Calls for Papers
The following special issues have been announced by the JIBS Editorial Team. We welcome your submissions and encourage authors interested in submitting to a special issue to discuss their submissions with the special issue editors in advance.
Submissions for all special issues will be managed through the journal’s centralized submission system – please do not email your submission to the editors.
Current Calls
Special Issue on Resilience and Sustainability
JIBS has issued a new call for papers for a special issue on “MNEs in the age of resilience and sustainability imperatives and tensions,” with a submission deadline of January 31, 2025.
Special Issue on Foreign Divestment
JIBS has issued a new call for papers for a special issue on “The outcomes of foreign divestment at the firm, individual, and societal levels” with a submission deadline of October 31, 2025.
Special Issue on Family Business Research
JIBS has issued a new call for papers for a special issue on “Family business research on international business in a changing world,” with a submission deadline of January 30, 2026.
Call for Proposals: Special Issues and Review Articles for the Journal of International Business Studies
JIBS Special Issues address under-researched or controversial topics, and new emerging themes in international business. Special Issues should encourage new streams of insightful and influential research, in line with the JIBS Statement of Editorial Policy. The JIBS Editors welcome in particular Special Issue proposals that connect mainstream research performed within the AIB community and streams of research on international business issues developed in related disciplines, and where these strands of research have so far been developed largely independently of one another. The team of Guest Editors for a Special Issue will typically include at least one JIBS Editor, but there is no requirement to include a JIBS Editor in any initial Special Issue proposal, as the editorial team will add an appropriate Supervising Editor after acceptance of the proposal. The proposal should include a maximum of four guest editors (not including the JIBS Supervising Editor). There are typically two JIBS Special Issues published each year.
JIBS also invites proposals for Review Articles. A Review Article should include a compelling summary of the state-of-the-art in a well-researched subject area within the international business field. In addition, it should explore the links, both explicit and implicit ones, between this subject area and complementary research streams in related disciplines: here, it should demonstrate the value of cross-fertilization of ideas from international business and from these complementary research streams, and it should establish an agenda for future research. The team of authors of a Review Paper should ideally include a recognized scholar from another discipline than international business. A JIBS Editor will be actively involved in providing feedback to the authors at an early stage, after proposal acceptance. First drafts of Review Articles will be subjected to a double blind review process, but the reviewers will be informed that the submitted manuscript results from a Review Article proposal that has been accepted by the Editors. The expectation is that manuscripts should go through only one round of revisions.
All proposals for Special Issues should be submitted by June 1, 2024, and all proposals for Review Articles should be submitted by July 1, 2024, to the JIBS Managing Editor, Ms. Anne Hoekman (managing-editor@jibs.net); please note that no extensions will be offered for these deadlines.
A proposal should be approximately 3 pages long, excluding cover letter, references and bios, which can be added in an appendix to the proposal; bios should be limited to 400 words per contributor. Please submit everything in one PDF file.
Please note that one criteria used in evaluating any proposal is originality and novelty of the topic, so we ask that submitters disclose any previously published or in process projects on similar themes in a cover letter; if disclosing any projects on a similar topic, please also fill out and include an originality matrix.
For more information:
Previously published Review Article topics
Past Calls
Special Issue on Rethinking Firm International Involvement
JIBS has issued a new call for papers for a special issue on “Rethinking Firm International Involvement in a Changing World of Complex Realities,” with a submission deadline of January 31, 2024.
Special Issue on Industry 4.0
JIBS has issued a new call for papers for a special issue on “Industry 4.0 technologies in a geopolitically fragmented world: Behavioral, strategic and societal considerations for multinational enterprises,” with a submission deadline of July 31, 2024.
Special Issue on Grand Challenges
JIBS has issued a new call for papers for a special issue on “Multinationals’ Solutions to Grand Challenges,” with an extended submission deadline of October 30, 2023.
Special Issue on Historical Approaches in IB
JIBS has issued a new call for papers for a special issue on “Integrating Historical Approaches in International Business: Moving Beyond ‘History Matters’,” with a submission deadline of August 1, 2023.
Special Issue on Cultural Industries and International Business
JIBS has issued a new call for papers for a special issue on “Cultural Industries and International Business: Transformations in Technologies and Societies,” with a submission deadline of January 31, 2023.
Special Issue on Global Mobility
JIBS has issued a new call for papers for a special issue on “Global mobility of people: Challenges and opportunities for international business,” with a submission deadline of January 21, 2022.
Special Issue on Business Model Innovations
JIBS has issued a new call for papers for a special issue on “Business model innovations in a disruptive global environment: An international marketing perspective,” with a submission deadline of January 15, 2022.
Special Issue on Corporate Sustainability
JIBS has issued a new call for papers for a special issue on “The global scope of corporate sustainability: Multinational firms, supply chains, and the private governance of social and environmental issues,” with a submission deadline now extended to October 1, 2021.
Special Issue on IB in a Digital World
JIBS has issued a new call for papers for a special issue on “International Business in a Digital World,” with a submission deadline of September 30, 2020.
Special Issue on Intellectual Property Rights in IB
JIBS has issued a new call for papers for a special issue on “Studying Intellectual Property Rights in International Business through Multiple Levels of Analysis,” with a submission deadline of December 23, 2019.
Special Issue on International Marketing
JIBS has issued a new call for papers for a special issue on “International Marketing,” with a submission deadline of July 31, 2019.
Special Issue on Innovation in and from Emerging Economies
JIBS has issued a new call for papers for a special issue on “Innovation in and from Emerging Economies,” with a submission deadline of November 1, 2018.
50th Anniversary Issue: Changing the World: How IB Research Makes a Difference
To commemorate its upcoming 50th anniversary, JIBS has issued a call for papers on "Changing the World: How IB Research Makes a Difference"; the submission deadline has now been extended to September 7, 2018. Full Call available here
Special Issue on Informal Institutions
JIBS has issued a new call for papers for a special issue on “Informal Institutions and International Business,” with a submission deadline of August 31, 2018.
Making Dynamic Capabilities Actionable for International Business
JIBS has issued a call for papers for a new special issue on "Making Dynamic Capabilities Actionable", with a submission deadline of December 23rd, 2017.
Full Call available here (pdf, 167.83 kB)
Applying and Advancing Internalization Theory: Explaining the Existence of the Multinational Enterprise in the 21st Century
Editors: Christian Geisler Asmussen, Tailan Chi, Sumit Kundu, Rajneesh Narula
Full Call available here (pdf, 170 kB)
Making Connections: Social Networks in International Business
Editors: Ilya Cuypers, Gokhan Ertug, Martin Kilduff, Akbar (Aks) Zaheer, John Cantwel
Full Call available here (pdf, 41.22 kB)
The Role of Financial and Legal Institutions in International Corporate Governance
Editors: Douglas Cumming, Igor Filatotchev, April Knill, Lemma Senbet, David Reeb
Full Call available here (pdf, 35 kB)
Zoom In, Zoom Out, and Beyond: Locational Boundaries in International Business
Editors: Ron Boschma, Shige Makino, Gongming Qian, Xufei Ma, Lee Li, Ram Mudambi
Full Call available here (pdf, 45 kB)
The Creation and Capture of Entrepreneurial Opportunities Across National Borders
Editors: Gary Knight, Peter Liesch, Lianxi Zhou, Rebecca Reuber
Full Call available here (pdf, 47 kB)
