Editorial – 65 and counting!

Citation

Burgess, T.F. and Heap, J. (2016), "Editorial – 65 and counting!", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 65 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-11-2015-0162

Editorial – 65 and counting!

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Volume 65, Issue 1.

This volume represents the 65th anniversary of the journal – under its current and former names. In that time, the journal has changed its name, its format, its content and its readership. It was at one time aimed squarely at practitioners; but over the last couple of decades the IJPPM has evolved in to a truly “academic” journal, though hopefully retaining its relevance to practitioners. This search for relevance is one reason that we continue to publish “reflective practice” papers where practitioners, though not exclusively practitioners, can use their experience and expertise to judge new concepts, new tools and techniques and new methodologies. Sometimes this adds an extra dimension to the research and to the debates amongst the academic community.

Clearly the context of the journal has changed over the 65 years – and its content has evolved to reflect this. The world of the early 1950s for a practitioner-focused journal produced in the UK was in some respects very different from today; but in other respects there is some degree of continuity. Austerity was of great concern after the Second World War – and is still of concern today after the economic crash of 2008. Productivity and performance improvement are still at the centre of our readers’ concerns. However, we now have a readership and an author base that are globally distributed; and both beset with a host of new challenges. Globalisation, supply chains, de-regulation, emerging economies (BRICS), total quality, lean thinking, electronic technology and the internet are just some of the issues that spring to mind.

A major change over the journal’s lifetime has been its move towards a hybrid print and electronic journal with access shifting to screen-based devices connected to the internet. Luckily for us, Emerald, the journal’s publisher, took an early and firm decision to grasp the new technologies and use them to improve the “reach” of their journals. This means that we are more likely to judge a paper in the journal by the number of downloads it results in, rather than on limited readership feedback. This user-focus on the article level also leads to questions about the importance of “volumes” and “issues” and whether such print-based concepts have relevance in an age of e-content and article databases.

As editors, we feel that the concept of an “issue” allows us to bring together related content to address a specific theme … and, of course, it allows us to base “special issues” around specific conferences and other events. By lifting our sights from the easily accessible individual article to broader themes, we might guard against the technology rendering us data rich – but information poor. In the same regard we are looking to focus our editorials more on identifying and singling out these broader themes as they emerge.

So, though willing – and even eager – to move with the times and take advantage of modern technologies … we wish to retain those elements of our past history that have served us – and, we hope, you – well. However, in the spirit of moving with the times, our review of the journal’s content has led us to make some changes. In particular we feel the web is a more suitable channel for fast-moving information such as news and events, so we have decided to drop these items from our individual issues. Rest assured that our primary aim is to make the journal the most valuable source of current information to support both research and practice in productivity and performance management.

In the UK, 65 is the traditional retirement age for (male) workers. However, having reached this ripe old age the journal is certainly not retiring. In our 65th volume we intend to continue pushing the boundaries of technology – and helping push the boundaries of knowledge – to improve the service we provide to you – our readers, our downloaders and our authors. Together we will continue to develop and grow.

Thomas F. Burgess and John Heap