Open Access has arrived: IER and the evolution of the ICSB publishing ecosystem
The Innovation & Entrepreneurship Review (IER) is officially live.
Published with Taylor & Francis, IER is the first fully Open Access journal of the International Council for Small Business. It focuses on innovation and entrepreneurship, including research on artificial intelligence, digital transformation, entrepreneurial ecosystems, innovation management, and new forms of entrepreneurship.
Ayman ElTarabishy, who founded IER, serves as Editor-in-Chief alongside Eric Liguori and Katia Passerini, supported by Regional Editors and a Global Advisory Group. IER joins the Journal of Small Business Management (JSBM) and the Journal of the International Council for Small Business (JICSB) as the third journal in ICSB’s publishing portfolio.
The addition of IER gives ICSB a fully Open Access journal for the first time and marks the latest step in a publishing strategy that has developed over many years.
Why Open Access now?
ICSB began considering an Open Access journal nearly a decade ago, as research became more international, digital distribution expanded, and access to academic research became a larger issue in scholarly publishing. The organization chose not to move immediately. The priority was to develop an Open Access journal that would maintain the peer review, editorial standards, and research integrity expected of its existing publications.
Open Access has since become an established part of scholarly publishing. IER also extends ICSB’s existing relationship with Taylor & Francis, which already publishes JSBM and JICSB. The new journal takes that relationship into a fully Open Access model, with published research freely available to readers.
For ICSB, the principle is straightforward: wider access should not come at the expense of scholarly quality.
From JSBM to JICSB to IER
ICSB’s publishing history begins with the Journal of Small Business Management, the oldest and largest scholarly journal in the field of small business management and entrepreneurship. JSBM has provided generations of researchers with a place to develop and test ideas about entrepreneurs, small firms, and the environments in which they operate. It remains the foundation of ICSB’s scholarly publishing activities.
As ICSB’s role expanded, so did its approach to publishing. In 2017, ICSB helped create United Nations Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day, bringing greater international attention to the role of MSMEs in economic and social development. That work also strengthened ICSB’s connections with governments, multilateral organizations, policymakers, educators, researchers, and entrepreneurs.
It reinforced an important part of ICSB’s identity: ICSB is not simply an academic organization. It is a platform.
That broader role influenced the development of JICSB. Developed with Jeff Alves, the journal was designed to connect MSME research more directly with policy, education, and practice. JICSB asks authors to consider three practical questions: Why does the research matter? What does it change in our understanding of MSMEs? And how can that knowledge be applied in different contexts?
We gave JICSB time to develop its own identity and community. During that period, Open Access was also becoming a more established part of academic publishing, creating the opportunity for a third journal with a different purpose.
Create. Connect. Open.
The three journals now have distinct but complementary roles. JSBM creates, providing an established scholarly home for research in small business management and entrepreneurship. JICSB connects, bringing MSME scholarship into closer conversation with policy, education, practice, and institutions. IER opens, providing a fully Open Access journal focused on innovation, entrepreneurship, and emerging areas of research.
Together, they reflect how ICSB’s approach to scholarly publishing has developed over time: creating knowledge, connecting it with a wider community, and opening it to readers around the world.
What comes next
IER will be introduced to the wider ICSB community at the SME World Forum Paris 2026, convened by ICSB and the OECD from October 21–23, 2026. The Forum will provide an opportunity to present the journal, discuss its research priorities, and engage researchers working on many of the issues IER was created to address.
IER is now accepting submissions globally, and we invite researchers to help shape its first volumes and the conversations that will define the journal in the years ahead.
Explore IER and submit your research: IER JOURNAL
Open Access has arrived. Now our responsibility is to make it matter.