Core Publications in Entrepreneurship and Related Fields

/ In This Section
:: / Entrepreneurship Centers List
:: / Entrepreneurship Education Chronology
:: / Entrepreneurship Chair List
:: / List of Colleges With Majors In Entrepreneurship or Small Business
:: / Professional Organizations In Entrepreneurship
:: / Ph.D. Programs in Entrepreneurship
:: / Core Publications in Entrepreneurship and Related Fields

A Guide To Getting Published

Version 4.1.1
June 24, 2003

Jerome A. Katz, Saint Louis University

  • Introduction
  • If You're Thinking of Publishing Read This
  • Annual Research Reviews
  • Annual Proceedings
  • Refereed Scholarly Journals
  • Other Journals
  • Periodicals Aimed At Entrepreneurs

Introduction

Below is a list of English-language periodicals related to entrepreneurship (including small business, SMEs, microenterprise, new firms, family business, and related fields). The list is a combination of fact and opinion - facts regarding specific periodicals central to entrepreneurship, opinion about their target audiences. While it would be extremely useful to provide rankings of the journals, the vast majority are too new to permit meaningful ranks to be computed. Additionally, much of the growth in new journals has been outside of the USA, and cross-oceanic diffusion I believe is particularly slow.

Some facts obviate rankings. A major source of development in the field has been the increased indexing of small business and entrepreneurship periodicals by ABI/Inform. These are identified below by the label (ABI). This growth bodes well for the field as a whole, making the works of researchers and writers more readily available, especially to the academic and corporate communities.

I used to say that the next hurdle would be breaking into the Social Science Citation Index, the definitive source for legitimization of research and research (or citation) impact. Four journals now are listed there, the Journal of Small Business Management (added in 1995), Journal of Business Venturing (added in 1988), Small Business Economics (added in 1992) and Entrepreneurship and Regional Development (added in 2000). The inclusion of these four journals had a tremendous possibility for improving the recognition of entrepreneurship as a field, and its research as legitimate.

Note also that I have included journals as "core" to entrepreneurship in a few cases where they are not exclusively entrepreneurial in focus. Examples include Simulation & Gaming and the Journal of Organizational Change Management. Included are hotlinks to the home page of the journal, or to web-accessible descriptions with electronic mail links to the editors, or to web-based descriptions of the journal by its sponsoring organization or commercial publisher. The goal here is to make easier the process of finding and contacting editors.

If You're Thinking of Publishing Read This: Implications and Predictions

There are three interesting aspects to the list below:

  1. There are a lot of entrepreneurship journals. Roughly three dozen academic ones more or less totally dedicated to the field, with another half-dozen where entrepreneurship related papers or special issues regularly show-up.
  2. The number of journals published by commercial operations is growing, with at least twenty-two journals commercially produced. Family Business Review's switch from Jossey-Bass to self-publication is the only counter-trend instance. The implications for this are higher subscription costs, but (if the publishers are serious about supporting their journals) greater pushes to get journals indexed by the major services, greater advertising about entrepreneurship journals, and greater internationalization of the journals as the publishers try to promote and sell their wares worldwide.
  3. Finally, the real growth is occurring overseas, where new journals and especially commercial publisher interest in entrepreneurship journals, is growing at an unprecedented rate. The challenge for these non-USA English-language journals is to break into the American market, with the vast majority of academic entrepreneurship centers, degree programs and faculty in entrepreneurship.

For all of us, the growth of journals poses and interesting problem. At a time when library budgets for serials are strapped by the much-faster-than-inflation rise in library subscription costs, and the budgets for serials in libraries are not growing (quite the opposite at times), the growth in the number of journals poses a problem. On one hand, we probably want to have as many journals as possible, but with the remarkable number to choose from, and a fixed budget, our "dollar votes" will grace only a few winners - making losers of journals we'd like to see succeed.

Predictions? Eventually the publishers will realize that for a 5000 person market worldwide, nearly 50 journals are too many. Solutions? I suspect that more journals will link up with entrepreneurship professional associations more actively to provide subscriber bases. I also think we will see a greater differentiation among journals as they try and lock-in some segment of the entrepreneurship market. Also, some of the also-rans in the current crop will undertake an aggressive move to make themselves world-class, hoping to make the library cut (where profits are made if you don't have an organization's membership locked-in).

Where are there potential niches in the market? I used to say that one obvious missing journal would be one dedicated to entrepreneurship education. Another one would focus on entrepreneurship policy. While Small Business Forum ceased publication, a journal for "thoughtful entrepreneurs" like an entrepreneur's Harvard Business Review might still make sense. The Academy of Entrepreneurship of the Allied Academies has tried to remedy both by publishing its Journal of Entrepreneurship Education and Entrepreneurial Executive, respectively. Sacred Heart University publishes its New England Journal of Entrepreneurship with something of this audience in mind also. It also is worthwhile to look at the nonrefereed journals. Some, like Small Business Forum, Small Business Reports, and the various venture capital journals offer very attractive venues for applied papers.

The policy-oriented domain is growing. While Entrepreneurship and Regional Development is oriented toward policy papers, other journals are venturing into this domain. For example, Carfax's Enterprise and Innovation Management Studies, scheduled to begin publication in 2000, aspires to have a policy-oriented focus for its research. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Small Enterprise Development, and the Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship also are home to policy-related papers, the last two particularly related to microenterprise policy.

Another prediction is that the pressure on index services will increase as more entrepreneurship journals seek legitimization through inclusion in BPI, ABI/Inform or particularly, Social Science Citation Index. For those with some level of indexing, bet on their putting pressure on indexes at the next higher level of exclusivity to ratchet themselves up another level to continue their reputations for distinctiveness.

Last prediction: Getting published should be easier than ever. As mentioned above, there are about 5000 entrepreneurship academics in the world. Virtually all of them speak or use English, and figure about one-third of entrepreneurship academics worldwide actually do research, based on observation. With around 48 journals, there are only 35 (down from 48 in April 2000, 53 in January 1999 and 67 in November 1997) researchers per journal. That seems like a lot, but recall that most journals publish 20-40 papers a year, and a lot of researchers work in teams. Suddenly you can see why papers are in short supply, especially good ones.

With the involvement of the commercial publishers, who put pressure on editors to keep on schedule, you'd think the standards would drop - but commercial publishers always fear having a journal under their management being called low-quality, so there is a lot of pressure on editors to put in the effort to rework the marginal paper to make it acceptable. The standard for a revise and resubmit might be dropping, but the standard for published papers is not. That means a lot of editorial board members are spending a lot of time writing "developmental" reviews - reviews telling neophyte research authors how-to to the work they should have done the first time. Its tough on reviewers, but good for the field.

Annual Research Reviews

Katz, J.A. Editor. Advances in the study of entrepreneurship firm emergence and growth . Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

Liebcap, G. (Editor). Advances in the study of entrepreneurship, innovation and economic growth . Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

McGee, J. and Thomas, H. The technology, innovation, entrepreneurship and competitive strategy series. Elsevier Science.

Annual Proceedings

Babson Entrepreneurship Research Conference, Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research. Babson College: Babson Park, MA.

International Council For Small Business World Conference Proceedings and the US Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Proceedings are organized by year by the Small Business Advancement Electronic Resource.

Research at the Marketing/Entrepreneurship Interface, sponsored by the AMA-MEIG. If this link does not work, contact Gerald Hills .

Refereed Scholarly Journals - Aimed at Entrepreneurship Academicians

The Generally Recognized "Big 5" of Entrepreneurship Research

It used to be 3, but with SBE in SSCI, it had to grow

  1. Journal of Business Venturing (Publisher: Elsevier) (ABI) (SSCI)
  2. The Journal of Small Business Management (Publisher: West Virginia Univ. & ICSB) (ABI) (SSCI)
  3. Small Business Economics (ABI)(SSCI) (Publisher: Kluwer)
  4. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development (Publisher: Taylor & Francis)
  5. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice (Publisher: Baylor Univ.)(ABI)

The Other Journals

  1. Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal (available online) (Publisher: Academy of Entrepreneurship)
  2. Asian Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship (Publisher: Research Institute for Business and Entrepreneurship, Keimyung University, Korea)
  3. Creativity and Innovation Management (Publisher: Blackwell) (Anbar)
  4. Business Journal for Entrepreneurs Quarterly
  5. Economic Analysis:A Journal of Enterprise and Participation (Publisher: Carfax UK)
  6. Economics of Innovation and New Technology (Publisher: Harwood/T&F)
  7. Enterprise and Innovation Management Studies (Publisher: Routledge)
  8. Entrepreneurial Executive (Publisher: Academy of Entrepreneurship)
  9. Entrepreneurship Development Review (Canada)
  10. Family Business Review (Publisher: Family Firm Institute)
  11. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research (Publisher: MCB)
  12. International Journal of Entrepreneurship
  13. International Journal of Entrepreneurship Education (Publisher: Senate Hall)
  14. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Publisher: IP Publishing)
  15. International Journal of Technological Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Publisher: Woodham Walter)
  16. International Small Business Journal (ABI)
  17. Journal of Applied African Business & Entrepreneurship
  18. Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship
  19. Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship (Publisher: Association for
    Small Business and Entrepreneurship)
  20. Journal of Business Strategies (Publisher: Sam Houston State Univ.)
  21. Journal of Creative Behavior (Publisher: Creative Education Foundation)
  22. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (Publisher: Norfolk State Univ.)
  23. Journal of Enterprising Culture (Publisher: World Scientific)
  24. Journal of Entrepreneurship (Publisher: Sage Publications, India)
  25. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education (available online) (Publisher: Academy of Entrepreneurship)
  26. Journal of Evolutionary Economics (Publisher: Springer)
  27. Journal of Extension (Publisher: Extension Journal)
  28. Journal of International Business and Entrepreneurship (Publisher: MARA Institute of Technology - Malaysia)
  29. Journal of International Entrepreneurship (Publisher: Kluwer)
  30. Journal of Microfinance (Publisher: Brigham Young University)
  31. Journal of Private Enterprise (Publisher: Association of Private Enterprise Education)
  32. Journal of Private Equity (Publisher: Institutional Investor, Inc.)
  33. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development (Publisher: Henry Stewart Publications/Emerald)
  34. Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship (formerly Journal of Small Business - Canada. No webpage yet - the link sends email to the editor.)
  35. Journal of Small Business Strategies (Publisher: Small Business Institute Directors Association)
  36. Journal of Small Business Finance (Publisher: JAI)
  37. Journal of Technology Transfer (Publisher: Kluwer)
  38. New England Journal of Entrepreneurship (Publisher: Sacred Heart University, CT)
  39. Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics (Publisher: Transaction Publishers)
  40. Review of Austrian Economics (Publisher: Kluwer)
  41. Small Business and Enterprise Development (Publisher: Wiley - Became Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development in 1998.)
  42. Small Enterprise Development: An International Journal (Publisher: Intermediate Technology Publications, UK)
  43. Small Enterprise Research: The Journal of SEAANZ (Publisher: SEAANZ)
  44. Venture Capital: An International Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance (Publisher: Taylor & Francis/Routledge)

Other Journals Which Have Given Prominence To Entrepreneurship Papers

  1. Academy of Management Journal (SSCI) (ABI) (Publisher: Academy of Management) has sponsored special issues on New and Evolving Organizational Forms and International Entrepreneurship.
  2. Academy of Management Review (SSCI) (ABI) (Publisher: Academy of Management) has sponsored a special issue on Privatization and Entrepreneurial Transformation.
  3. Simulation and Gaming (SSCI) (ABI) (Publisher: Sage): The September 1994, 1995 and 1996 issues were on the topic of "Simulation and Experiential Learning in Entrepreneurship Education.
  4. Journal of Organizational Change Management (ABI) (Publisher: MCB)
  5. Journal of Management Education (SSCI) (ABI)(Publisher: Sage)
  6. Strategic Management Journal (SSCI, ABI) Volume 22, Issue 6-7, 2001. Strategic Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurial Strategies for Wealth Creation. (Publisher: Wiley)

Popular Periodicals Aimed At Entrepreneurs

  1. American Inventor
  2. Asian Venture Capital Journal
  3. Australian Venture Capital Journal
  4. Black Enterprise (ABI)
  5. Entrepreneur Magazine
  6. European Venture Capital Journal
  7. Inc. Magazine (ABI)
  8. National Small Business Journal
  9. The Network Journal's Website: A Magazine for Black Professionals and Entrepreneurs
  10. Savvy Magazine
  11. Minority Business Entrepreneur (MBE) Magazine
  12. Minority Business Today
  13. Small Business Economic Trends (ABI)
  14. The Small Business Journal
  15. Small Business Reports (ABI)
  16. Small Business Forum (ABI)
  17. UK Venture Capital Journal
  18. Venture Capital Journal

Original Source: KATZ, J.A. (1991). The institution and infrastructure of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, Spring, 15(3), 85-102.

Another outstanding resource is the journal listing at the Information Centre for Entrepreneurship of the Jönköping International Business School University Library.

For assistance, suggestions, or questions, please contact the EWEBmaster, Prof. Jerome Katz at 314-977-3864, or you can email him by clicking here.