Aloha? Adios!
Based in Hilo, Hawaii, the Institute for Business and Finance Research publishes eight business journals and organizes a regularly-occurring conference called Global Conference for Business and Finance that rotates among places like Honolulu, Las Vegas, and Costa Rica.
One unique thing about this publisher is that it is successfully exploiting the Latin American market. Two of its journals, the Revista Internacional Administración & Finanzas and the Revista Global de Negocios, are published in Spanish. Like its English-language journals, these have a broad coverage. Most of the publisher’s website is also available in Spanish.
The publisher claims that “Each of our Journals is distributed in print and through EBSCO Host, providing access to the journal content in more than 70 countries.” Indeed, I was able to access some of the journals through my library’s EBSCO subscription.
However, I was unable to access the full text of any of the journal articles through the website. Each journal has a link to “sample past issues,” but these samples only include the first page of each article. So the journals are not open-access.
On the other hand, I was able to access the conference proceedings through the publisher’s site, but they are only available to download as a single-file PDF, and these average around 18 MB.
The publisher charges page fees for its journals — $25 per page with a minimum of $300. It also offers an expedited review service. It says,
We have introduced an expedited review process. Our expedited review process is intended to provide faculty going for tenure and/or promotion a quick response regarding the possibility of publishing their paper in one of our journals. The fee is $100 and the initial review process will be completed in two weeks.
So, the publisher charges an article processing charge, plus an optional, expedited review fee, even though its journals are not open-access.
The Latin American Angle
The publisher has become very popular with Latin American business academics, especially in Mexico.
A Mexican researcher who asked that his name not be used told me, “I am convinced there are many wrong things with this publisher. That only increases my concern as in the last three years there has been an authentic stampede of people trying to publish in IBFR journals. Perhaps all their papers were accepted.”
The journals claim to have low acceptance rates. For example, the journal Accounting & Taxation claims, “The Journal acceptance rate is between 5 and 15 percent.” Looking at the content, and given the competition among business journals, I don’t see how this could be true.
The domain-name registration of the Institute for Business and Finance Research lists Mercedes Jalbert. Her husband Terrance Jalbert is a professor of finance at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Some sources indicate that Mercedes used to work at Jayco Travel and Tours. Terrance is listed as the “academic editor” of each of the firm’s journals; Mercedes is listed as managing editor of each. No editor-in-chief is listed.
It appears that the “Institute” is not really an institute at all but rather just a highly-profitable company catering to authors needing quick and easy publications, editorial board service, and conference presentations. Apparently, editorial board service is awarded to authors who have paid to publish in the journals or paid to attend the conferences. Also, I am told the “best paper awards” given at the conferences are determined by raising hands, so if your paper has several co-authors you can all vote for your own paper and win.
I recommend against submitting papers to this publisher’s journals and against attending their conferences.
Appendix: List of Institute for Business and Finance Research Journals as of May, 2013
- The International Journal of Business and Finance Research (IJBFR)
- International Journal of Management and Marketing Research (IJMMR)
- Global Journal of Business Research (GJBR)
- Accounting & Taxation (AT)
- Business Education and Accreditation (BEA)
- Review of Business & Finance Studies (RBFS)
- Revista Internacional Administración & Finanzas (RIAF)
- Revista Global de Negocios (RGN)
Posted by Jeffrey Beall 
