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International Journal of Project Management 32 (2014) 541 – 542
Editorial
With effect from the 1st of January, Prof Martina Huemann
of the WU Vienna University of Economics and Business has
joined the editorial team of the International Journal of Project
Management, as Associate Editor. Prof Huemann is the leader
of the Project Management Group of the Department of
Strategy and Innovation at WU and she is an Academic
Director of the Professional MBA Project Management at this
university. She is a member of the Academic Advisory Group
of the Project Management Institute. Until 2012 she served on
the Research Management Board of the International Project
Management Association, where she founded the IPMA
Research Awards and directed them till 2013. Prof Huemann
has been nominated to the Editorial Team by the International
Project Management Association, whom she will represent.
She will take responsibility for papers relating to people issues
and sustainability, whereas Rodney Turner will take respon-
sibility for the rest. We thought that would give Martina about
a third of the papers to manage and Rodney two thirds, but for
the first two months of the year they each have had about half
the papers.
Martina and Rodney aim to work together to improve the
standing of the journal in the world rankings of journals.
IJPM obtained its first impact factor from Thomson World of
Science in 2012, obtaining figure of 1.53. Last year the
impact factor had improved by 10% to 1.68. That made it
exactly median in Elsevier's management journals. In the
UK, the Association of Business Schools (ABS) ranks IJPM
as 2*, on a four point scale where 4* is highest. IJPM has an
impact factor higher than many of the 3* journals, but the last
time the rankings were made IJPM did not have an impact
factor. The rankings are to be reviewed this year, and our
expectation is that IJPM will be promoted to 3*. The
Australian Business Deans Council reviewed their rankings
last year in 2013, and IJPM was ranked A, on a five point
scale, A*, A, B, C, D. On their scale, 28% of journals are
ranked A or A*. Google Scholar calculates 5-year H5-factors.
In the field of Human Resources and Organizations, IJPM
ranked 9th with an H5-factor of 45. In that field, the Academy
of Management Journal is 2nd with an H5-factor of 69 and the
Academy of Management Review is 4th with a factor of 62.
Leadership Quarterly is 7th, just two place ahead of IJPM
with a factor of 46, (one better), and Organization Studies is
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2014.03.001
0263-7863/00/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. APM and IPMA. All rights reserved.
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman
11th, two places behind IJPM, with a factor of 42. It means
that IJPM is competing with the best journals in the field, and
we hope that will be recognized in the rankings of institutions
such as ABS.
Another parameter that is used to measure quality is the
reject rate. The number of submissions to IJPM is
increasing dramatically. In 2007, the first year we used
the electronic submission system, 250 papers were submit-
ted to IJPM. Last year the number of papers submitted was
about 750. The number submitted has trebled in just six
year. That of course is reflective in the growing interest in
the field of project management. But it is also reflective of
the growing quality of the journal. Some universities will
only allow the staff to submit to journals with a Thomson
World of Science impact factor, and some to journals with
an impact factor above a certain level. Some British
Universities will only allow their staff to submit to journals
ranked 3* or 4* by ABS, and so if IJPM is promoted in this
year's review, it may lead to yet more papers being
submitted. In 2013, IJPM's reject rate was 90%, which is
high, and based on that parameter again makes IJPM rank
amongst the best journals in the world.
We have also been considering the direction we plan to
take the journal. Google Scholar has categorized the journal
as Human Resources and Organizations. Our aim is to move
the journal in the direction of project organizing and away
from planning and control. The Special Interest Group at
EURAM is called Project Organizing, and our aim is to
reflect that in the focus of the journal. For some time
Rodney has been turning away papers devoted to the
mathematics of planning and control. He has said that those
papers are better suited to Operations Research. For a
couple of years Rodney has also been turning away papers
on the topic of causes of delay or overspend on construction
projects. About one paper a month comes in with a title
something like “The causes of delay or overspend on
construction projects in …some country, some field of
construction, …” We direct those papers to construction
journals. We plan to make the future focus of the journal
more in the direction of strategic leadership, organization,
and decision making, and less in the tactical issues of
planning and control, and certainly move the journal away
542 Editorial

from the operational issues of better Gantt charts, project Rodney Turner
networking and earned value management. East Horsley, United Kingdom
E-mail address: rodneyturner@europrojex.co.uk.
It is good for the field of project management that the
leading journal in the field is 9th in the list of journals in
Human Resources and Organizations. We aim to emphasize
project organization as the focus of the journal. We have
Martina Huemann
surpassed Organization Studies, and may soon surpass Vienna, Austria
Leadership Quarterly, leading journal in the field. The future E-mail address: martin.huemann@wu.ac.at.
is bright for the field of project management.