The Emergence of Industrial Marketing Management as the Leading Academic Journal in Business-to-Business Marketing

During 1994–2016, Peter LaPlaca served as editor-in-chief of Industrial Marketing Management, an era in which the research discipline surrounding business-to-business marketing showed remarkable growth and attracted the attention of scholars worldwide. This article traces the evolving maturity of the discipline during these years by analyzing not just statistics but also the content of the premier journal in this area, Industrial Marketing Management. The number of papers submitted and articles published per year, the growth in the journal's impact factor, the increased presence of international authors and editorial board members, and the arrival of meta-analyses and special issues on emerging research topics all indicate the level of maturity and scope of the business-to-business marketing research discipline attained during this period— thanks to the expert guidance and tireless efforts of Professor LaPlaca as editor-in-chief.