Editorial

Citation

Crowther, D. (2015), "Editorial", Social Responsibility Journal, Vol. 11 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-01-2015-0007

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Social Responsibility Journal, Volume 11, Issue 1

As the journal enters its 11th year, it is clear that the concept of social responsibility has become ubiquitous – in all walks of life and worldwide – and it is not possible to be oblivious to the concern with this issue which is gathering pace throughout the world. Nor it is possible to escape from the plethora of calls for action or statements of intent which surround this concept as far as corporations are concerned. The concept of responsibility also needs however to apply to other forms of organisation such as not-for-profit organisations and governments. More significantly, it needs also to apply to us all as individuals. At the same time, the concept has become intertwined with the concepts of sustainability and of governance and these are ceasing to be discrete subjects. The papers published in this journal provide some evidence for this, as does the range of topics covered. It seems clearly appropriate therefore that the aims and scope of this journal are deliberately wide in the belief that there are many aspects to the discourse of social responsibility. All are encouraged in this journal and the contents of this, and every, issue are a reflection of this. Over the years we have seen a wide variety of issues researched and discussed, and we seek to encourage this diversity. In this global village of ours, it is also important that everyone is given a voice to participate in the discourse. The journal therefore encourages contributions from anyone, no matter where in the world they are located and no matter what disciplinary background they reside in. Hence, the diversity of the contributions in this – and past and future – issue. All contributions have been blind-refereed of course, but this refereeing has been undertaken in full recognition that different approaches abound as do different expectations around the world. All that matters in this journal is the quality of the contribution rather than the style of presentation. The refereeing process is designed to facilitate this.

All of these together provide a rationale for the existence of this journal; its development over the years demonstrates our success in meeting the need. Social responsibility has implications not just for us as individuals but also as members of communities and society at large. Sadly this is often more apparent by its absence than by anything else. Education is one way to bring about change, and this is one important aspect of the work of this journal and of the network of which it is the official mouthpiece. As an academic journal of course, run by academics it is impossible to ignore this motivation and no-one involved would wish to ignore this. Another potential way to bring about change however is through an engagement in scholarly debate, involving as many people as possible from as many different backgrounds as possible. The purpose of this journal therefore is to foster this debate and to raise an awareness of both the ongoing debate and the need for this debate.

You will notice that this issue is bigger than previous issues; we have increased the size of each issue to reflect the continuing increase in popularity of the journal, and each issue will in future contain 11 papers instead of the previous 10. I continue to encourage you to enter the discourse through your writing and to submit your papers to this journal. When doing so please however study the instructions for authors which can be found on the website for the journal. We are unable, for example, to consider papers which are too long – we have taken a view that more papers will deepen the discourse better than a few lengthy ones. Our aim in the production of this journal therefore is to further the discourse of social responsibility. In doing so however it is also one of changing this global village into a global community. And in a community, everyone has a voice, even those dissenting – again one of the aims of this journal.

There is nothing further to say at this point, from an editorial perspective, except to read the content and more particularly contribute to the debate.

David Crowther