On a Monday afternoon, the IJRM captain talks about the journal, research, and life in general.
We are very happy to have you with us Martin. You are Editor-in-Chief of IJRM, Professor of Marketing at WU Vienna, and last but not least, an active researcher. That’s many hats to juggle with. Give us a sneak peek on how you fill many roles at once.
"I have to be careful using my time because there are always lots of things going on on my table. Overall, I have decided for myself to prioritize the journal. The journal comes always first. Whenever there is something to do for the journal, I totally commit myself to that. At the end of the day, I still find quality times for my projects and for sure that makes me happy."
"What I enjoy is that both positions benefit from each other. As a researcher, I benefit from being the EIC, because I am exposed to many manuscripts, research ideas, reviewer reports, and all this gives me a really nice view on what the field of marketing values in terms of research questions and methods. This exposure to different areas of marketing enriches me as a researcher. On the other hand, being an active researcher helps me a lot as an editor."
How do you lead the editorial team?
"When I am leading a team of editors, I have to keep in my mind that I am supposed to provide guidance and direction, but all in all, we really are a team, a great team. I have Renana Peres, David Schweidel, and Alina Sorescu as my co-editors. We discuss all things IJRM together and make joint decisions. As EIC, as soon as I decide what papers would go to what tracks, I divide the papers between the other three co-editors and myself. From that point on the papers stay with the assigned co-editors and they assign the papers to the Associate Editors (AEs). Further down the road, the AEs assign the papers to the reviewers. I must say that we are tremendously thankful to the AEs and the reviewers for their great service to the journal. Without their high-quality work, we could not do our job the way we do it (thanks so much for that!!)."
What are the core values of IJRM? What do you do to facilitate good research?
"To me, a journal is similar to a brand because you need to understand the past journey of the brand before you decide which direction you would like to take with it. You need to be consistent when developing it further. In that respect, I am very thankful to the prior editors of IJRM because they have been radiantly clear with the values. IJRM has always been a journal where innovation has been valued from the beginning. We work towards building on that legacy."
"If we want to associate the journal with three keywords, those would be innovation, speed, and diversity (see our editorial for details)."
"At IJRM, we love new and innovative findings that have the potential to transform the way people think. We really get excited if a paper has some disruptive elements and can change how people behave in the marketplace. When we receive a paper that is timely and potentially disruptive, we make sure to provide a fast review process (with fast not being equated with the mere turnaround time, that’s the same for all papers). We strive getting important findings out fast – even if not bullet-proof, and get the world learn about it, so that a next researcher can step on to the new topic, provide maneuvers and more understanding. In addition, we welcome a diverse set of templates of articles, as long as the authors can communicate the unique value and the contribution of the paper well. I personally believe a good researcher understands what type of paper they can offer, and as editors/reviewers we should acknowledge that a bit more."
What do you aim to take IJRM to the next level? How do you set your journal apart from the crowd?
"We offer a quick review process for research that is timely, innovative, and done with rigor, yet maybe not fitting into one of the classic paper templates prevailing at the other top journals in marketing. That’s the difference we promise to make. More broadly, we do follow a big-tent approach as we are open to all areas of marketing. The journal has also nicely evolved in terms of quality over the time. Our current impact factor is 8.05."
"A major part of our job is to work on the papers we receive but that’s not where we stop. We are also highly committed to stimulate research that is not there yet or maybe not even started. For instance, with our blockchain initiative, we aim to provide stimulation for research to be started now or done in the future (here is a link to a Special Section that we just published and another link to a call for papers, submission deadline: June 30, 2023)."
"In addition, we do not think that our job is over once a paper is accepted. That is where all our social media activities kick off. IJRM is doing an excellent job in pre-/post-print communication and publicity, thanks to our awesome social media editor, Bill Rand. We have also collaborated in a very interesting podcast series called ‘Up Next with Gabriella Mirabelli’ featuring our authors and their research. The IJRM newsletter (launched in the Fall of 2022) is another cool platform to promote our work."
"Finally, for the upcoming EMAC 2023 conference in Odense, Denmark, we are launching a Reviewer Training Workshop, together with the Journal of Marketing. We believe early career researchers and senior PhD students will appreciate it as there are hardly any hands-on trainings available on how to do a good review or become a valuable journal reviewer (here is the link to the application form)."
Going back to your time management, do you bring work home?
"I have a very mixed approach so to speak. I try to have a balanced life as good as I can. I really enjoy my time with my family but then I enjoy my work as well. I mix these two lives quite a lot. I love sports. I used to play soccer. And in the past, I also used to do a lot of snowboarding. Now I enjoy skiing with my kids in the winter and climbing some peaks in the summer. I have 4 kids who keep me fit and we love going to the mountains. In principle, I can work on Sundays, no problem, and I can go skiing or climb a mountain on Mondays, no problem either. Thanks to my profession, I can be very flexible in finding my time."
This article was written by
Farhana Tabassum
PhD Candidate in Marketing
BI Norwegian Business School
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