Citation
Ellinger, A.E. and Jr, R.G.R. (2013), "Elevating the quality of IJPDLM without compromising quantity", International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 43 No. 9. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPDLM-07-2013-0187
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Elevating the quality of IJPDLM without compromising quantity
Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Volume 43, Issue 9
Recently, the 2012 Journal Citation Impact Factors were announced. IJPDLM returned a very positive impact factor of 1.826 for 2012 comparing favorably with the current impact factor scores for associated SCML journals shown in Table I. In fact, each of these five leading SCML journals are ranked 70th or higher out of 172 journals in the Journal Citation Reports Management category with IJPDLM ranking 50th. IJPDLMs 2012 impact factor is calculated by comparing the number of cites in 2012 to articles published in 2011 (68) and 2010 (89) to the number of articles published in 2011 (46) and 2010 (40): 68+89/46+40=1.826. This years score is equal to the simple average of the past two years (2.617 for 2010 and 1.038 for 2011) suggesting that the volatility of IJPDLMs impact factor may be stabilizing. As we move towards the journals first five-year impact factor in 2014, the short-term goal of achieving a consistent impact factor of 2.00 or above seems very reasonable.
Table I Selected SCML journal statistics
We are pleased that the most recent impact factor for IJPDLM is strong and improving since we recognize that this particular metric continues to be used by many academic institutions to compare and evaluate journal quality. We therefore anticipate that this result will further encourage leading global scholars to send their best SCML research to IJPDLM. However, as co-editors of your journal, we also agree with recently published research studies (Chapman and Ellinger, 2009; McKinnon, 2013) that highlight the danger of basing judgments about the quality of journals on the impact metric. As outlined in our previous editorial (Ellinger et al., 2012), we will therefore continue to maintain the integrity of IJPDLM content by taking a strong stance against coercive citation practices and other games that may be played to grow journal impact factors.
With the objective of continuing to grow the quality of IJPDLM content – without sacrificing quantity – we next highlight an issue that we believe continues to set IJPDLM apart from all but one of its peer journals (e.g. SCM:IJ) – Publishing Opportunity. As shown in the Table I, over the last two years IJPDLM has published a total of 87 manuscripts (46 in 2011 and 41 in 2012) while maintaining a 12 percent acceptance rate. In fact, IJPDLM has maintained a consistent minimum of 80 peer-reviewed manuscript spots in every two year time period for the last decade and a half (since 1997) and will continue to do so to ensure “author inclusion. We strongly believe that author inclusion is a critical part of our editorial mission. Authors and prospective authors should therefore be comforted to know that should the journal impact factor continue to rise and the acceptance rate continue to decline, we and our publishers will examine opportunities to further expand the number of annually published articles in the journal (rather than exclude manuscripts that are worthy of publication). Additionally, based on the marked increase in quality of SCML research recently reported by Keller and colleagues (2013), we encourage the SCML editorial cohort to continue to grow the numbers of papers published each year where the quality and quantity of submissions merit such increases. More high quality SCML papers in print provide more opportunity for our discipline to impact society. We therefore suggest that maximizing the publication of quality peer-reviewed research represents a more meaningful objective for academic journals than focusing on the average impact of published articles as rated by the journal impact factor. Our next editorial will expand upon our ideas for growing the quality of IJPDLM content without compromising the quantity of manuscripts published.
Current issue
The four manuscripts in the current issue look strongly at counter positions in process related SCML. The first manuscript examines a reality that we often overlook in our publishing, the negative side of human interactions in SCML. We all know that cargo theft takes place, but we seldom include such a discussion in our research. Understanding this, Ekwall and Lantz present the research “Seasonality of cargo theft at transport chain locations describing patterns of cargo theft across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Seasonal variations are discovered at different transport chain locations given differences in specific months, days of the week, and location. The research assists managers in understanding when to be on alert and where to go to get more specific data relative to their industry.
The second manuscript, “Lateral transshipments: an institutional theory perspective, by Stanger, Wilding, Hartmann, Yates and Cotton provides a strong contribution to the SCML field in an important health related area. Like many theoretical works in a new area – this manuscript endured four rounds of review. Cheers to the authors for working through a rather difficult process to publish this excellent work. Of vital importance – the authors ask, “Are lateral transshipments an effective instrument to ensure the safe and efficient supply of blood? In a non-medical field we might attempt to minimize transshipments to reduce cost at the expanse of some inventory effectiveness. Using institutional theory the authors examine both process and implementation concluding with a quality discussion for management shedding new light on transshipments in healthcare and industry in general.
The third research publications in this issue brings the fields attention back to the important and understudied reverse logistics process in “Reverse logistics goals, metrics, and challenges: perspectives from industry by Hall, Huscroft, Hazen and Hanna. This Auburn University group – who have been highly supportive of IJPDLM with several recent strong publications – drives a call towards additional research in this area that we extend as well. Here, the authors search for new reverse logistics process metrics not common in SCML. Usual challenges for reverse logistics professionals are identified and discussed. For researchers this multiple perspective investigation provides a rationale for deeper examinations of the inbound and outbound reverse logistics processes.
The final manuscript, “Exploring the impact of supply chain counterproductive work behaviors on supply chain relationships by Thornton, Esper and Morris is a very solid addition to our enduring call for new research on human resources in SCML. Returning to the dark side of employee conduct, the authors identify negative work behaviors including avoidance, withholding, emoting, confounding, and shifting dimensions that are largely responsible for undermining trust within supply chain relationships. The results remind the research community of real world dynamics, while providing suggestions to management for identifying areas where employees “breach business strategy.
Finally, we want to thank all of the journals authors, researchers and reviewers who are so obviously contributing towards the quality of research published in IJPDLM. We have and are continuing to develop a truly wonderful global community of scholars at IJPDLM. We could not have won the Emerald Leading Editors Award for 2012 without the help of each and every one of you. Cheers to you all!!! The following extract from a letter written earlier this year by Professor Alan McKinnon in support of an application to the Australian Research Council to raise the status of IJPDLM underlines the long way that our journal has come since its inception:
Clearly not all logistics journals merit elevation to the upper echelons of the rankings, but some do and, in my opinion, IJPDLM is at the front of the queue. It is the long-established logistics journal, now in its 43rd year. Over the years IJPDLM has published many of the seminal papers that have shaped the development of the discipline, many of them written by the top specialists in the field. The journal is rigorously refereed, has a relatively high rejection rate and, above all, is highly regarded by the logistics researchers around the world. Like other logistics journals it suffered from having to wait many years to get a Thomson Reuters ISI score (28 years in the case of IJPDLM). Now that IJPDLM has an official impact factor its status in the main journal rankings is likely to improve. As I point out in my paper, however, a “good paper is a good paper regardless of the journal in which it is published. The only way to get a true sense of the quality of a journal is to read many of the papers that it has published. Being a regular reader of IJPDLM I can confirm that the papers it publishes are generally of a very high standard and as good as many of the papers that I read in journals with A and A+ratings. I strongly believe therefore that the ABDC should raise its grading of IJPDLM in recognition both of its inherent quality and the key contribution that it makes to the development of logistics research.
Respectfully yours,
Alexander E. Ellinger, R. Glenn Richey Jr
Proud Co-Editors, IJPDLM
References
Chapman, K. and Ellinger, A.E. (2009), “Constructing impact factors to measure the influence of supply chain management and logistics journals, Journal of Business Logistics, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 197–212
Ellinger, A.E.R., Richey, G. Jr, Kovács, G., Spens, K., Autry, C. and Banomyong, R. (2012), “Editorial: taking a stand to eliminate coercive citation practices in supply chain management and business logistics research, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 42 No. 5
Keller, S.B., Hochard, K., Rudolph, T. and Boden, M. (2013), “A compendium of multi-item scales utilized in logistics research (2001-2010): progress achieved since publication of the 1973-2000 compendium, Journal of Business Logistics, Vol. 34 No. 2, pp. 85–93
McKinnon, A.C. (2013), “Starry-eyed: journal rankings and the future of logistics research, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 43 No. 1, pp. 6–17