• For students, the top journals in finance:
1. Top Journals for Forecasting and econometrics.
• International journal of forecasting.
• Journal of financial econometrics.
• Journal of applied econometrics.
• Journal of econometrics.
• Journal of banking and finance.
• Journal of empirical finance.
• Econometrica.
• Journal of financial economics.
• Journal of business and economic statistics.
• The review of economics and statistics.
• Journal of financial and quantitative analysis.
• Journal of forecasting.
2. Top journals for survey papers in financial economics: those should include ideas for future research.
• Journal of economic surveys.
• Journal of economic literature.
• Journal of economic perspectives.
3. Best books for econometrics:
• Basic econometrics: by Damodar Gujarati and Dawn Porter, 5th edition.
• Introduction to econometrics: by G. S. Maddala, KajalLahiri, 4th edition.
4. Best book for financial econometrics:
Introductory Econometrics for finance: by Chris Brooks, 3rd Edition.
5. Current issues in finance:
• Investor sentiment and asset pricing in financial markets.
• Forecasting time series data with MIDAS models, i.e. using data with different frequencies in the same model.
• Using the extensions of the VAR models (e.g. Factor VAR) to examine the dynamic relations between variables.
• Corporate governance in China.
• Economic policy uncertainty and its effect on the financial markets, especially in the U.S.
• Textual analysis and its application in finance.
6. Useful Web links concerning the world economic and finance news:
CNBC:
https://www.cnbc.com/world/?region=world Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/middleeast Reuters:
https://www.reuters.com/ Financial Times:
https://www.ft.com/ the Wall Street Journal:
https://www.wsj.com/europe 7. Websites to download free finance and economic data:
https://finance.yahoo.com/ https://fred.stlouisfed.org/ 8. Websites for free online courses (some come with certificates):
Coursera
9. Networks where you can ask questions in your reseach areas and share papers/articles with researchers around the world:
Resarchgate:
https://www.researchgate.net/ 10. Websites to know the university’s ranking:
• In the U.K.:
o
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/best-universities/best-universities-uk o
https://www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2016/may/23/university-league-tables-2017 o
http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/ • In the World:
o
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/ o The World's Top Universities In 2016 - Forbes
11. How to start looking for a PhD offer:
• Know your research interest (e.g. Forecasting stock market volatility in emerging markets, corporate governance in China, Investor sentiment and asset pricing, etc.).
• Write the proposal (no more than 7000 words) and make sure to have the following structure.
o Research Introduction
o Research Background
o Research Question (s) and Hypotheses.
o Literature review. Focus here on the most recent studies from top journals and these top cited ones.
We use the google scholar to check for the number of citations. I type the name of study, then I see the number of citations below the name of the study.
Use the ABS journals ranking (finance section) to get the rankings of the journals. e.g. for the year 2015, check out
http://www.kfs.edu.eg/com/pdf/20820152253917.pdf • Research Methodology and data.
• Research time-table i.e. what you’re going to do in the first year, second year and third year.
• Write a personal statement (PS). Google for personal statement online and you will find many forms, just select one.
• Get your resume ready along with your proposal and PS.
• Use the key words for your proposal title and google online (e.g. research interest stock market volatility UK), by doing that you will be looking for a potential supervisor from a university in the U.K. who has research interest similar to yours. After that, start making a contact with him/her and send your proposal, resume and PS. Remember to introduce yourself in a good way.
• That potential supervisor might ask you to partially change the research idea in your proposal and/or the sample to better match his/her research interests.
12. Financial Certifications
*For more certificates and details, check out:
http://financial-certifications.credio.com/ 3. The Financial Risk Manager (FRM) examination is administered by the Global Association of Risk Professionals™ (GARP) and the FRM charter is the leading designation in risk management worldwide. The body of risk knowledge contained in the syllabus is increasingly being globally recognised as setting the standard in global risk management practices. It is the logical course of study for professionals working or planning to work in market, credit or operational risk. Certified FRMs have achieved positions such as Chief Risk Officer, Senior Risk Analyst, Head of Operational Risk, and Director of Investment Risk Management, to name a few. For more details on FRM, check out:
http://financial.kaplan.co.uk/TrainingandQuals/Financialservices/FRM/Pages/default.aspx 4. The Certificate in Quantitative Finance (CQF) is an online part-time financial engineering program. It can be completed as a single six month program or split into two three-month levels. It is designed for in-depth training for individuals working in, or intending to move into, e.g. derivatives, IT, quantitative trading, insurance, model validation or risk management. The CQF is unique in its approach and commitment to the field of real-world quantitative finance. For more details:
http://www.cqf.com/about