Reinventing Marketing and Public Policy for the Twenty-First Century: An Editorial Statement

ournal of Public Policy & Marketing(JPP&M) has made remarkable progress since its founding. What began an experiment, or “test market” in the words of its founding editor, Tom Kinnear (2011), has developed into one of the premier journals in marketing. A publication that began life as an annual volume published by the Research Division of the University of Michigan’s business school is now part of the portfolio of publications of the American Marketing Association (AMA) with both two-year and five-year impact factors that are 16th among 33 journals that publish marketing papers (Thompson Reuters 2012). This is all the more remarkable for a journal that publishes only two issues a year and has half to a quarter the number of the articles published in marketing journals that have higher impact factors. JPP&M has benefited from the selfless stewardship of some of the most notable academics in the marketing discipline who have served as editors, contributors, and members of the review board. A particularly interesting retrospective on the journal in the words of each of the past editors appeared in the spring 2011 issue of JPP&M. This retrospective provides a helpful and insightful review of the evolution of the journal, the frustrations associated with its development and the development of the field of marketing and public policy more generally, and the changing focus of the field of marketing and its relationship to public policy and society at large. It is also a rich source of ideas about opportunities and new directions for the journal and the focus of its content. Beginning with the 1982 publication date of what was then called Journal of Marketing & Public Policy, the journal is now in its 32nd year.1 During these past three decades, the journal has had seven editors, each of whom has brought a new perspective to the task of editor. A frequent characteristic of editors of the journal is their experience with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which has helped shape much of the journal’s focus.2 As the journal again changes editors, it is constructive to examine how it has evolved over time, what this evolution suggests about the journal’s current and future positioning, and where there are opportunities for growth in its content and reputation.