Editorial

Citation

Posthuma, R.A. (2009), "Editorial", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 20 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijcma.2009.34420daa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Conflict Management, Volume 20, Issue 4

Reflections on 20 years: what has the International Journal of Conflict Management become?

The publication of this issue marks a very special occasion. It is the twentieth anniversary of the International Journal of Conflict Management (IJCMA). On this special occasion, it is appropriate to think about what IJCMA has become. One of the best ways to find out what IJCMA has become is to find out what we are best known for and why. To answer these questions, I undertook an examination of the factors that lead to IJCMA being cited by other authors in their scholarly works. I set out to answer the who, what, when, and where questions about citations to IJCMA articles. I used the Web of Science database to analyze all of the citations to articles that have been published in IJCMA over the past 20 years. I summarized the top ten factors that have lead to the most frequent citations. The results of this analysis are summarized in Table I.

Table I Top ten most frequent sources of citations to IJCMA

Who is being cited?

To determine who is responsible for garnering the most citations to IJCMA, the Web of Science database was consulted to list citations by name of author. The first column of Table I lists the names of authors who have received the most citations from their publications in IJCMA. Conflict management scholars will recognize these names as esteemed experts in our field. However, there were actually more than 500 different authors responsible for generating citations to IJCMA. The top two most frequently cited authors (De Dreu and Tjosvold) each had only 2 percent of the total citations to IJCMA. This shows how much IJCMA relies on a broad range of authors to make a significant impact on our field.

What is being cited?

To determine what type of content is being cited, the citations to IJCMA were sorted by subject matter areas. The second column of Table I shows the top ten most frequently cited subject matter areas for IJCMA citations. The Management subject matter area accounted for 45 percent of all citations, followed by applied psychology (21 percent) and social psychology (19 percent). These results clearly identify IJCMA as a primarily an applied journal focusing on management, psychology, and related fields.

When is IJCMA being cited?

To determine when IJCMA has been cited, the citations were sorted by year. Interestingly, most of the citations to IJCMA have come within the past five years. The last few years have accounted for most of the citations to IJCMA. The years 2006-2008 account for 36 percent of all citations. The last ten years (2000-2009) were the top 10 for citation frequency. This clearly signals a long-term increasing trend in citation frequency. The outlook for the future is bright as IJCMA is poised to make and even more important mark on the academic literature in our field. The future appears to be a consistent upward projection for citation frequency.

To some extent the citation frequency can be viewed as one indicator of the quality of journal since other scholars are citing the journal as an authoritative source of knowledge. To the extent that this may be true, the upward trend in citation over recent years suggests that IJCMA’s reputation as an authoritative source in the field of conflict management continues to improve.

Where are IJCMA citations coming from?

To determine where citations to IJCMA are coming from, the database of citations was sorted by the country of authors being cited and the university affiliations of authors being cited. The rankings of the ten most frequent countries and universities are listed in the last two columns of Table I. While the USA did account for most of the cited articles (60 percent), the other 40 percent came from outside the US. In fact, there were 50 different countries responsible for citations to IJCMA.

While the University of Amsterdam accounted for the most citations (3.4 percent) there were actually 502 different universities and institutional affiliations of authors responsible for citations to IJCMA articles. This result also underscores the broad and open nature of the journal and the wide impact it is having based upon a wide spectrum of authors.

Summary

In today’s world we are constantly bombarded with media reports about conflict and strife all around the world. IJCMA plays a significant role in addressing conflict not only in the USA but around the globe. The research published in IJCMA presents the thoughtful analysis and validated empirical results of numerous studies that show there are truly effective methods for managing conflict successfully. The findings of research published in IJCMA have permeated university classrooms and professional development seminars for two decades. The factors driving the importance of this journal include its wide-open and broad-based source of scholarship from many different sources. IJCMA is clearly on the right path, and the journal has a bright future for making an increasingly significant difference across the globe.

There are so many people to thank for making IJCMA a success. These include the many members of the editorial board and anonymous reviewers whose tireless efforts have helped to insure that IJCMA continues to publish good quality research. We should also thank the publishers and all the editors who have helped to establish this strong foundation upon which the journal will grow. But perhaps the most important people who deserve the credit for making IJCMA a success are the authors who have chosen to make this journal the outlet for their work. I’d like to thank you so much for your hard work and encourage you to continue to send your work to us in the future.

Richard A. Posthuma