Special Issues, peer review practices and ethics: some are more ‘special’ than others

Event Date: 12 May 2025

Speaker: Professor Dermot Breslin, Rennes School of Business

Venue: Stenhouse Wing, SW204, Strathclyde Business School

Time: 1.45pm-2.45pm (arrival at 1.30pm)

Registration (required) by email to: sy-institute@strath.ac.uk

The Stephen Young Institute for International Business welcomes you to a talk by Professor Dermot Breslin from Rennes School of Business. Professor Breslin will present findings from his recent working paper on special issue publications in business and management over the past 15 years.

Special issues play a key role in promoting emerging and non-mainstream research, and have been linked to higher citation rates and increased journal impact. However, their increasing use has sparked debate about their integrity and value, with concerns raised around editorial practices, peer review, and fairness. Professor Breslin’s talk will explore three critical areas:

• Authorship of special issue papers by members of the guest editorial team
• Authorship of special issue papers by prior co-authors of the guest editors
• Citation performance of these papers compared to regular journal issues

The findings are further broken down by disciplinary area and journal ranking, offering important insights into the evolving landscape of academic publishing.

Published: 29 April 2025