HBS Ranks Ninth in Magazine

In a departure from its usual position at the top of the rankings, the Harvard Business School (HBS) placed ninth in a survey to be released by the Academy of Management Journal later this month according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

HBS is ranked first by US News and World Report, the Financial Times, and Forbes, and third in the Business Week ranking.

"I don't know anything about this survey at all," said an HBS spokesperson.

"The criteria seem pretty wild--I can't imagine prospective students will be influenced by it," the spokesperson said.

The Academy of Management is a think-tank comprised of professors and scholars who study management. It publishes a journal six times a year.

The magazine's survey selected schools based on the total number of pages their faculty members published in a group of 20 "top-tier" journals from 1986 to 1998, according to information on the study's website.

The Academy of Management chose criteria designed to differentiate the results from those of the US News and World Report and Business Week surveys, which do not place the same emphasis on research opportunities.

The Journal stayed away from traditional measures of business school success, such as number of recruiters who come to campus, quality of teaching and overall reputation.

The University of Pennsylvania placed first, followed by the University of Michigan, Stanford University, New York University and the University of Chicago. Harvard fell below the University of Texas at Austin, and placed just above Northwestern University.

"We don't put a lot of stock in specific rankings, no matter what magazine they happen to be from," said University spokesperson Joe Wrinn. "Whether we're number one...or number nine, we think the business school is doing a fine job."

"There is no question that we are one of the best schools around for business," said the HBS spokesperson.