- ISSN: 1052-150X (Print), 2153-3326 (Online)
- Frequency: 4 issues per year
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This journal is managed and published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the owners, the Society for Business Ethics.
SCOPE OF THE JOURNAL
BEQ publishes original research on topics relevant to the ethics of business that fall within the journal’s ambit include (but are not limited to):
- the internal ethics of business organizations;
- ethical decision making and behavior in organizations;
- the role of business organizations in larger social, political, and cultural frameworks;
- corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship, and corporate political activity;
- the ethical quality of market-based societies and market-based relationships;
- the ethical roles of business persons, e.g., managers, entrepreneurs, and executives;
- the ethical dimensions of corporate governance;
- the legal and regulatory environment of business;
- environmental and social sustainability;
- the ethical dimensions of economic globalization;
- justice and capitalism;
- professional standards relevant to business;
- the role of non-governmental organizations in capitalism;
- marketing and consumer ethics;
- ethical issues in finance and accounting;
- public policy regarding business or markets.
You may find it helpful to review the tables of contents from recent years to get a sense of BEQ’s breadth of coverage; do not assume, however, that past practice defines the limits of the journal’s topical coverage. The journal is open to new ideas, new issues, and new approaches to questions of ethics in business. Submissions are encouraged from:
- accounting
- anthropology
- economics
- finance
- history
- law
- management
- marketing
- philosophy
- political science
- psychology
- religious studies
- sociology
- other relevant fields
TYPE OF CONTRIBUTIONS
Research Articles
BEQ publishes a variety of types of original research articles, including:
- Theoretical work including analytical, conceptual, and normative articles;
- Qualitative (e.g., interview, participant-observer, ethnographic, case-based) work that makes an original theoretical contribution;
- Quantitative (e.g., experimental, field, measure development) work that makes an original theoretical contribution; or
- Historical work that makes an original theoretical contribution.
An original theoretical contribution is present when the article offers a significant conceptual advance that moves scholarly conversations on the topic or question forward in a meaningful way. Contributions also must be original and novel in relation to the author’s prior published work.
Commentaries
These are shorter, analytic articles that directly engage, at a theoretical level, recent work published in BEQ. Commentaries are not responses or rebuttals to some narrow aspect of the original article; they are fully formed essays that engage and/or challenge the original article’s central arguments and contribution, and in doing so make a contribution of their own by moving conceptual thinking on the topic forward. Commentaries are normally limited to 6,000 words and receive expedited review. Timeliness is essential: submissions are expected within one year of the original article’s publication in a print issue.
Book Reviews
In each issue we publish three or four critical reviews of new scholarly books on the various topics within business ethics listed above. The appropriate length for book reviews is in the range of 1,500–1,800 words.
We welcome inquiries from prospective book review authors. To suggest a book for review, or to express interest in reviewing a book for BEQ, contact the book review editor Miguel Alzola at BookReviewEditor@beqjournal.org. Book reviews are not sent out for external review; decisions are usually made by the book review editor.
TYPE OF CONTRIBUTIONS
Research Articles
BEQ publishes a variety of types of original research articles, including:
- Theoretical work including analytical, conceptual, and normative articles;
- Qualitative (e.g., interview, participant-observer, ethnographic, case-based) work that makes an original theoretical contribution;
- Quantitative (e.g., experimental, field, measure development) work that makes an original theoretical contribution; or
- Historical work that makes an original theoretical contribution.
An original theoretical contribution is present when the article offers a significant conceptual advance that moves scholarly conversations on the topic or question forward in a meaningful way. Contributions also must be original and novel in relation to the author’s prior published work.
Commentaries
These are shorter, analytic articles that directly engage, at a theoretical level, recent work published in BEQ. Commentaries are not responses or rebuttals to some narrow aspect of the original article; they are fully formed essays that engage and/or challenge the original article’s central arguments and contribution, and in doing so make a contribution of their own by moving conceptual thinking on the topic forward. Commentaries are normally limited to 6,000 words and receive expedited review. Timeliness is essential: submissions are expected within one year of the original article’s publication in a print issue.
Book Reviews
In each issue we publish three or four critical reviews of new scholarly books on the various topics within business ethics listed above. The appropriate length for book reviews is in the range of 1,500–1,800 words.
We welcome inquiries from prospective book review authors. To suggest a book for review, or to express interest in reviewing a book for BEQ, contact the book review editor Miguel Alzola at BookReviewEditor@beqjournal.org. Book reviews are not sent out for external review; decisions are usually made by the book review editor.
THINGS WE DON'T PUBLISH
Here are a few examples of particular kinds or elements of submissions that are unlikely to be successful in our review process:
- Case studies that are largely descriptive.
- Pedagogically-focused research (such as articles on teaching business ethics), unless the pedagogical issue is presented as an opportunity for examining and developing business ethics theory.
- Empirical research relying exclusively on student populations without significant work experience as participants. Such a study could be part of a package of studies using different sampling strategies. Even then, submissions using samples of students or others with limited work experience or a constrained age distribution must include a clear and convincing argument that use of such a sample is appropriate to the study’s purpose. For example:
- the study is about an aspect of student behavior relevant to business ethics; or
- the study is about a basic cognitive, emotional, or behavioral process (e.g., moral imagination, moral identity, moral emotion) that is relevant to business ethics, even if not relevant exclusively to business ethics.