The EJL consists of two sub lists: the Primary Set of ERIM journals and the Secondary Set of ERIM journals.  

The primary set (P journals) contains the best journals in the field of management. There is a list of such journals that cover the whole field of research in management, and there are lists for each of the domains of management represented in ERIM research programmes.

A subset of the journals in the Primary Set, the so called STAR journals (P*), is considered to contain the real top ones among the best journals in the field. These STAR journals are widely considered as truly distinctive.  All the ERIM STAR journals are listed in the ISI Journal Citation Reports (JCR).

A third subset of the journals in the Primary Set is the newly created category for Top Managerial Journals (M STAR or M*). In this way ERIM clearly differentiates between true research journals and these more managerially relevant journals. This new category of the list fits the importance attached to managerial relevance as part of ERIM's focus on dual impact (both academic, societal and managerial impact).