Editorial: Congratulations to IJLM on its first 30 years

• Date: 11 February 2019
• Pages: 2-7
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-02-2019-348
• Published date: 11 February 2019
• Author: Britta Gammelgaard
• Subject Matter: Management science & operations,Logistics

Editorial: Congratulations to

IJLM on its first 30 years

Introduction

The International Journal of Logistics Management (IJLM) was established in 1990 by the

now legendary Professors, Doug Lambert of Ohio State University and Martin Christopher

of Cranfield University. In these professors’opinion, more in-depth research on logistics

management was needed (Liao-Troth et al., 2012) as well as a more international approach.

The claim of this editorial is that these opinionsare as timely as ever. With the emergence

of big data and disruptive technologies, the focus of research in logistics has become

quantitative; however, knowledge on the social aspects of logistics management –in-depth

knowledge –is still needed. In fact probably more now than ever, as business worlds are

transformingdue to the same technologies.In addition, knowledge ofthe international aspects

of logistics management is still in demand.Around the time of the birth of IJLM,globalization

became “the talk of the town”and has been so until recently. Logistics and supply chain

managementreally contributed to making “the worldflat”(Friedman, 2005) and it felt good to

be a part of that movement and being the “beautiful discipl ine”(Fawcett and Waller, 2013).

Now re-regionalization of supply chains seems to be happening due to geo-political changes.

It is therefore time to investigate the change of directions of former global supplychains and

the management implications they have.

There is therefore still plenty of n eed for IJLM but it is also thetime to reflect a little bit on

the history and the wayforward for the journal. The followingfirst outlines the brief history

of the management of IJLM to honour those who have worked hard to make the vision

of IJLM a reality. Next, I present my idea of the identity of the journal today with the

understanding that this idea will –and should be –challenged by the IJLM community.

However, it willalso give the same community and potential newcomers a better idea of what

IJLM stands for and islooking for. Then, you can read my take on theopportunities outlined

by Liao-Troth et al. (2012) on IJLM’s 20th anniversary. Finally, the editorial is wrapped-up.

The management of IJLM –a brief overview

As mentioned above, Lambert and Christopher established IJLM in 1990 and it is the

youngest among the trio of established logistics journals –The International Journal of

Physical Distribution was established in 1971 and the Journal of Business Logistics in 1978

(Liao-Troth et al., 2012). In 2005, Emerald Publishing took over the journal. Lambert and

Christopher continued their editorship until 2008, when Professors Matthew Waller and

Chandra Lalwani from University of Arkansas, USA and University of Hull, UK,

respectively, took over the reins. Waller handed over his co-editorship to Scott Keller of the

University of West Florida in Pensacola, in 2010. Lalwani continued his service to the

journal, between 2013 and 2015 in conjunction with Professor John Mangan of Newcastle

University, UK. Dr Benjamin Hazen, Air Force Institute of Technology, USA, who had

served with Lalwani as co-editor since 2015, took over as sole editor in 2016. Hazen

continued until the end of 2017 when he established a new journal with Emerald. I took over

from 2017 as the sole editor and the first editor from outside the Anglo-Saxon world.

However, the editorial policies are the same and the international aspects of logistics

management are still at the centre of the journal’s raison d’etre, now more than ever.

Under Emerald, IJLM became electronically available, starting in 2006. Articles were

downloaded nearly 24,200 times that year. Also in 2006 IJLM published three issues and

The International Journal of

Logistics Management

Vol. 30 No. 1, 2019

pp. 2-7

© Emerald PublishingLimited

0957-4093

DOI 10.1108/IJLM-02-2019-348

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