IJEBR 2019: a year in review

Citation

(2019), "IJEBR 2019: a year in review", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 25 No. 8, pp. 1601-1602. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-11-2019-819

IJEBR 2019: a year in review

This editorial article represents my first chance to reflect on the performance of the journal in 2019 and discuss some of the developments and plans we are implementing. First, and most importantly, my sincere thanks to the IJEBR editorial team that have worked so hard this year, namely the Desk Review Editor Dr Dung Pham and the Co-editors Professor Martina Battisti, Dr Elisabeth Berger, Dr Mohamed Yacine Haddoud, Professor Lois Shelton, Dr Richard Tunstall, Professor Natalia Vershinina and Professor Giustina Secundo. This year we welcomed Natalia and Guistina to join the editorial team on the basis of their academic expertise and successful prior involvement with IJEBR special issues. New also to the journal were Bin Walters as incoming publisher and Moya Clark as Content Editor. We will continue to expand the editorial team as the journal grows in terms of published outputs and submissions. The diverse nationalities of the editorial team (Algerian, Austrian, German, Italian, Russian, Vietnamese, USA and UK) are a reflection on the global expansion of the entrepreneurship discipline and the desire for IJEBR to appeal to a truly international audience. During this year, we also bid goodbye to Patti Davis the former Publisher and Aisha Mayet the previous Content Editor who both moved onto pastures new. Many thanks to both for all their considerable efforts and hard work in developing the journal in recent years and best wishes for the future.

Overall, 2019 will be recognised as a significant year of achievement and growth for the journal. In 2017, we were invited to join the Clarivate Analytics Journal Citation index (formerly Thomson Reuters). In July of 2018, we received our first full impact factor of 1.86. Thereafter, in July 2019, this increased to 2.391 representing a commendable level of growth. This also reflects well against our peer journal group and we will seek to further grow the impact factor in future years. In addition, our submission levels continue to increase. To date in 2019, we have received approximately 600 manuscripts and are on track to beat our all-time annual submission record. Similarly, our article downloads and citations continues to increase as does our overall manuscript rejection rate. These are key metrics in the evaluation of performance of IJEBR as an international journal in the entrepreneurship discipline. In 2019, we are looking to publish over 80 manuscripts in eight issues which represents a significant growth in previous years.

IJEBR always seeks to publish challenging content which enhances the knowledge of the entrepreneurship discipline. In particular, special issues are an opportunity to explore some of the emerging themes and debates within the rapidly evolving entrepreneurship discipline. Indeed, 2019 year has seen us publish special issues exploring “Migration, enterprise and society” (guest edited by Professor Natalia Vershinina and Dr Peter Rodgers) and “Artisan, cultural and tourism entrepreneurship” (guest edited by Dr Vanessa Ratten, Professor Carlos Costa and Marcel Bogers). Indeed, Issue 8 of the 25th volume of IJEBR will conclude with the presentation of two special issues, namely the GIKA 2018 conference guest edited by Carla Martínez-Climent, Dr Maria Rodríguez-García and Professor Domingo Ribeiro-Soriano. The second special issue evaluates the relationship between “Intersectionality and entrepreneurship” and is guest edited by Dr Amal Abbas, Dr Janice Byrne, Professor Laura Galloway, Dr Laura Jackman and Dr Isla Kapasi. I would encourage readers to consider submitting papers to future IJEBR special issues a number are currently being advertised on the journal’s home page.

I see special issues as a key element of future IJEBRs contribution to enhancing the debate in the rapidly evolving entrepreneurship discipline.

In 2019, we have increased the number of issues to eight with a publication target of over 80 manuscripts. The growing submission and rejection levels due to achieving a full impact factor have allowed IJEBR to increase submissions, issues and published manuscripts and maintaining the quality threshold. As always, my thanks to everyone who has contributed to the IJEBR community in 2019 including authors, guest editors, editorial board members, reviewers and readers.