Mapping the Operations and Supply Chain Management field: a journal governance perspective

Structured Abstract Purpose: The paper addresses the research questions: how do the interlocking editorial advisory boards (EABs) of operations and supply chain (OSCM) journals map out the field’s diverse academic communities and how demographically diverse is the field and its communities? Design/methodology/approach: The study applies Social Network Analysis to web-based editorial advisory board data for 38 journals listed under Operations Management in the 2010 ABS academic journal quality guide Findings: Members of editorial advisory boards of the 38 journals are divided in to seven distinct communities which are mapped to the field’s knowledge structures and further aggregated in to a core and periphery of the network. A burgeoning community of supply chain management (SCM) academics forms the core along with those with more traditional interests. Male academics affiliated to USA institutions and to business schools predominate in the sample. Research limitations/implications: A new strand of research is opened up connecting journal governance networks to knowledge structures in the OSCM field. OM is studied separately from its reference and associated disciplines. The use of the ABS list might attract comments that the study has an implicit European perspective – however we do not believe this to be the case. Practical implications: The study addresses the implications of the lack of diversity for the practice of OM as an academic discipline. Social implications: The confirmation of the dominance of particular characteristics such as male and US-based academics has implications for social diversity of the field. Originality/value: As the first study of its kind, i.e. SNA of editorial advisory board members of OSCM journals, this study marks out a new perspective and acts as a benchmark for the future.