Building the IJEBR Brand

Building the IJEBR brand

This article represents my first chance to write an editorial piece for IJEBR this year. It is an opportunity to reflect on the year to date and future opportunities. First, my thanks to the Editorial team that have worked so hard this year, namely, the Co-editors Professor Martina Battisti, Dr Elisabeth Berger, Dr Mohamed Yacine Haddoud, Professor Lois Shelton and Dr Richard Tunstall. The co-editor team continues to grow in line with the development of the journal so welcome Elisabeth and Yacine. Rebecca Fisher has also joined the journal as an Editorial Assistant to help support the progression of manuscripts through the system. My thanks also to Patti Davis, the Emerald Publisher and Aisha Mayet, the Content Editor for their support and hard work.

Overall, 2018 will be recognised as a significant year of achievement for the journal. In 2017, we were invited to join the Clarivate Analytics Journal Citation index. In July, 2018, we received our first full impact factor of 1.86. This is a very positive outcome and reflects well against our peer journal group and we will seek to grow the impact factor in coming years. Furthermore, our submission levels continue to grow. To date in 2018, we have received over 560 submissions this year and are well on track to beat our record. Similarly, article downloads and citations continues to increase as does our overall manuscript rejection rate These are all important metrics in the measurement of growth of IJEBR as an international journal within the entrepreneurship discipline. In 2018, we have published 52 manuscripts, which have included 26 from special issues/sections. Special issues are an opportunity to explore some of the emerging themes within the discipline. This year has seen us publish important and timely special issues exploring environmental sustainability, social enterprises and entrepreneurial cognition. My thanks to all the guest editors, authors and reviewers involved. I see special issues as a key element of future IJEBRs contribution to enhancing the debate and thinking in the discipline. Please contact me if you wish to take a special issue proposal forward.

In 2019, we are increasing our number of issues to eight with a publication target of 64 manuscripts. It is of course essential that we maintain the quality of articles that we publish. Our increased submission and rejection levels due to achieving a full impact factor will allow us to maintain and increase our quality threshold. The journal continues its long UK association with the Institute of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE). I would urge ISBE members to embrace the journal and consider it as an avenue for their future research. In addition, please join the IJEBR network by offering to become a reviewer. This can be achieved by creating a user account on the IJEBR website and registering your research interests. Authors should check out the journal website for current calls for papers related to special issues. Member of the ISBE community has provided many excellent special issues in recent years including those currently under development on migrant entrepreneurship, intersectionality and entrepreneurship education. We have also a developing relationship with the Global Innovation and Knowledge Academy (GIKA) as a European platform to promote the journal. This issue closes with a special section from GIKA featuring four papers. The guest editors provide an overview of the issue and the enclosed manuscripts.

As always, my thanks to everyone who has contributed to the IJEBR community including authors, guest editors, reviewers and readers.