In 2012, I approached the editor of Business Horizons with the idea of guest editing a special issue on crisis management for the journal. I had recently joined the editorial board of Business Horizons, and I was thinking of ways to contribute to the journal and to the business and scholarly communities that I care about. Business Horizons publishes special issues on a wide range of topics, and I thought a special issue on crisis management, my area of expertise, would be a good fit for the journal. Despite publishing several articles about crisis management over the years, there had never been an issue devoted to the topic exclusively.
The special issue that I guest edited, Emerging Issues in Crisis Management, was published in 2015. I learned a great deal and had the opportunity to connect with scholars with interests similar to my own. Specifically, I learned how to integrate a wide range of topics into an impactful special issue with a common theme. Finding a common thread that turns individual articles into a cohesive collection can be a challenge. Through guest editing a special issue I learned how to find key connections between the articles and describe them in my guest editorial. In addition, I learned a lot from working with the editorial team at Business Horizons in publishing the special issue, which helped me gain a thorough understanding of the process. It was the first special issue that I guest edited in my career, and it helped me with guest editing other special issues. After Emerging Issues in Crisis Management was published in 2015, I was involved with three other special issues as a guest editor at different journals.
The impact of the special issue exceeded my expectations, and the articles are as relevant today (if not more relevant) as when they were first published. In addition to having the most article downloads and citations of any Business Horizons special issue published in the past 5 years, the topic continues to generate interest—especially given the crisis situation generated by COVID-19 and other recent catastrophic events. One article, “The value of communication during a crisis: Insights from strategic communication research”1 by W. Timothy Coombs, was listed in August 2020 among the most downloaded articles in the journal in the past 90 days, 5 years after the article was originally published.
What are some of the factors in the success of the special issue? Following are insights based on my experience:
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The topic is of interest to the business community. Crisis Management is a topic of great interest to the business community. High-profile crises are frequently reported in the media, and they occur in all types of organizations: For-profit, nonprofit, and the public sector. Before the special issue, Business Horizons had published articles on the topic of Crisis Management. However, there was never a special issue devoted exclusively to the topic. The benefit of a special issue is a more in-depth conversation around a topic. Crisis Management was a perfect topic for an in-depth conversation. Companies were seeking solutions on how to manage crises, and the special issue provided them with useful insights from leading scholars in the field.
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The issue has a multidisciplinary focus. As a general business journal, Business Horizons is an ideal outlet for multidisciplinary topics. A traditional journal focused on a specific discipline (e.g., marketing, management) would not have been as receptive to a multidisciplinary approach and topic. The topic of crisis management was an excellent fit for Business Horizons. For example, the field of marketing focuses on the impact of crises on consumers, the field of public relations examines the influence of corporate communications on stakeholders during a crisis, and the field of international business focuses on cultural differences that affect how companies in different countries respond during a crisis. Each of these topics is of great interest to readers of Business Horizons.
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The articles will stand the test of time. When considering articles for a special issue, it is important to assess whether the topics will also be relevant in the future. In other words, are they enduring or a passing fad? It is worth noting that topics in the special issue on crisis management are as relevant today as they were 5 years ago. For example, the topics discussed in the special issue—crisis management in China, customer revenge, corporate social responsibility and crisis management, and pricing and advertising decisions during a crisis—are still challenges companies face today.
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Leading experts contributed to the issue. Using listservs at leading academic organizations to promote calls for papers in special issues is important (AMA, AIB, AOM, etc.). However, I found that approaching leading experts directly is particularly effective. After I was appointed to serve as a guest editor on the special issue, I approached leading experts in the fields of marketing (Sankar Sen, Yany Gregoire), public relations (Tim Coombs), and management (Erika James) to submit articles. These well-known researchers had extensive experience publishing in their areas of expertise, which were related to crisis management, and they all agreed to submit papers to the special issue. I believe that without contacting them directly, the likelihood they would have submitted papers to the special issue would have been much lower.
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The special issue was promoted well on social media. Events in the news can be opportunities to promote special issues. Over the years during high-profile crises, I posted information about the special issue on social media highlighting the benefit of its articles as a useful resource for both companies in managing crises and professors in teaching crisis management in the classroom. The editorial team at Business Horizons was also very helpful in facilitating this by creating an image for the special issue that I included in my social media postings. In addition to my social media postings, Business Horizons and Elsevier also promoted the issue on social media about the special issue over the years during high profile crises.
Serving as a guest editor on a special issue can be time-consuming, however, it is also very rewarding. There is a tremendous amount of satisfaction in seeing articles in a special issue make an impact on both practitioners and academics. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with Business Horizons as a guest editor, and I encourage people with innovative ideas for special issues to contact the editor. The journal is always looking for special issues that have the potential to make an impact and serving as a guest editor is a great opportunity to contribute to your area of expertise.
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The process for proposing a special issue in Business Horizons by Editor in Chief Greg Fisher If you are interested in guest editing a special issue for Business Horizons, you should approach the Editor in Chief (via email: bushor@indiana.edu) with your idea. At the time that you approach the Editor in Chief, you should have a well-developed idea of the scope and focus of the special issue, as well as the team of people who will serve as guest editors. We only consider special issue proposals from individuals who have a connection with the journal as an author, reviewer, and/or editorial review board member. A decision to accept a proposal for a special issue is made based on the relevance of the proposed topic for the journal and the perceived general interest in that topic amongst readers of Business Horizons. The quality of the guest editor team can also influence that decision; as will the upcoming pipeline of special issues. We can only allow for a limited number of special issues per year so that we are also able to publish regular submissions to the journal. It is important to note that all the administrative logistics of receiving submissions, reviewing manuscripts, and sending out decisions for a special issue at Business Horizons are handled by the guest editors. |