IJAM Volume 9

EDITORIAL DOI: 10.5836/ijam/2020-09-1 When I fi rst took over the editorship of IJAM from Martyn Warren I had lots of ideas for the journal to build on the work already done by Martyn. It was pre-Brexit, pre-covid and really does feel like a different world. Since the launch of IJAM there has been a signi fi cant proliferation of online journals. Feedback from readers and authors suggests that there isn ’ t a journal that is in direct competition, in the sense of having the same objectives and scope as IJAM, but it does mean that authors now have a much wider range of possible outlets for their work. Signi fi cantly it also means that demands on the time of Reviewers is much greater. One con- sequence of this is that has become harder and harder to secure agreement to review papers because reviewers receive so many requests. IJAM did not set out to be the top academic journal but rather to appeal to a much wider audience, with a mix of academic and applied papers as well as other types of article. This is one of the factors that attracted me to the role of Editor but it is also a challenge. Many academics, particularly in the UK (because of the way we are assessed), will seek to publish in what are perceived to be higher quality journals. One of the other signi fi cant developments since the launch of IJAM is ‘ open access ’ . Without going into all the details, it is possible for authors to pay a fee to a journal to enable an article to be open access (ie freely available). This is not the same as paying for publication as there is still a rigorous review process in place, but it is a payment to increase the accessibility of papers that are accepted for publication. I know some authors have been put off publishing in IJAM as papers are only made freely available 12 months after publication. So, as a result of a constellation of reasons we have taken the dif fi cult decision to close the Journal. However, The Institute of Agricultural Manage- ment will look at ways to continue to publish research fi ndings and reports via the Members ’ Only section of its website. As this is the last issue of IJAM it ’ s great to see the diversity of subject matter that characterises the Journal re fl ected in this fi nal issue. I ’ d like to thank the authors who have written papers speci fi cally for the fi nal issue (you know who you are). Special thanks go to Martyn Warren for coming out of editorial retirement and choosing his ‘ top picks ’ for republishing in this issue. Every issue of IJAM is a collective effort and I am really grateful for the support of my team of Associate Editors past and present including Eric Micheels, Ajuruchukwu Obi and Emma Jane Dillon. Thanks also to colleagues at the Charlesworth Group, Ingenta, the Council and administration team of the Institute. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to all the authors and reviewers across the world who have chosen to support IJAM by publishing with us and volunteering as reviewers. I don ’ t suppose I ’ ll ever get to meet many of you personally but it has been great working with you. Matt Lobley December 2020 International Journal of Agricultural Management, Volume 9 ISSN 2047-3710 & 2020 International Farm Management Association and Institute of Agricultural Management 1