Introduction
It is with great pride that I welcome you to the 2025 volume of the South African Journal of Business Management (SAJBM), our 56th volume. It is with mixed feelings of sadness and excitement that I am writing this editorial, as I will be retiring from the Stellenbosch Business School at the end of 2025, and thus also from the role of Editor-in-Chief of the SAJBM. It was a great privilege for me to hold the position for the past 8 years, but the time has come to hand over the baton and to enjoy a new chapter of my life.
It is my privilege to introduce my colleague from the Stellenbosch Business School, Professor Lee-Ann Steenkamp, as the incoming Editor-in-Chief. I have complete faith in Lee-Ann to take the SAJBM to even higher places with the contributions and support of our loyal collaborators, namely authors, reviewers and the Editorial Advisory Board. Lee-Ann was hand-picked for this role and has all the qualities required to continue the success of the SAJBM as Editor-in-Chief. She is an excellent scholar and researcher with an impressive publication portfolio in local and international journals. She is thus ideally suited to take over this role and to take the SAJBM to new heights in the rapidly changing publication environment. Welcome on board, Lee-Ann. I know that you will do a sterling job in this role and that you have all the support available that you might need.
We are making progress with our journal’s quality and ranking
Since the SAJBM’s inception 56 years ago, the journal continues to be recognised internationally as a leading-edge, accredited journal for publishing quality research in the field of business science. The SAJBM provides cutting-edge, peer-reviewed research in all fields related to the vast complement of business science. The metrics and accreditation listings of the SAJBM, including ISI/Web of Science, Chartered Association of Business Schools, Scopus, Australian Business Deans Council, EBSCOhost, Directory of Open Access Journals, Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals and Scimago, confirm the international recognition of the journal. It also confirms the rigour of our double-masked peer-review processes in ensuring the publication of high-quality scientific material with impact and practical application. Indeed, since 2018, the scholarly profile and impact of the SAJBM have continued to increase, as evidenced by the improvement in the critical bibliometric information used by the journal indexing agencies:
- The SAJBM CiteScore (the average number of citations to documents published in a journal over 4 years) improved from 0.7 to 2.0, a 286% improvement.
- The Web of Science Journal impact factor (JIF) improved from 0.28 to 1.2, a 330% improvement. Journal Impact Factor is about the average number of times articles published in a journal over a recent 2-year period have been cited in other publications within a given year.
- The percentage of articles in the SAJBM cited in other journals improved from 32% to 61%, representing an improvement of 91%.
- The SNIP score (the contextual citation impact of a journal’s articles) improved from 0.308 to 0.372, a 21% improvement.
- The SCIMago Journal Rank score (a metric that measures the prestige and influence of academic journals) improved by 83%.
- Our Google h5 Index (a metric that indicates a journal’s impact) improved from 13 to 20, a 54% improvement.
- Over the past 8 years, the SAJBM has developed into a truly international journal with a global footprint. On average over the past 4 years, manuscript submissions coming from outside South Africa amounted to 77% of all submissions.
These achievements do not come easy and will not be possible without the contributions of dedicated authors and reviewers. I want to express my gratitude to all researchers worldwide who have chosen the SAJBM as their journal of publication. We appreciate the confidence that you put in the SAJBM and will endeavour to remain worthy of your support.
In conclusion
The successful publication of the SAJBM and the progress it has made are not because of the Editor-in-Chief, but are a collaborative team effort. I would like to express my gratitude to the scholarly and scientist-practitioner community who utilise our articles, either in practice or by incorporating them into their scholarly endeavours. I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to all authors for their contributions, which have ensured that the SAJBM remains representative of the latest developments in business and management science. But the biggest ‘thank you’ must go to the reputable and committed team of scholarly peer reviewers. Our reviewers selflessly give their time and energy to review the submissions and to ensure the publication of high-quality articles. They do these reviews without reward and often after hours. Thank you so much, you are stars and the cornerstone of the success of the SAJBM.
I want to thank the Editorial Advisory Board for their contribution to the success of the SAJBM over the past 8 years. During my time as Editor-in-Chief, the Editorial Advisory Board members were always available for advice and support. A huge thank you must go to the excellent staff at AOSIS, our publisher, for their unwavering commitment to professionalism, the efficient manner in which they handle all the administration and publication processes, and for the expert advice that they provided.
Last, but not least, I would like to thank Dr Lara Skelly, our Managing Editor. I would not have been able to fulfil this role without Lara by my side. I am very pleased that Dr Lara will continue in her role as Managing Editor and will provide Lee-Ann with all the support and wisdom she has provided me.
I am excited about the future of SAJBM and believe that the significant collaboration efforts we annually experience with our community of scientists, practitioners, and supporting staff will help to further advance the field of business and management science to the benefit of individuals, organisations and society as a whole.
Prof Mias De Klerk
Editor-in-Chief
South African Journal of Business Management
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