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The historical publishing pattern of the Journal of Business Strategies (JBS) is examined. Authors from 171 institutions have written over 262 articles from spring 1984 to fall 2008. Contributions to the journal were studied in terms of numbers of schools represented, number of authors per article, diversity of articles, breakdown of gender of authors, types of citations, and empirical orientation of the articles. Findings indicate that publications in JBS represent a significant scholarly contribution to the field of business strategy. Few differences were detected between JBS and other selected journals. Recommendations to enhance JBS are based on quantitative and qualitative analysis.
Introduction
The publication of this issue of the Journal of Business Strategies (JBS) marks the end of twenty-five years of publication. With a journal reaching such an important milestone, it is appropriate to look at the journal's history as part of its plans for the future (Malhotra, 1996; Hyman & Steiner, 1997; Muncy, 1991). Summary articles of single journals have been written for many well-established business journals. For example, The Journal of Advertising (Muncy, 1991), Journal of Accounting Education (Lehman & Street, 1990), Journal of International Business Studies (Inkpen & Beamish, 1994; Chandy & Williams, 1994), Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (Malhotra, 1996), Journal of Consumer Affairs (Geistfeld & Key, 1986), Journal of Economic Psychology (Van Raaij, 1986), Journal of Marketing Education (Clark & Hanna, 1986), Journal of Business Communication (Koch, 1979; Reinsch & Lewis, 1993), Journal of Marketing (Grether, 1976; Marquardt & Murdock, 1983), Journal of Finance (Schweser, 1977; Heck, Cooley, & Hubbard, 1986; Schroeder, Langrehr, & Floyd, 1995), Journal of Macromarketing (Finn & McQuitty, 1994), Journal of Applied Business Research (Urbancic, 1994), Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship (Hyman & Steiner, 1997), Journal of Purchasing and Material Management (Williams & Oumlil, 1987), Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management (Swan, Powers & Sobczak, 1991), and Journal of Business Strategies (Mehta, Maniam & Leipnik, 1999). For the fifteen year anniversary of JBS, a retrospective article looked at the first fifteen years of JBS. For the twenty-fifth anniversary it seems an appropriate time to update that earlier effort.
This paper will once again trace the evolution of JBS from conception to present. More specifically, the article will provide a detailed look at specific aspects of the oldest business strategy journal. A pluralistic research methodology will be utilizing (i.e., both quantitative and qualitative), as it is a more robust than using either one by itself. This article will provide an update to the previous endeavor, which was done a decade ago. Evaluating the current state and statute of JBS is critical in 2008 for two reasons. First, the original editor of JBS, William B. Green, was recently renamed the new editor after twenty-one years. Second, the journal has had a successful twenty-five year history, a silver jubilee of sorts.
History
JBS was founded in 1982 at the Center for Business and Economic Research, Sam Houston State University (SHSU). Since its inception, JBS has been published semiannually (i.e., spring and fall) by SHSU. The first issue of JBS was published in spring 1984 under the editorship of William B. Green. The first issue mainly contained invited articles from reputable authors to insure that the JBS started off with some quality articles. An important initial objective of JBS was to attract quality articles and to position JBS as a relevant publication appealing to both practitioners and academicians within the business community.
Beginning with the second issue, all articles were double blind reviewed by selected members of the Editorial Board. Editorial Board members are reviewed regularly. Twenty-five years later, the editorial review board includes a diverse group of academic and practitioners from disparate disciplines at reputed institutions. Over the years of its existence, the quality of the Editorial Board has been sustained and continuously improved. During the first fifteen years, the outstanding Editorial Board has elevated JBS's reputation and established it as a high quality journal with ever improving manuscripts. If there is one criticism that could be alleged, it is the fact that the Editorial Board has lacked adequate international representation.
Susan A. Simmons took over editorial duties in spring 1986 and served through the fall 1986 issue. No significant changes were observed during Simmons' short tenure as the editor of JBS. Most of the articles published during both Green's and Simmon's tenure as editor were focused in the area of management strategy.
In spring 1987, George D. Greenwade became the third editor of JBS. He immediately instituted three major changes. First, JBS took on a glossy look and changed the binding from saddle-stitch to perfect binding so as it would be more appealing to practitioners. Second, the fall 1987 issue contained a cumulative index of previously published articles. This strategy was important to help increase subscriptions to JBS. The practice of indexing previous articles continued for three years. Third, the fall 1988 issue contained the only paid advertisement in JBS's history.
Jo Ann Dully became the fourth editor of JBS in fall 1990. With one exception, the status quo was maintained during Duffy's tenure as the editor. For the first time, biographical sketches of the authors were published in fall 1991.
In fall 1992, Roger D. Abshire became the fifth editor of JBS. During his brief tenure as editor (i.e., two issues), the Center for Business and Economic Research, where the journal was housed, was renamed the Gibson D. Lewis Center for Business and Economic Development. While this change had a significant impact on the institution, it had no impact on JBS and its editorial staff or board.
Jo Ann Duffy was reappointed the editor in fall 1993 issue and she remained the editor through the fall 2007 issue. During Duffy's second tenure as the editor, she implemented three significant changes. Once again, the cover of the journal received a timely update. Second, a web site (www.shsu.edu/~coba/jbs/board.html) was created for readers and researchers to read articles online and order articles from past issues. Unfortunately, the website is not continuously updated and still lacks the ability to search specific words. Third, current business topics were placed in "special issues" of the journal.
According to Duffy, "Our first two special issues focused on the significant issue of 'Services Marketing' and 'Banking,' where the journal was able to address needs of practitioners." The success and discrimination of the first two special issues was followed by several additional special issues. The next special issue of JBS addressed the timely topic of "Internet Marketing and E-commerce." Due to aggressive marketing of the "Call for papers" by the guest editors, Douglas Kline and Sanjay S. Mehta, the journal received over thirty-five quality submissions. After an extensive review process, it was determined that there were ten articles worthy of publication in the special issue. Due to size and page limitation of JBS, two special issues were devoted to the topics of internet marketing and E-commerce (i.e., five articles in each issue) in fall 2001 and spring 2002.
William B. Green was once again appointed the editor of JBS (i.e., prior to the publication of the spring 2007 issue). As JBS prepares for the next decade, Green's long-term goals are two-fold. First, to attract articles that are appropriate for business practitioners. Second, identify relevant business topics that justify a "special issue" of JBS.
Findings
Output
During its first twenty-five years, 262 articles from 573 authors have been published in JBS. As shown in Table 1, the average length of the article was 14.56 pages and the average articles per issue were 5.35. However, over the twenty-five years, there has been a noticeable trend toward longer articles (as measured by number of pages per article). For example, in 1984 the average pages per article were 8.80 and 2007 it was 21.33 pages. This increase in number of pages per article reflects a growing emphasis on the literature review and increased rigor in the methodology section.
The average length of the article is consistent with others journals (14.56 pages for JBS versus 10.5 pages for other journal within business). The mean difference of 4 pages could be attributed to the smaller size (9x7 in) of JBS. Next, the average number of articles published per issue is about the same as other journals (Malhotra, 1996; Hyman & Steiner, 1997). In fact, JBS has attributes similar to other journals, such as number of issues per year and total number of pages per issue.
Authorship
Many studies use authorship with respect to institutional affiliation or the affiliation tally to gauge the diversity of authors and/or institutions that have published in a particular journal. It is an appropriate measure because institutions of higher education provide various resources and incentives to encourage greater productivity among faculty. Because authorship with respect to institutional affiliation can enhance image and reputation of an institution, many serial retrospectives list the most common institutional affiliations of authors (Hyman & Steiner, 1997; Carnaghan, Flower-Gyepsi & Gibbins, 1994; Clark, Hancock & Kaminski, 1987; Clark & Hanna, 1986; Fields & Swayne, 1988; Geistfeld & Key, 1986; Gentry, Allen & Vellenga, 1995; Goldsmith, 1983; Hoverstad, Shipp & Higgins, 1995; Reinsch & Lewis, 1993; Swan, Powers & Sobczak, 1991; Wheatley & Wilson, 1987).
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