As the new Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Ethics and Systems (IJOES), I would like to say a few words about the future of the journal. The journal has become a very influential journal between economics, finance, ethics and philosophy since it was founded as Humanomics in 1989 and later in 2015 received the name of Ethics and Systems (IJOES). The original aim of the journal was to publish research on philosophy, ethics and economics in developing economies with focus on ethical and moral aspects of economic, social and political systems. The core idea was to humanize the economy and the corresponding political and social systems. In particular, the aim was to look at ethics and justice to overcome poverty and misery in the world. The journal was to provide innovative and reflective thinking in philosophy and economics to reform and evaluate current economic, political and social systems. But the idea was also to provide new thinking about ethics and systems to create humanity-based alternatives to destructive economic and social systems. This vision of the journal has proved to be very strong, and the journal receives increased submissions focusing on ethics in private business and public administration as alternative to mainstream economic thinking.
During the years, the journal has featured many articles on topics of ethics and economics cultural and social contexts, for example, in relation to Islam, including Islamic law and finance, Islamic banking in the Malaysian Islamic financial system, Islamic economics and finance in Indonesia, and development of economic systems in Nigeria, Ghana or India. In such articles, focus has been on ethics and systems in specific countries and cultures. The aim of these articles is to provide analysis of ethics and systems with focus on human development and humanistic aspects of ethics in economic systems. These kinds of articles are very important to understand the differences in conceptions of ethics and systems in different cultures in different parts of the world.
In the intersection between ethics, economics and cultural and religious traditions, there is also a focus on spirituality and religion in economic and administrative systems. Articles on these topics try to build the bridge between philosophy and theology and understanding of systems.
The journal has a strong focus on articles about ethical theory and philosophy of economics, including articles on philosophers and the history of economic thought, for example, on the Indian philosopher Kautilya and his thoughts on economics as a separate science or Western economic theorists and philosophers like Adam Smith and Karl Marx and their theories of ethics and systems. Here, the journal represents an important meeting point between different approaches to ethics and systems in different traditions of thought in the East and West, and North and South.
Following up on analysis of different traditions of thought, the journal contains important theoretical articles on the philosophical foundations of economic systems, including articles on utilitarianism, virtue ethics, deontology, care ethics and other ethical theories. A further aim is to study the relation between ethics and systems in theory and practice of economics, finance and business. Here, contributions include studies of institutional theory in economics and finance, principal–agent problems, interest-free Islamic economics, heterodox economics, innovation and microfinance. But there has also been a broader interest in further studies of organizations, including employee motivation and human resource management.
Thus, the advantage of IJOES is that the journal is open for ethical reflections on both micro-meso and macro levels of thinking and research about ethics and economic systems. At the meso-level of organizations, articles focus on business ethics and ethics of administration, including reflections on corporate social responsibility, international business ethics, corporate governance, leadership, employee ethics and trust in political administration. The objective of the journal is to combine reflections on ethical decision-making at the individual, organizational and systemic levels to understand management processes in organizations and systems. Indeed, an evolving focus on green transitions, environmental sustainability and sustainable development goals reflect these combinations of research at micro- meso- and macro-levels.
So, what is the future of the IJOES? In which direction will we be going? In the future, we encourage publications which are faithful to the core ideas and visions of the journal. Topics of special interest include submissions about:
international and cosmopolitan perspectives on ethics and systems in different cultures;
green transitions, circular economy, sustainability and sustainable development goals (SDG);
philosophical and ethical reflections on ethics of economic, political and social systems;
ethical solutions to world problems including topics of poverty and climate change;
religion and spirituality in different cultural traditions of leadership;
reflections on ethics of business with focus on social responsibility and ethical leadership;
ethics, responsibility and legitimacy in private business and public administration; and
rethinking responsible management and leadership in finance and economics.
