Comparing the Ability of Bayesian networks and Adaboost for Predicting Financial Distress of Firms listed on Tehran Stock Rxchange (TSE) 1

Abstract: Financial distress and bankruptcy of companies may cause the resources to be wasted and the investment opportunities to be faded. Bankruptcy prediction by providing necessary warnings can make the companies aware of this problem. The aim of this study is to compare the ability of Bayesian networks and adaboost for predicting financial distress of firms listed on Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). Two naïve bayes models were developed based upon conditional correlation between variables and conditional likelihood. The accuracy in predicting bankruptcy of the first naïve bayes model's performance that is based upon conditional correlation is 90% and the accuracy of the second naïve bayes model is 93% and finally the accuracy of the adaboost that was built to compare with naïve bayes models is 88%. Collectively the results show that it is possible to predict financial distress using Bayesian and Adaboost models. But, Bayesian networks are more capable to predict financial distress of companies listed on TSE compare to Adaboost. With respect to the variables in developed models in this research we find that firms with lower profitability and more long term liabilities and lower liquidity are more in Risk of financial distress. To reduce financial distress risk, firms should use more conservative methods which lead to decrease in debts and reduce their costs

Contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Country’S H-Index

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development on country’s scientific ranking as measured by H-index. Moreover, this study applies ICT development sub-indices including ICT Use, ICT Access and ICT skill to find the distinct effect of these sub-indices on country’s H-index. To this purpose, required data for the panel of 14 Middle East countries over the period 1995 to 2009 is collected. Findings of the current study show that ICT development increases the H-index of the sample countries. The results also indicate that ICT Use and ICT Skill sub-indices positively contribute to higher H-index but the effect of ICT access on country’s H-index is not clear

Does it Matter Which Citation Tool is Used to Compare the h-index of a Group of Highly Cited Researchers?

h-index retrieved by citation indexes (Scopus, Google scholar, and Web of Science) is used to measure the scientific performance and the research impact studies based on the number of publications and citations of a scientist. It also is easily available and may be used for performance measures of scientists, and for recruitment decisions. The aim of this study is to investigate the difference between the outputs and results from these three citation databases namely Scopus, Google Scholar, and Web of Science based upon the h-index of a group of highly cited researchers (Nobel Prize winner scientist). The purposive sampling method was adopted to collect the required data. The results showed that there is a significant difference in the h-index between three citation indexes of Scopus, Google scholar, and Web of Science; the Google scholar h-index was more than the h-index in two other databases. It was also concluded that there is a significant positive relationship between h-indices based on Google scholar and Scopus. The citation indexes of Scopus, Google scholar, and Web of Science may be useful for evaluating h-index of scientists but they have some limitations as well

Contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Country’S H-Index

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development on country’s scientific ranking as measured by H-index. Moreover, this study applies ICT development sub-indices including ICT Use, ICT Access and ICT skill to find the distinct effect of these sub-indices on country’s H-index. To this purpose, required data for the panel of 14 Middle East countries over the period 1995 to 2009 is collected. Findings of the current study show that ICT development increases the H-index of the sample countries. The results also indicate that ICT Use and ICT Skill sub-indices positively contribute to higher H-index but the effect of ICT access on country’s H-index is not clear

A Comparison between Two Main Academic Literature Collections: Web of Science and Scopus Databases

Nowadays, the world’s scientific community has been publishing an enormous number of papers in different scientific fields. In such environment, it is essential to know which databases are equally efficient and objective for literature searches. It seems that two most extensive databases are Web of Science and Scopus. Besides searching the literature, these two databases used to rank journals in terms of their productivity and the total citations received to indicate the journals impact, prestige or influence. This article attempts to provide a comprehensive comparison of these databases to answer frequent questions which researchers ask, such as: How Web of Science and Scopus are different? In which aspects these two databases are similar? Or, if the researchers are forced to choose one of them, which one should they prefer? For answering these questions, these two databases will be compared based on their qualitative and quantitative characteristics

Does Criticism Overcome the Praises of Journal Impact Factor?

Journal impact factor (IF) as a gauge of influence and impact of a particular journal comparing with other journals in the same area of research, reports the mean number of citations to the published articles in particular journal. Although, IF attracts more attention and being used more frequently than other measures, it has been subjected to criticisms, which overcome the advantages of IF. Critically, extensive use of IF may result in destroying editorial and researchers’ behaviour, which could compromise the quality of scientific articles. Therefore, it is the time of the timeliness and importance of a new invention of journal ranking techniques beyond the journal impact factor

Review of studies on audit quality

Abstract. This paper reviews empirical studies over the past decades from all over the world in order to assess what researchers have done about audit quality issue and identify gaps in the literature where further research is needed. These studies are categorized into seven groups; 1) Using direct or indirect measure of audit quality 2) Studies based on source of differentiation 3) Studies rely on output, process and input 4) Organizational aspects 5) Behavioral perspectives and auditor quality 6) Different perceptions of audit quality and 7) Other studies. The existing body of knowledge relating to these groups of studies will be summarized in this paper

Effective risk management and company’s performance: Investment in innovations and intellectual capital using behavioral and practical approach

Risk management is used to decrease the undesirable effects of market conditions and behavior on company’s activities and performance. This research focuses on ability of risk management response to out of control market factors to facilitate consistent profitability that leads to improvement in company’s performance. This is an empirical research that investigates the association of total risk management and company’s performance. The results indicate positive and significant relationship between total risk management and company’s performance in companies that have invested in research, development and innovations along with companies that have greater level of intellectual capital and industries that have rapid knowledge growth. The results confirm the findings of previous researches in terms of functional and practical behaviors approaches