The impact factor-in-chief: Recollections of a former European Management Journal editor (2006–2012)

Academic journals are also organizations. As such, they are subject to institutional forces and environmental changes, to which they have to respond. They also have an internal life of their own, marked by people, events, choices. As the editor-in-chief of the European Management Journal (EMJ) from 2006 to 2012, I had the opportunity to witness and face drastic changes in the scientific publishing industry (digitalization) and in the way research and researchers are evaluated (mostly through articles in peer-reviewed journals). This article narrates and analyzes how the EMJ responded to these changes. Understanding these processes can be of interest for today's EMJ readers and contributors. Beyond the EMJ case, it also sheds light on the contemporary academic world in Business and Management Studies and, by illustrating its past, invites us to reflect on its future.