North American Actuarial Journal

North American Actuarial Journal
Title	North American Actuarial Journal
Discipline	Actuarial science
Abbreviation	NAAJ
Publisher	American Academy of Actuaries; Society of Actuaries
Country	United States
History	1997–present
Frequency	Quarterly

North American Actuarial Journal The North American Actuarial Journal is a quarterly peer-reviewed periodical serving professionals and researchers in actuarial practice and risk management. It publishes original research, case studies, and survey analyses that inform practitioners affiliated with the American Academy of Actuaries, the Society of Actuaries, and other bodies such as the Casualty Actuarial Society and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. The journal bridges applied topics relevant to insurers like Prudential Financial, MetLife, and Manulife with academic work from institutions including Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Toronto.

History

The journal was established in 1997 through cooperative efforts involving the Society of Actuaries and the American Academy of Actuaries, aligning with earlier actuarial publications such as the Transactions of the Society of Actuaries and the Proceedings of the Casualty Actuarial Society. Its founding responded to trends shaped by regulatory changes in the 1990s involving the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. Over time editorial leadership included academics and practitioners associated with Columbia University, Stanford University, University of Chicago, and McGill University, reflecting cross-border North American collaboration among stakeholders like the Federal Reserve Board, Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, and industry groups such as AIG and Sun Life Financial.

Scope and Content

The journal emphasizes quantitative studies on mortality, morbidity, longevity, pricing, reserving, and enterprise risk management, with articles that intersect with research from the actuarial departments of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Waterloo, and London School of Economics. Topics often reference methods related to stochastic modeling used by organizations like the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the Internal Revenue Service, and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors. Content spans health insurance analyses relevant to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, property and casualty topics linked to Allstate and Travelers, and portfolio risk discussions germane to BlackRock and Vanguard. Special issues have examined subjects connected to events and frameworks such as the Global Financial Crisis, Solvency II, Basel accords, and the Affordable Care Act.

Editorial Structure and Peer Review

Editorial oversight typically comprises an editor-in-chief drawn from academia or industry, supported by associate editors affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, and University of Michigan. The peer review process is double-blind or single-blind depending on submission policies, using reviewers from networks that include scholars at Yale University, Princeton University, and Imperial College London as well as practitioners from Willis Towers Watson and Mercer. Editorial policies align with publication standards promoted by organizations like the American Statistical Association and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and adhere to ethical guidelines comparable to those of the Committee on Publication Ethics.

Publication and Access

Published quarterly, the journal is disseminated in print and electronic formats with distribution channels through institutional subscribers at universities like Duke University and McMaster University and corporate subscribers including Berkshire Hathaway and Zurich Insurance Group. Access models have combined subscription access with pay-per-view and institutional licensing negotiated with academic libraries such as the Library of Congress, Harvard Library, and University of California system. Digital archiving practices coordinate with repositories and indexing partners such as JSTOR, EBSCO, and ProQuest to ensure preservation akin to standards used by Wiley and Springer.

Abstracting and Indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed in major services that catalog actuarial and statistical literature, comparable to listings in Scopus, Web of Science, EconLit, and MathSciNet. Bibliographic visibility is enhanced through inclusion in databases accessed by researchers at Cornell University Library, New York Public Library, and British Library. Citation tracking for articles appears on platforms used by researchers at ResearchGate, Google Scholar, and ORCID, facilitating metrics monitored by university committees at UCLA, Penn State University, and University of British Columbia.

Impact and Reception

Scholarly and professional reception notes the journal's role in shaping practice and policy among actuarial communities associated with the American Academy of Actuaries, Society of Actuaries, Casualty Actuarial Society, and Canadian Institute of Actuaries. Its articles have been cited in regulatory reports by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and policy analyses at the Congressional Budget Office, as well as referenced in academic syllabi at institutions like Columbia Business School and London Business School. Praises by contributors from firms such as Deloitte, KPMG, and PwC highlight its applied relevance, while critiques in seminars at conferences like the International Congress of Actuaries and meetings of the Royal Statistical Society have spurred methodological debates.

Category:Actuarial science journals Category:Quarterly journals