Knowledge Management Research & Practice

Journal overview

Aims and scope

Knowledge management is a term that has worked its way into the mainstream of both academic and business arenas since it was first coined in the 1980s. Interest has increased rapidly during the last decade and shows no signs of abating. The current state of the knowledge management field is that it encompasses four overlapping areas:

Managing knowledge (creating/acquiring, sharing, retaining, storing, using, updating, retiring)
Organisational learning
Intellectual capital
Knowledge economics

Within (and across) these, knowledge management has to address issues relating to technology, people, culture and systems.

Perhaps as a consequence of this diversity, the knowledge management literature is at present fragmented. Many of the most influential articles on knowledge management appear in journals in fields as diverse as information systems, general management, strategy, organisational sociology or human resources. The literature also often, somewhat misleadingly, presents the subject as split. Current examples of these "splits", which should rather be debates, include those between the "codification" and "collaboration" schools of thought, and between "Western" (meaning North American) and "Eastern" (meaning Japanese) approaches. The intention for this journal is not only to accommodate these and other perspectives, but also to seek common ground between them.

Overall aims and content

To provide an outlet for high-quality, peer-reviewed articles on all aspects of managing knowledge. This will include not just those focused on the organisational level, but all levels from that of the individual to that of the nation or profession. This will include both theoretical and practical aspects, and especially the relationship between the two. There will be a particular emphasis on cross-disciplinary approaches, and on the mixing of "hard" (e.g. technological) and "soft" (e.g. cultural or motivational) issues. Rigorous contributions from both academics and practitioners are welcomed.

Articles may be empirical research papers, theoretical papers, conceptual papers, case studies or surveys.

KMRP will fill the need for a journal specifically concentrating on knowledge management that maintains the highest standards of rigour, and publishes articles that reflect greater multidisciplinary work and/or conceptual integration than those currently published in existing outlets.

A cross-disciplinary focus will also enable articles in the journal to address other important tensions in the field of knowledge management, such as those between: