Farewell editorial: Exiting editors' perspective on current and future challenges in corporate governance research

• Author: Alessandro Zattoni,Praveen Kumar
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/corg.12268
• Published date: 01 January 2019
• Date: 01 January 2019

EDITORIAL

Farewell editorial: Exiting editors' perspective on current and

future challenges in corporate governance research

1|INTRODUCTION

It has been an honor and a privilege for us to work together as editors‐

in‐chief (EIC) of Corporate Governance: An International Review (CGIR)

during the 2013–2018 period. It seems that it was only yesterday that

we took over the leadership of the journal from Bill Judge, and it is

instead time to leave it in the good hands of Konstantinos

Stathopoulos and Till Talaulicar for a bright and ever‐upwards future.

We are grateful to all scholars that contributed to CGIR's success

during our editorship period. Bill Judge, the former editor, was always

available with valuable insights on promoting the journal and making

tough decisions. His passion and commitment for CGIR has been inspi-

rational for us. Wiley managers—Hester Tilbury, Charlotte Stone, and

Brian Collins—helped us develop two ambitious 3‐year strategic plans

and provided the necessary support to put them in practice. Along

with them, we thank all Wiley staff members who played a critical role

as managing and production editors during our editorship period.

We were truly fortunate to have an outstanding team of associate

editors who led the editorial review process during the past 6 years:

Renee Adams, Ruth Aguilera, Christa Bouwman, Jill Brown, Huimin

Chung, Douglas Cumming, Joseph Fan, Igor Filatotchev, Chris

Florackis, Jens Hagerdorff, Niels Hermes, Eduardo Schiehll,

Konstantinos Stathopoulos, Till Talaulicar, and Has van Ees. These

leading scholars played the key role of gatekeepers by selecting com-

petent reviewers, nurturing the submitted manuscripts with detailed

and insightful comments, and recommending wise editorial decisions.

They are an outstanding team of reputed and committed scholars,

coming from various disciplines and countries, with a passion for and

a strong track record in corporate governance research. A large part

of the success of the journal is the result of their quality and contribu-

tions. Along with them, we also thank the several guest editors that

developed and managed successfully the special issues published in

the last 6 years.

We also acknowledge the great work by the screening editors—

Jean Chen, Aleksandra Gregoric, and Andrea Melis—who play a crucial

role in the CGIR editorial review process. Each of them screen about

200 manuscripts every year; decide if these submissions meet the

screening criteria of the journal and—in case of a rejection—give con-

structive reasons for the paper's inability to pass these criteria. Their

expeditious and objective assessment allows the journal to keep under

control the number of submissions managed by associate editors, who

can then devote greater time and attention on nurturing promising

papers.

There are several other key actors that deserve to be acknowl-

edged for their contribution to the journal. All members of the Edito-

rial Review Board, and also a number of ad hoc reviewers, provided

a key contribution through detailed comments and quick turnaround

times. Jay Lorsch played the important role of book review editor

and managed all proposals for book review. The Editorial Advisory

Board members that include all previous editors (i.e., BobTricker, Chris

Mallin, and Bill Judge) and some reputed scholars and practitioners in

the field helped and supported us every time we called on them.

Last but not the least, we thank all scholars that submitted their

original works to the journal. They are a key resource of CGIR as they

both supply articles that are eventually published—if they pass the rig-

orous editorial review process—and, at the same time, read the

journal's content and build their research on articles previously pub-

lished in it.

We will always have a sense of deep gratitude to all these people.

2|CURRENT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE RESEARCH

Even though Berle and Means published their pioneering study in

1932, corporate governance (CG) as a separate, systematic field of

study has emerged relatively recently, and CGIR has been privileged

to be closely associated with this development. Bob Tricker, who

had published a book titled Corporate Governance in 1984, founded

CGIR in 1992, the year in which the Cadbury Committee issued the

code for best practices in CG. There has been a rapid increase in

governance studies across many disciplines since then and we can

say that after few decades, the CG field is moving to a maturation

phase.

After 27 years of existence, CGIR has become the premier outlet

for academic research in corporate governance publishing papers from

many related disciplines and countries across the world. In the period

between 2013 and 2018, the editorial team of CGIR managed over

2,200 submissions and published 171 papers with an acceptance rate

of about 7%. In this farewell editorial, we want to provide our view on

both the characteristics of traditional CG research and how current

and future studies may contribute to move the field forward. This

DOI: 10.1111/corg.12268

2© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Corp Govern Int Rev. 2019;27:2–11.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/corg