could lead to further changes.
- Out (2026): Human Relations; Journal of Business Ethics; Organization Studies
- In (2026): Academy of Management Annals; American Sociological Review; Psychological Science
- Earlier history (McMaster guide): the list grew from a Top 40 to a Top 45 in 2010, and from a Top 45 to the current Top 50 in 2016.
Older library guides and PDFs may still show pre-2026 contents, so check the date on any copy of the list you rely on. A reference to the “FT45” or “FT Top 45” means the 2010 to 2016 version of the list, not the current one.
What the FT50 is and how the FT uses it
The FT’s research rank is, in the words quoted by the McMaster guide, “calculated according to the number of faculty publications published in 50 academic and practitioner journals”. The list therefore exists to support a school-level ranking measure. It is not a journal-quality metric such as an impact factor, and it carries no per-article score. This page does not state any weighting or points scheme because the guides read do not publish one.
Who maintains it
The Financial Times owns and revises the list; its own page is ft.com/ft50-journals. University libraries such as Oxford’s Sainsbury Library and McMaster republish it as a research guide. Where a library copy and the FT differ, the FT’s version is the authority.
Limits and alternatives
The FT50 centres on business and management, with some economics, psychology and sociology titles included. Inclusion is the FT’s choice for its ranking, not a statement about any other journal. Other lists and metrics serve different purposes.
| List or metric | Maintained by | Use |
|---|---|---|
| FT50 | Financial Times | Counting faculty publications for the FT research rank (50 journals) |
| ABDC Journal Quality List | Australian Business Deans Council | A separate journal list used in business schools; see the CASRAI guide |
| SJR, CiteScore, Altmetric, Nature Index | Various | Journal- and article-level metrics, compared in the CASRAI comparison |
Two titles on the list have CASRAI pages of their own: MIT Sloan Management Review and the Quarterly Journal of Economics.
FAQ
How many journals are in the FT50?
50. The list was a Top 40 until 2010, a Top 45 from 2010, and has been a Top 50 since 2016 (McMaster University Library guide, read 2026-11-08).
Which journals were removed from the FT50 in 2026?
Human Relations, Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies, per the Oxford and McMaster library guides read 2026-11-08.
Which journals were added in 2026?
Academy of Management Annals, American Sociological Review and Psychological Science, per the McMaster guide.
Is the FT50 the same as the FT Top 45?
No. The Top 45 was the earlier version, in use from 2010 until the list became the Top 50 in 2016.
Where is the official FT50 list?
On the Financial Times page ft.com/ft50-journals.
Sources
- Oxford Sainsbury Library, FT Top 50 journals guide, https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/ft-top50 (read 2026-11-08; guide updated 14 May 2026).
- McMaster University Library, FT Top 50 guide, https://libguides.mcmaster.ca/ft-top50 (read 2026-11-08).
- Poets&Quants, “Deans Decry Journals’ Removal From Influential Financial Times List”, 2026-05-08, https://poetsandquants.com/2026/05/08/deans-decry-journals-removal-from-influential-financial-times-list/ (read 2026-11-08).
- Financial Times, FT50 journals page, https://www.ft.com/ft50-journals (the list owner’s page).
