What do JOB's authors and readers really think?
基于对《组织行为学杂志》作者和读者的调查，分析了期刊的声誉、引用影响因子、服务质量以及作者选择投稿期刊的原因，显示期刊正逐步被视为顶级期刊。
Since commencing my role as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Organizational Behavior in January 2007, I have consistently sought to improve the profile of the journal. In my very first editorial statement (Ashkanasy, 2007a), I set an ambitious target, writing that “I would like to see our OB colleagues begin to consider JOB to be their journal of first choice, rather than just another good journal in the field” (p. 137). In line with this objective, Senior Editor Jacqueline Coyle-Shapiro and I, working with (then) Academy of Management OB Division Chair Carol Kulik, revamped the scope and mission of the journal to bring it into line with mainstream scholarship in organizational behavior (Ashkanasy, 2007b, 2008). I commented later (Ashkanasy, 2007c, 2009) that the journal, although highly respected, still had a long way to go if it were to fulfill this ambition, especially in terms of reputation and citations. The evidence suggests however that we have made some progress over the five years since 2007. The number of submissions to the journal has risen steadily from 280 to around 700 per year, and JOB's two- and five-year citation impact factors for 2010 were substantially improved over the past years (2.35 and 4.41, respectively). It was especially pleasing to see that JOB's five-year impact factor placed the journal in the top 10 in the field of applied psychology and top 20 in management; and the trend is continuing. According to the Social Sciences Citation Index, there were 400 citations1 in 2011 to the 105 research articles published in JOB in 2009 and 2010, suggesting that we can expect a further substantial jump in Impact Factors for 2011.2 In order to gain a better idea of where JOB is positioned, publisher Wiley-Blackwell recently (December 2011) conducted a survey of readers, authors, and editorial board members. This resulted in a total of 359 responses, including 285 (80.1 percent) who classified themselves as actively researching in the field of organizational behavior. Respondents were mostly authors (63.2 percent) or had at least submitted articles (76.0 percent), and about half (47.4 percent) were reviewers. Almost all (86.2 percent) were regular or occasional readers, and most (74.7 percent) read the journal online. Most survey respondents (75.1 percent) viewed the journal to be A* or A (although only 15.2 percent rated it as an A*); and most (92 percent) also considered the quality of JOB articles to be “excellent” or “good,” with a pleasing 33.4 percent rating them excellent. None rated articles as “poor.” In terms of the service offered by the journal, most (75.1 percent) rated it as satisfactory (11.9 percent), good (36.1 percent), or excellent (27.1 percent), with only a few (1.9 percent) rating service as poor. The top four reasons authors gave as to why they choose to publish their work in a particular journal (percentage responding “very important” or “important” in parentheses) were as follows: “Publishes research in my field” (95.8 percent); “Impact factor and ranking” (93.6 percent); “Fast review time” (86.6 percent); and “Large circulation and readership” (69.6 percent). JOB is seen by most to be doing well in all these respects. In addition to the numerical ratings, we asked several open-ended questions: “What additional subjects or topics would you like to see covered?” “What do you view as the current strengths/weaknesses of the journal?” “Name three ways to improve the journal.” “What one thing could be done now as a priority?” A wide range of answers to these questions were received and will be considered at the JOB Editorial Board meeting in August. I will report in more detail on actions arising from this feedback in my next editorial. I would like, however, to comment on one respondent's answer to the question, “What do you view as the current weaknesses of the Journal of Organizational Behavior?” This was that JOB was “trying to be something it is not (‘A+’) journal.” Ouch! Obviously, I do not agree to this and so (apparently) do a substantial minority (15.1 percent) of survey respondents. Although this is the first time JOB's authors and readers have been surveyed like this, I am sure that the percentage placing the journal in the top tier would have been close to zero five years ago. As I stated at the outset (Ashkanasy, 2007a), my hope was that JOB authors would “begin to consider JOB to be their journal of first choice” (emphasis added). Well, the evidence from the recent survey is that this objective is indeed being realized; JOB is beginning to be seen as an A* journal. Although, for most readers and authors, JOB is not yet a first-choice journal, the signs are positive that this perception is changing. Before I step down in 2014, we will conduct a follow-up survey to see if our aspiration is closer to realization. In sum, rather than a weakness, I see “trying to be something it is not” as a significant strength of the journal, and so I intend to continue to pursue an ambitious goal. Finally, and also consistent with the goal of raising the JOB's profile, I should mention that JOB will be publishing an Annual Review issue in future volumes. This will be accomplished by adding a ninth issue that will incorporate into JOB the highly successful Wiley-Blackwell annual book series International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (IRIOP). Following the recent call for submissions, I am pleased to report that some 100 proposals have been received. JOB Annual Review editors Gerard P. Hodgkinson and J. Kevin Ford are currently processing the submissions. It is anticipated that the first Annual Review issue will be published in September 2013. Given that the initial response to our call for submissions has been received so enthusiastically, the portents look good. Neal M. Ashkanasy received his PhD in Social/Organizational Psychology from the University of Queensland. He is a Fellow of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the Association for Psychological Science, the Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management, and the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia; and an Academician in the Academy of Social Sciences in the U.K. His research is in leadership, organizational culture, ethics, and emotions in organizations. He has published in the Academy of Management Journal, the Academy of Management Review, the Journal of Organizational Behavior, The Leadership Quarterly, and the Journal of Management. He is Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Organizational Behavior, Associate editor of the Academy of Management Review and Emotion Review, and Series co-editor of Research on Emotion in Organizations.