Positioning JIBS as an interdisciplinary journal

Abstract

Journal of International Business Studies (2011) 42, 1–9. doi:10.1057/jibs.2010.50 It is with great honor and pleasure, as well as in keen anticipation of what we are confident can be achieved by the journal, that we begin this three-year term as the new editors of the Journal of International Business Studies. We are both long-term members of the Academy of International Business (AIB), and readers of JIBS for almost as long as we can remember. Over the years, we have watched the ever more promising development of JIBS, of which we now enjoy more issues per year, and in which the gradual progression in the depth and breadth of its content has laid the foundations for what we hope and believe will be a new phase in the flourishing of the journal in the period that now lies ahead. In this respect, we must begin by paying tribute to all the Editorsin-Chief of the journal that have preceded us, whose conscientious efforts have not gone unrewarded. Naturally enough, we owe a debt of gratitude especially to our two most recent predecessors, Arie Lewin and Lorraine Eden. Before Arie, JIBS was the long-established leading specialist journal within the field of international business (IB) studies, a partially hidden gem for those of us in the know. After Arie, it was recognized much more widely as a top (“A”) journal among scholars of business and management even outside the IB field. Arie raised the stature of JIBS in business schools as a whole, an achievement that was crucial not just for the journal, but for the continued vitality of our field. Before Lorraine, if we are brutally honest, JIBS had remained a rather shambolic affair in terms of its administrative structure and procedures. In fact, it is a credit to the earlier editors that they managed to achieve so much with such limited resources and systems of support, most of which were concentrated in a single office that used to hold responsibility for everything! After Lorraine, JIBS has become an exemplar of efficient organizational systems, and well-managed and clearly understood procedures for conduct, including a pioneering Code of Ethics. We should also acknowledge here with warm appreciation the critical contributions that have been made by the AIB Executive Secretariat and especially by Managing Editor Anne Hoekman, as well as by David Bull and his wonderful staff at Palgrave, whose degree of commitment to the journal and support for it has been second to none. When we look at how radically JIBS has been transformed under Arie’s and Lorraine’s leadership, suffice to say that but for the sea changes which they have brought about, we would have had to think very hard before offering our services as editors. But with the firm foundation that they have given us, and with the resulting opportunities that the journal now has in front of it, stepping forward as editors is a decision we have made with ease as well as pride. Journal of International Business Studies (2011) 42, 1–9 & 2011 Academy of International Business All rights reserved 0047-2506