What Is the Financial Analysts Journal?

The Financial Analysts Journal is a publication circulated by the CFA Institute. It is the flagship publication of the institute and includes a variety of financial research reports from financial experts and CFA charter holders. The Financial Analysts Journal is largely oriented toward the field of investment management.

Understanding the Financial Analysts Journal

The journal is peer-reviewed and published six times a year. The articles presented are generally of a technical nature and are aimed at practitioners. Recurring sections include In Practice, Book Reviews, and CFA Digest. Other publications of the CFA institute include the CFA Digest and the CFA Magazine.

In its overview, the Financial Analysts Journal describes itself this way:

As the flagship publication of CFA Institute, the Financial Analysts Journal is the leading practitioner journal in the investment management community. Since 1945, it has advanced the knowledge and understanding of the practice of investment management through the publication of rigorous, peer-reviewed, practitioner-relevant research from leading academics and practitioners. It also features thought-provoking opinion pieces that advance the common level of discourse within the investment management profession.

The Financial Analysts Journal operates a rolling, 12-month open-access model, whereby articles are freely available for one year from their publication date. However, archived articles are accessible only to members and subscribers as continuing education resources. Archived articles going back to 1960 are also available via JSTOR.

The CFA Institute

The CFA Institute is a global association of investment professionals. It offers the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, the Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM), and the Investment Foundations Certificate. It provides continuing education conferences, seminars, webcasts, and publications to members. The CFA Institute also oversees the CFA Institute Research Challenge for university students and the Research Foundation of CFA Institute.

The CFA Institute has more than 178,000 members worldwide, 95% of whom are CFA charter holders. Most members work in the financial services industry, with more than half of them being research analysts, portfolio managers, risk managers, or financial advisers.

Financial Analyst Journal’s First Issue

The Financial Analysts Journal was founded in 1945, with the first issue publishing in January of that year. Featured articles in the inaugural issue covered methods for valuing growth stocks, postwar taxation, appraising the oil industry’s outlook, rating securities analysts (by Benjamin Graham), and examining the risk factor in investment company leverage shares.

The issue also featured book reviews, including Liquidation of War Production, Excess Profits Tax ReliefA Post War Federal Tax Plan for High Employment Proposed by the Research Committee of Economic Development, among others.