Note from the publisher
The past 12 months have seen an excellent growth in the usage of the Emerald Fulltext database. In this time the database has been accessed over 20 million times, from which in excess of 5.5 million articles have been downloaded. Over 800 universities, corporate and public institutions now subscribe to the Fulltext database.
During the period September 2001 to September 2002, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management registered a total of 373,676 hits(a hit defined as a user accessing article contents, abstracts and/or full text of articles). The journal registered a total of 99,755 article downloads during this period (a download defined as a user accessing full text of an article and downloading it onto their PC). Users from 126 countries accessed the material with the top countries in terms of usage being UK, USA and Australia. The three most popular articles during this period have been:
"E-commerce: a critical review", written by Jonathan Reynolds. This appeared as Volume 28, issue 10 and has registered 3,508 downloads thus far.
"Managing customer relationships in the e-business world: how to personalise computer relationships for increased profitability", by David Bradshaw and Colin Brash. This appeared in volume 29, issue 12 and has registered 2,146 downloads thus far.
"An examination of the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction, and store loyalty", written by Eugene Sivadas and Jamie L.Baker-Prewitt. This appeared in Volume 28, issue 2 and has registered 1,421 downloads thus far.
Downloads for these articles continue to grow long after their initial publication which underlines the fact that the Emerald database is a living archive which ensures continued distribution of the authors' research.
Forthcoming in 2003
Currently in preparation are two special issues. It is hoped that we will be ready to publish these during the 2003 volume. The first of these is Guest Edited by Graham Clarke of the University of Leeds. The theme will be social inclusion and food deserts. The issue will look at the role of major superstores with regard to the most disadvantaged areas of cities whereby access to good quality fresh food is poor. The issue will aim to cover aspects such as:statements of the problem, historical accounts of food deserts, policy implications and potential solutions.
The second of these special issues will look at the area of fashion retailing. Guest Edited by Grete Birtwistle and Christopher Moore of Glasgow Caledonian University, the issue will cover aspects such as: historical perspectives, corporate strategy, new retailer formats, and communication strategies. The call for papers for this issue is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/ijrdm.htm with a closing date of 30 April 2003. Submissions are welcomed.
During the 2003 volume the retail insights issues of the journal will be featuring:
Case studies from the 2002 conference of the European Association for Education and Research in Commercial Distribution.
Papers from the 2002 Contemporary Issues in Retail Marketing event which was held at Manchester Metropolitan University.
We are also hoping to include viewpoints from figures in the retail sector. These will comment on retailing today and/or offer thoughts on the future for retailing.
Over the past 12 months we have initiated many changes at Emerald which we hope will be of benefit to our readers, our authors and hopefully our new authors. I would like to take this opportunity to highlight a summary of these enhancements:
We have improved and expanded our authors' resources Web sites (www.emeraldinsight.com/literaticlub). Here you will find much useful information on how to get published, your copyright rights, call for papers, Literati Awards, etc. We also have a new section called "Conference Central" which will continue to grow to be a one-stop shop to find the most relevant conference to attend.
Our Research Register (www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister/index.htm)continues to grow. This is an online forum for the circulation of pre-publication information. By registering and broadcasting your current research activities you will gain exposure to potential collaborators and this will also put you in the spotlight with regard to Editors. It also informs our readers as to what is the cutting edge of current research.
The Managing Editors at Emerald (myself included) have been running Author Workshops, both at International conferences and by invitation to University departments. These workshops provide an insight into the world of scholarly publishing and give advice to new authors on how to transform their research findings into publishable work. If you feel that this service would be of use to your department or conference, then please do get in touch with me via the e-mail address below.
Electronic access is available not just to subscribers to the Fulltext database but also to all individual subscribers. No matter when your subscription to the journal commenced, by logging on to the journal you will have access to the full journal archive.
Richard WhitfieldManaging Editor, Emeraldrwhitfield@emeraldinsight.com
