Journal of Economic Literature codes classification system (JEL)

TL;DR

This paper reviews the history, development, and current state of the JEL classification system used in economics research, highlighting its applications, adoption, and potential for future bibliometric studies.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the JEL system's evolution, current usage, and identifies gaps in its application in bibliometric research.

Findings

JEL system has over 850 subclasses.

Widely adopted by publishers and databases.

Underutilized in bibliometric and scientometric research.

Abstract

The Journal of Economic Literature codes classification system (JEL) published by the American Economic Association (AEA) is the de facto standard classification system for research literature in economics. The JEL classification system is used to classify articles, dissertations, books, book reviews, and working papers in EconLit, a database maintained by the AEA. Over time, it has evolved and extended to a system with over 850 subclasses. This paper reviews the history and development of the JEL classification system, describes the current version, and provides a selective overview of its uses and applications in research. The JEL codes classification system has been adopted by several publishers, and their instructions are reviewed. There are interesting avenues for future research as the JEL classification system has been surprisingly little used in existing bibliometric and scientometric research as well as in library classification systems.