Announcement: Enterprise and Society to Launch New Fifth Issue

The International Journal of Business History and Cambridge University Press are pleased to announce an exciting new initiative designed to extend the reach and impact of business history by promoting interdisciplinary dialogue and tackling the most pressing questions within and beyond the field.

Business history takes as its topic the dominant institution of our day. Globally, we are at a moment when almost every critical issue and public discussion evokes deep historical resonances. Business history has much to say on a wide range of vital topics and we believe our voices should be heard louder and further afield.

The new fifth issue, which will be published online, will be a special issue unlike most others. Rather, than seeking original research articles the aim is to generate bold, ambitious, synthetic articles that will spark debate, inspire future lines of work, and broaden audiences. Each issue will focus either on the potential intersections of business history and another field, both within and beyond history, or on problems of the greatest magnitude. Potential examples of the former include: business history and legal history or business history and economic sociology. Potential examples of the latter include: business and inequality; business, democracy, and authoritarianism; or business and capitalism.

The new fifth issue will also differ from most Special Issues in other ways. We will not seek theme proposals. Rather, the editorial team at Enterprise and Society will decide themes. Teams of potential guest editors will then be invited to bid to take each theme forward to publication. Space and support will be given for guest editors to organize a supporting workshop at the Annual Meeting of the Business History Conference, on whose behalf Enterprise and Society is published.

Adopting an online only format for the new fifth issue allows us to introduce this new publication without any increase in member fees. We welcome the support of Cambridge University Press in making this possible. It is vital to stress that the online only format does not signal any difference in quality or status. All articles published in the new fifth issue will be subject to exactly the same processes of double-blind peer review as those published in the four standard issues. They will be subject to identical editorial processes and standards. Production standards, processes and formatting at Cambridge University Press will be identical. Articles published in the new fifth issue will be Enterprise and Society articles in every sense.

The first Call for Editors will be released very soon. That will introduce not only the first theme but also give further detail on processes, logistics, and timelines.

We are very excited to be able to make this new forum for debate and exchange available to business historians and the wider scholarly community. We believe it has great potential and hope others will be just as excited about participating and contributing.