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It is appropriate to celebrate the launch of an exciting new journal. The creation of a journal is somewhat akin to the miracle of birth. Both take time and nurturing, and, to quote Charlie Rich, both involve endless days and sleepless nights. If the professional rewards of the former activity do not quite match the personal rewards of the latter, they are nonetheless real. I can empathize, on both counts, with the editorial team.
But in a field (or pair of fields, really) populated with hundreds of scholarly journals, do we really need another? I think so, for I believe International Journal of Business and Economics has some very attractive and unusual features. The journal is a bit unusual in that it is truly international, rather than parochial, in scope. Six countries are represented on the Editorial Board, and the inaugural issue includes authors from seven countries. Just as an economy must be open to reap the benefits of international trade, so too a journal must be open to attract international interest. The journal is even more unusual in that it crosses boundaries, merging the largely (and regrettably) separate academic disciplines of business and economics. If the practice of business is the application of the principles of economics to the real real world, this interdisciplinary journal has the potential to become influential. The journal's Aims and Scope seeks contributions from "quantitative-oriented business," referring to finance, operations research and accounting, among other boundary-crossing fields. This is entirely appropriate, since finance has produced Nobel laureates in economics, operations research has provided useful empirical techniques for the conduct of economic analysis, and managerial accounting forms the basis of much business performance evaluation that has brought together management scientists, economists and others.  However the feature likely to be most enticing to readers and potential authors (especially the tenure-crazed junior scholars in our midst) is organizational rather than substantive. This feature is the editorial team's promise of fast decisions on submissions. In a world of nearly instantaneous electronic communication, I see no excuse for one- and two-year turnarounds. Nonetheless I continue to experience them all too frequently, both as a frustrated author and as an equally frustrated Editor of my own journal. If the editorial team can deliver on this promise, it will become the most unusual feature of all.
I congratulate the editorial team for their vision and their achievements to date, and I wish them every success as the journal develops.

C. A. Knox Lovell
University of Georgia, USA
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Productivity Analysis

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