Editorial

Citation

Crowther, D. (2015), "Editorial", Social Responsibility Journal, Vol. 11 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-08-2015-0113

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Social Responsibility Journal, Volume 11, Issue 4

David Crowther

Welcome to the final issue of 2015 – and you will notice that this, like Issue 3, is an extended issue containing more papers. As I wrote last time, this is a reflection of the continuing popularity of the journal and the perceived importance of the subject area. This continues to develop, as the topics considered in each issue continue to develop. Indeed, all the time a concern with all of the various aspects of social responsibility seems to have increased, along with a concern for governance at all levels. These are of course the concerns of this journal and our Network.

The journal is continuing to develop and next year will see changes which reflect this development. During this year, we increased the size of each issue to include 11 papers instead of 10 and followed this with two bumper issues. From next year, the size will be increased again to 12 papers per issue. Possibly more significantly, from authors’ perspectives, we will be responding to the growing importance of online publication and searching by publishing all accepted papers online within a short time of their acceptance. This is a reflection of demand and will help to make all accepted papers more visible immediately. I am sure you will support this progress.

Social Responsibility Journal is of course the official journal of the Social Responsibility Research Network – a network of scholars worldwide who share similar interests regarding research, scholarship and engagement. In many ways, the Network acts as a means of dissemination of information – both through its website and through its Newsletter. Currently, the membership of the Network exceeds 900, and members come from over 100 countries around the world. Many of you will know this and will already be a member. But if you are not already a member, then you are also invited to join the Network. Full details can be found at http://www.socialresponsibility.biz

Emerald also publish the Network’s book series – Developments in Corporate Governance and Responsibility and Volume 8, Sustainability after Rio, has just been published. Our plan is to publish two volumes in the series in each year and contributions are always welcome. Please contact me to discuss if you are interested.

The other main activity of the Network is to organise an annual conference and the 14th International Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility combined with the 5th Organisational Governance Conference has recently taken place in Turkey and hosted by Kirklareli University. Plans are currently in place for the 2016 conference which will take place in the USA. The rationale for the conferences has been based on the fact that over the last couple of decades, the question of the relationship between organisations and society has been subject to much debate. The conferences are designed to act as a forum for the debate and analysis of contemporary issues in this broad area. In doing so, they attract people from a wide variety of disciplines and geographic regions for an exchange of views. The broad range of topics which are of concern, both in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility and in the area of Organisational Governance, are reflected not just in the conferences which we hold but also in the contents of the journal. The worldwide interest in, and concern for, the subject matter is also reflected by the range of backgrounds from which participants at the conference hail from – not just in terms of the areas of expertise but also in terms of the geographical locations. Full details of all past and future conference can be found from the Network website. We hope to be able to welcome you at the next, or a future, conference.

The journal, just as the conference, is interdisciplinary in its focus and international in its outlook – and this is reflected in the papers of this volume. All papers have the commonality that they investigate an aspect of social responsibility – and one feature of social responsibility is that it is a very wide and very interdisciplinary field. With that, I leave you to read the papers, hoping that this will inspire you to contribute to a future edition.