The study was conducted by Prof. Jean L. Heck of Villanova University in Pennsylvania, and Prof. Philip L. Cooley of Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. It examined the output of nearly 19,000 authors whose articles on finance appeared in 70 professional journals in the past half-century (from 1953).
The results showed that Prof. Levy, who is the Myles S. Robinson Professor of Business Administration at the Hebrew University, is the only one who appears among the "top ten" most prolific authors in all of the categories examined by Heck and Cooley.
The study ranked authors according to four criteria:
1. The number of articles appearing in the six leading professional journals in the world in the area of finance.
2. The number of articles appearing in those six journals, in which there was more than one author for each article. In those cases, the score for each author was adjusted or "weighted" according to the total number. That is, the more authors, the less points awarded to each.
3. The number of articles published in the 70 professional journals in the world in the area of finance.
4. The number of articles in those 70 journals, written with other authors and "weighted" according to the number of authors.
Prof. Levy was the only author whose name appears in the "top ten" of all four categories. He was ranked number six in the number of articles published in the six leading journals. In the "weighted" category for those six journals, Levy was in third place. In the category of the 70 finance journals, Levy was listed in fourth place in number of articles published and third in the "weighted" category for these publications.
Prof. Levy said that the research that appears in the articles published in the professional finance journals has importance in terms of leading towards greater efficiency in the capital markets, in helping to make optimal decisions in investments, and in promoting economic growth.