The INFORMS College on Artificial Intelligence (CAI) announces the release of its Top AI Journals List, an initiative designed to support business schools as they evaluate technically oriented scholarly research in artificial intelligence for purposes of review, promotion, and tenure.

As business schools increasingly recruit faculty who perform technically oriented research in the field of AI, the need to appropriately recognize high‑quality technical scholarship has become critical. Traditional journal lists in business disciplines do not always capture the most impactful outlets for research in these rapidly advancing fields. The INFORMS CAI journal list addresses this gap by identifying leading technical journals that are widely viewed as comparable in importance to “A‑level” business publications.

These journals represent the highest standards of rigor, impact, and scholarly influence in artificial intelligence. The goal of this list is to provide departments, deans, and promotion and tenure committees with a clear, discipline‑informed reference when evaluating technically focused research conducted by faculty in business schools.

The journal list was developed through a structured survey of top researchers and senior scholars within the INFORMS CAI community, many of whom are frequently asked to provide external letters in promotion and tenure cases for technically oriented scholars in business schools. Survey participants were asked to identify AI-focused journals whose publications they would consider to carry weight equivalent to those at top‑tier (“A‑level”) business journals for evaluation purposes.

Among the journals considered, the five selected for this inaugural list received unanimous or near‑unanimous support from the scholars surveyed, reflecting broad consensus within the community regarding their stature and relevance.

The INFORMS College on Artificial Intelligence views this list as a living resource and expects to revisit and update it over time as AI research evolves.

March 31, 2026