Meet the Co-Editors of JAMS

In this newsletter, we invite you to learn more about our dedicated co-editors of JAMS: 

Co-Editors:

• Costas Katsikeas, University of Leeds, UK

• Stephan Ludwig, Monash University, Australia

• Raji Srinivasan, University of Texas – Austin, USA

1. What excites you most about your role as a co-editor for JAMS?

Costas: It’s my great pleasure and honor indeed to serve as JAMS’ co-editor. I find this role exciting due in part to my service to the discipline, interactions with scholars worldwide, helping people to advance their work, and opportunity to learn from a wide range of hot research ideas and problems studied.

Stephan: I love seeing cutting edge ideas take shape before they make their way into the broader academic conversation. It is a bit like being at the backstage of a concert, except instead of rock stars, we have brilliant scholars, and instead of guitars, they wield data and theories.

Raji: The ability to develop and shepherd manuscripts of marketing scholars with the aim of creating impactful marketing strategy and managerial scholarship with the potential to also impact marketing practice in a meaningful way.

2. What is the most surprising thing you have learned while editing the journal?

Costas: The most surprising thing I have learned is that maintaining a smooth flow of submissions, as well as attracting and developing strong papers, is the outcome of the work of many people involved in different roles. These include authors, editors, ERB members, reviewers, proof-readers, typesetters and others in Springer, and, in particular, all those who subscribe to JAMS and comprise its readership.

Stephan: That a ‘concise’ manuscript can sometimes feel like an epic novel, and a ‘straightforward’ reviewer comment can launch a long philosophical debate and revision.

Raji: The extent of community engagement that is needed from authors and reviewers, (including those not on the Editorial Review Board), associate editors, Co-Editors, and Editors-in-Chief in the academic scholarship process. It truly takes a (global) village to develop and publish research!

3. What trends or topics in marketing research do you find particularly fascinating right now?

Costas: Fascinating topics mean different things to different people depending on peoples’ priorities, experiences, and interests. Broadly, we need, and I look for, papers that address timely and important real-world problems and issues, are investigated using rigorous conceptual and/or methodological approaches, and their findings significantly contribute to existing knowledge in terms of theory development and the advancement of practice in the marketing field. Such papers can come from all different areas of marketing.

Stephan: I find it fascinating how topics like AI, behavioral insights, and sustainability are (re)shaping the objectives and approaches in current marketing research studies. I like how researchers are exploring these new methods and contexts to derive meaningful insights for both research and practice.

Raji: I have strong and abiding interest in organizational innovation and technology and their impacts on marketing metrics, a topic that continues to generate strong interest among academics and practitioners, given the high pace of technological changes in the world we live in.

4. How do you stay motivated and inspired in your professional life?

Costas: Interacting with so many great people from all over the world to serve the Journal and help authors improve their research is really motivating for me. Also, I am in a continuous search of impactful manuscripts and effective ways to help JAMS move up to the next level; this is particularly inspiring.

Stephan: A mix of curiosity, deadlines, and caffeine. Jokes aside, I am inspired by the brilliant minds I get to interact with and the constant evolution of ideas in our field.

Raji: I enjoy the process of knowledge discovery, creation, and dissemination because you never know what you will find (or not find) as the research process evolves. Another thing that keeps me motivated is the pleasure of working with smart, intelligent, and motivated marketing scholar colleagues.

5. What’s your favorite way to unwind after a busy day at work?

Costas: Playing soccer, going to the gym, going to the pub or a nice restaurant, or making plans for a short (extended weekend) break in the near future.

Stephan: Spending time with my family.

Raji: I enjoy doing a round of yoga (usually before a busy day at work).

6. If you weren’t in academia, what career path would you have chosen?

Costas: Probably a professional soccer player and then coach, an entrepreneur in the hospitality (e.g., summer holidays) industry, or a seaman.

Stephan: Probably I would have liked to have been a professional novelist writer, though, given my tendency to overanalyze every sentence, I suspect I would still be stuck on the first chapter of my debut novel. So maybe it is for the best that I stuck with academia

Raji: An entrepreneur, managing a small to medium-sized professional services firm (i.e., advertising, or marketing research).