What is the purpose of academic journals? Conley (2012) claims that the purpose of academic journals is to foster communication amongst scholars, to provide a proving ground for practical and theoretical ideas, and to document emerging scientific knowledge. This list begs the question. Is there a hierarchy of purposes, or do they each have relatively equal merit? Reviewing rating schema such as "impact" factors would seem to indicate that there is a hierarchy, and that documenting scientific knowledge is first in line. What do you think?

Reference

Conley, J. P. (2012). Low acceptance rates, commercial publishing, and the future of scholarly communication. Economics Bulletin, 32(4), A37. Retrieved from http://www.accessecon.com/pubs/EB/2012/Volume32/EB-12-V32-I4-A37.pdf