With this issue I begin my term as Editor in Chief of Business Ethics Quarterly. My predecessor, Denis Arnold, deserves the field’s gratitude for leading the journal with distinction through a period of growth and change. Denis saw BEQ through a challenging operational transition to a new publisher and a new manuscript processing system, all during a time in which the volume of submissions grew considerably. Never compromising BEQ’s emphasis on theoretical and empirical rigor, he guided the journal into and through a new phase that cements its reputation as a place where the field’s best scholars can publish excellent work and make singular contributions. We all owe Denis our thanks for five years of truly meaningful accomplishment.
As I start my term I make four promises to the journal’s stakeholders. The first relates to mission: I am committed to cultivating and expanding the intellectual and methodological variety that animates BEQ’s interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary reputation. The second relates to high standards: BEQ’s prestige and impact is a product of consistent expectations on the part of my editorial predecessors that the work we publish be first-rate in both execution and contribution, and I, too, will expect no less. The third relates to service: A journal such as BEQ exists not just to gatekeep scholarship, but in doing so to serve the profession, which means operating in a way that helps our colleagues get their work out there. To that end, authors can expect processes of review that are efficient, collegial, developmental, and open to innovation. The fourth relates to integrity: any good journal – but perhaps especially an ethics journal – cannot succeed unless its authors and reviewers experience it as procedurally fair and reasonable and (to the extent possible with double-blind review) transparent. With respect to these principles I am accountable not just to the society whose board selected me, but also to the professional scholarly community we serve.
I am fortunate to assume the role with a terrific set of Associate Editors in place, as well as an impressive roster of scholars from across the field’s many intellectual corners on the journal’s Editorial Board. I am also delighted that two key players – Managing Editor Libby Scott and Book Review Editor Jeffery Smith – will continue in these roles, and that Denis Arnold has graciously agreed to stay on the team in the role of Senior Associate Editor.
In the final analysis, a reputation and a team in place can only go so far; BEQ’s future depends on the quality and impact of the work we publish going forward. That impact starts with and emerges from submissions we have the good fortune to review, so (in case you needed reminding) please send us your best work. We’ll give it a fair shake.
