The changing landscape of JIBS authorship

Abstract

In this study, we examine the landscape of JIBS authorship over time to assess: (1) the accessibility of JIBS to new contributors, and (2) the diversity of authors contributing to JIBS. Our analysis of author data from 1972 to 2014 shows that JIBS is becoming more accessible, as indicated by the high and sustained proportion of first-time contributors to the journal. This is also evident from the recent decline in the share of authors with multiple past JIBS publications. With regard to diversity, our findings show that JIBS has a much wider geographic scope of authors on its landscape in comparison to previous decades. This may be attributed partly to increasing travel and communication in scholarly communities, and partly to the increased migration of scholars in the recent decades. Our analysis of migration patterns of JIBS authors suggests that about 51 % of prominent international business scholars are employed outside their country of birth. Of the 49 % employed in their country of birth, 12 % are return migrants. In our sample, China, South Korea and Canada have the highest number of returnees. The USA, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and China have the highest number of natives, whose country of birth, country of PhD-granting institution and country of university affiliation are identical.