Editorial: A Fond Farewell to the Irish Journal of Management

In preparing this final issue of the Irish Journal of Management (IJM), emotions have been tinged with a mixture of pride and poignancy, reflecting on the remarkable journey of a journal that has, for more than four decades, served as a cornerstone of management scholarship in Ireland.Since its founding, IJM has played a critical role in shaping and supporting the academic landscape of management research on the island.It has stood as more than just a venue for publication -it has been a scholarly home for generations of Irish academics, particularly those at the start of their careers.For many, their first encounter with the world of academic publishing began within the pages of IJM.It offered an invaluable training ground, fostering the development of research voices that would go on to contribute significantly to the global academic community of management scholars.IJM began as a bold initiative of the Irish Academy of Management (IAM), itself established to give a voice and structure to a growing academic community within the business and management discipline in Ireland.It quickly became the primary outlet for Ireland-focused business and management research, nurturing early-career academics and showcasing the diversity of research emerging from Irish institutions.To me, IJM will always be an artefact of its time.As a master's student in the late 1990s, I vividly remember seeing physical copies of the journal in university libraries and professors' offices -its printed volumes standing alongside other academic texts, quietly testifying to the existence of Irish scholarship in the field of management.In an era when academic publishing was still bound to the physical and the local, IJM held symbolic weight.It was evidence that rigorous, homegrown research was taking place -that Irish scholars were not only contributing to knowledge but also curating it in a space of our own.For many of us, seeing Irish names in print within those pages was both validating and inspiring.Over the years, IJM has reflected the evolution of the academy.It transitioned from print to open-access digital publication, widened its thematic scope, and welcomed work from across the globe.The journal embraced change, seeking to remain accessible, relevant, and responsive to the needs of contemporary scholarship.Its pages have addressed critical issues in entrepreneurship, human resource management, public policy, corporate governance, and more.Importantly, the journal has never shied away from complexity or context -it has been a space where Irish research could engage with international standards without losing its local relevance.However, like many national journals, IJM has faced growing challenges in an increasingly globalised and metrics-driven academic environment.The imperative to publish in high-ranking international journals, driven by institutional incentives and research assessment frameworks, has inevitably affected the volume and quality of submissions to lower ranked journals, including the IJM.Despite the journal's efforts to uphold scholarly rigor and adapt to these shifts, sustaining a pipeline of high-quality articles has become progressively more difficult.