Abstract
Research in Transportation Business and Management (RTBM) was launched in 2009 with the first volume appearing in August 2011. The format of the journal is somewhat different to that of conventional journals in that each volume is themed focusing on a particular aspect of transportation from a business and management perspective. This paper focuses on the format of the journal and the decisions taken at the time of launch, eventually drawing conclusions about the chosen format and whether it has been an effective format for the competitive space into which the journal was launched. With four years of production data available, the authors conclude that the format has offered both positive and negative aspects, but that overall the launch format chosen was right for the competitive environment faced.
Highlights
Transport is a complex sector influencing all aspects of human life, not least in terms of the transfer of passengers and freight from one location to another
Given the plethora of issues to be found in the transport arena, it is not too surprising to find that there is a range of journals devoted to the subject area. One such journal is Research in Transportation Business and Management (RTBM), launched in 2009 with the first volume appearing in August 2011
The transportation field has a large number of journals of both single mode and thematic types, with a particular focus be it economics, geography, safety, modeling or the like. For those undertaking research in the field of business and management, there is little to relate to and the submission of an article based on the strategic management literature would often get the feedback: “Please rewrite; we suggest a political economy theoretical base would be more appropriate for your work.”
Summary
Transport is a complex sector influencing all aspects of human life, not least in terms of the transfer of passengers and freight from one location to another. Publications 2015, 3 there are a number of transport modes—maritime, road (both public and private transport), rail, aviation, walking and cycling—all of which interact with each other and growth drivers differently Given this complexity, there are a large number of scholars in the field and a multitude of perspectives on how to address the challenges faced by public policy planners, managers and citizens. The paper discusses various original decisions made and whether we believe they worked to enhance the contribution of the journal in the field of transportation research This is followed by a discussion of what we see as our key challenges in common with other journals and what specific challenges a themed-volume only format faces. This article is based on our experiences to date and as such is more a case study and less empirical than usually found in a scientific journal, but we hope it will prove instructive for those publishers and editors considering this type of format
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