50 Years of JME: Then, Now, Next

Abstract

January 1975 saw the launch of The Teaching of Organizational Behavior: A Journal of Teaching Theory and Technique. Emerging from an idea hatched by Organization Behavior teaching faculty at 14 US Business Schools, the goal of the journal was to be “as uncomplicated as possible and devote it to teaching techniques and theory rather than making it another research publication” (Bradford, 1975). The first edition contained 8 papers, all authors were from US-based institutions, and the longest paper stretched to only 5 pages and contained no references. Nearly fifty years later, the now Journal of Management Education (JME) is a bi-monthly publication, a leading voice in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), and with published contributions which extend across a global community of scholars in Management and Education. Our longevity, flexibility, responsiveness, and creativity have added to the overall depth of coverage we have given to management education, and the esteem in which JME is held in the community. The aim of this Special Issue is to celebrate fifty years of the Journal of Management Education. As one of the oldest journals in the field of Management Education, there is indeed much to look back on. In embarking on this commemoration our intention is to launch a journey of discovery through the rich annals of the journal, to seek answers to conundrums facing the field of Management Education. In other words, our call to the JME and management education communities is for work which develops insights from the archives of the journal to look forward by looking back with a critical eye. We particularly seek manuscripts which use the JME archive to explore the following issues: