Editorial: Future directions of research in ethics and systems

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOES-05-2023-243
• Published date: 18 April 2023
• Date: 18 April 2023
• Pages: 181-182
• Subject Matter: Economics,Social economics
• Author: Jacob Dahl Rendtorff

Editorial: Future directions of

research in ethics and systems

As the new Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Ethics and Systems (IJOES), I would like

to say a few words about the future of the journal. The journal has become a very influential

journal between economics, finance, ethics and philosophy since it was founded as Humanomics

in 1989 and later in 2015 received the name of Ethics and Systems (IJOES). The original aim of the

journal was to publish research on philosophy, ethics and economics in developing economies

with focus on ethical and moral aspects of economic, social and political systems. The core idea

was to humanize the economy and the corresponding political and social systems. In particular,

the aim was to look at ethics and justice to overcome poverty and misery in the world. The

journal was to provide innovative and reflective thinking in philosophy and economicsto reform

and evaluate current economic, political and social systems. But the idea was also to provide new

thinking about ethics and systems to create humanity-based alternatives to destructive economic

and social systems. This vision of the journal has proved to be very strong, and the journal

receives increased submissions focusing on ethics in private business and publicadministration

as alternative to mainstream economic thinking.

During the years, the journal has featured many articles on topics of ethics and

economics cultural and social contexts, for example, in relation to Islam, including Islamic

law and finance, Islamic banking in the Malaysian Islamic financial system, Islamic

economics and finance in Indonesia, and development of economic systems in Nigeria,

Ghana or India. In such articles, focus has been on ethics and systems in specific countries

and cultures. The aim of these articles is to provide analysis of ethics and systems with

focus on human development and humanisticaspects of ethics in economic systems. These

kinds of articles are very important to understand the differences in conceptions of ethics

and systems in differentcultures in different parts of the world.

In the intersection between ethics, economics and cultural and religious traditions, there

is also a focus on spirituality and religion in economicand administrative systems. Articles

on these topics try to build the bridge between philosophyand theology and understanding

of systems.

The journal has a strong focus on articles about ethical theory and philosophy of

economics, including articles on philosophers and the history of economic thought, for

example, on the Indian philosopher Kautilya and his thoughts on economics as a separate

science or Western economic theorists and philosophers like Adam Smith and Karl Marx

and their theories of ethics and systems. Here, the journal represents an important meeting

point between different approaches to ethics and systems in different traditions of thought

in the East and West, and North and South.

Following up on analysis of different traditions of thought, the journal contains

important theoretical articles on the philosophical foundations of economic systems,

including articles on utilitarianism, virtue ethics, deontology, care ethics and other ethical

theories. A further aim is to study the relation between ethics and systems in theory and

practice of economics, finance and business. Here, contributions include studies of

institutional theory in economics and finance, principal–agent problems, interest-free

Islamic economics, heterodox economics, innovation and microfinance. But there has also

been a broader interest in further studies of organizations, including employee motivation

and human resource management.

Editorial

181

InternationalJournal of Ethics and

Systems

Vol.39 No. 2, 2023

pp. 181-182

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2514-9369

DOI 10.1108/IJOES-05-2023-243