April, 2026
A note for deans, ADRs, and research offices
Your students default to Google. Arbiter replaces that habit.
Arbiter is an evidence search engine built around the journal ranking lists business faculty trust — FT50, UTD24, ABDC, and AJG. Students search ranked journals by default, learn what journal quality means, and develop research literacy as a byproduct of doing their coursework. Not a separate module. Not a training session. The tool teaches by being used.
Enrollment-based pricing — covers every student in your business school.
Research literacy as a byproduct of use.
Five things Arbiter does for your school — without requiring students to learn a new system or faculty to change how they teach.
Most students begin a research assignment on Google Scholar — or just Google. They cite what they find first, not what's best. Arbiter changes the default: every search starts from the journals your faculty trust. Students learn to attribute papers to the journal, not the publisher.
Arbiter's scaffolding layer teaches students what journal rankings mean, why evidence weight matters, and how to read a synthesis critically — all within the search experience itself. Students move through three depth levels as their skills grow: Essentials (accessible), Detailed (research-literate), and Technical (full critical synthesis).
Every search result can be read at three depths: Essentials (accessible, no jargon), Detailed (research-literate vocabulary), and Technical (full critical synthesis). The default is Essentials — students step up as they're ready. No level flattens nuance: if the evidence is contested, all three levels say so.
Arbiter's evidence weighting and ranking taxonomy are designed to support AACSB Standard 8 intellectual contribution documentation. A versioned, citable methodology is published for every release so accreditation reviews can reference the exact search methodology students used.
Arbiter searches a curated corpus of ranked business journals. It is not a comprehensive database and doesn't pretend to be. Every synthesis signals its scope, and every answer page points students toward their university librarian for systematic reviews and comprehensive literature searches.
What changes when students use it.
The behavioral shifts that follow when students have access to ranked-journal search by default — not as a separate module, but as part of how they do their coursework.
Students stop citing the first thing Google returns. They learn that the journal matters — and why.
Students stop saying "I found it on Elsevier" and start saying "I found it in Strategic Management Journal."
Leveled synthesis teaches students to evaluate evidence — not just consume it.
Instead of checking a box for AACSB, your students actually develop the research skills the standard describes.
Enrollment-based. One price, every student.
Pricing scales with enrollment, not headcount or seat licenses. Every student in your business school gets access. Faculty and doctoral students are included.
A single agreement covers your entire business school. Pricing is based on enrolled student headcount and scales with your institution. Faculty, doctoral students, and research staff are included at no additional cost.
- ✓Unlimited searches for all students and faculty
- ✓All three synthesis levels (Essentials, Detailed, Technical)
- ✓AACSB Standard 8 methodology documentation
- ✓SSO integration (Shibboleth, SAML, EZproxy) (planned)
- ✓Usage reports and admin dashboard (planned)
Pricing is custom — we quote based on your school’s enrollment and research program structure.
Individual and lab-group plans are also available for researchers without institutional coverage. Procurement details →
Built for the lists your school uses.
Business schools on different continents weight different ranking lists. Arbiter supports all four major lists as first-class objects — not afterthought filters.
The Financial Times 50 journals. The standard reference for schools competing in global MBA and EMBA rankings.
The UT Dallas 24 journals — more selective than FT50, covering 24 journals that define the benchmark for research-intensive faculty output. Used globally for tenure decisions, not MBA rankings.
The Academic Journal Guide (formerly ABS list). The dominant ranking list for UK and European business schools.
The Australian Business Deans Council list. The standard for Australian and New Zealand business schools.
When you’re ready to proceed, we’ve made procurement easy.
Arbiter is designed for institutional procurement. Your library team can review all technical specifications, compliance documentation, and integration details independently.
Once your school decides to adopt Arbiter, the procurement process is handled through your library or research services office. We’ve prepared everything they need to evaluate the product independently — SSO compatibility, compliance frameworks, integration specifications, and a sample data processing agreement.
View procurement details →at no cost
See what your students would find.
A 30-day institutional trial. Full product access. No credit card, no automatic billing. Try a search your students would run — and see how the results differ from what Google gives them.