The Journal of Management and Planning Research (JMPR) was established to address a growing scientific gap in the way knowledge is produced and applied across organizations, cities, and public institutions. Over the last decade, management sciences and planning disciplines have increasingly converged around shared real-world problems—such as sustainable development, infrastructure delivery, public-sector reform, resilience to shocks, digital transformation, and equitable growth—yet research on these themes remains dispersed across narrowly specialized journals. This fragmentation makes it difficult to build cumulative evidence, compare findings across contexts, and translate research into practical frameworks that decision-makers can implement. JMPR provides a dedicated scholarly platform for work that explicitly connects management theory (strategy, operations, governance, performance, risk, and organizational behavior) with planning research (urban/regional planning, development planning, infrastructure planning, environmental and policy planning), enabling stronger interdisciplinary dialogue and more actionable outcomes.
A central scientific motivation for launching JMPR is the need to strengthen evidence-based decision-making in both public and private sectors. Many planning and management decisions involve complex trade-offs—cost versus quality, growth versus sustainability, speed versus inclusion, efficiency versus resilience—yet published studies often focus on only one side of these trade-offs or lack clear pathways from analysis to implementation. JMPR encourages research designs that improve credibility and usefulness, including robust empirical methods, mixed-method studies, comparative analyses across regions or institutions, and evaluation frameworks that measure outcomes rather than intentions. The journal particularly supports studies that move beyond descriptive reporting to demonstrate what works, under what conditions, and why—whether in strategic planning, policy design, project delivery, operational performance, or institutional reform.
Another key reason for launching JMPR is the increasing importance of planning under uncertainty. Contemporary systems are characterized by volatility and disruption: economic shocks, supply chain breakdowns, climate-related extremes, health emergencies, energy transition challenges, and rapid technological change. Traditional planning models based on stable assumptions are often insufficient for these conditions. JMPR therefore prioritizes research that advances modern approaches such as scenario planning, adaptive governance, risk analytics, resilience engineering, systems thinking, and decision-making under uncertainty. By publishing methodologically rigorous work on resilience, crisis management, continuity planning, and adaptive strategies, the journal aims to improve the scientific foundations that guide planning and management in high-risk environments.
JMPR was also launched to provide a research home for emerging interdisciplinary themes that require both managerial insight and planning logic. These include smart governance and digital public services, data-driven planning, AI and analytics in decision systems, public-private partnerships, program and portfolio management for development, sustainable operations, ESG implementation, institutional capacity building, and performance measurement in complex multi-stakeholder environments. In many fields, rapid innovation is outpacing the development of shared evaluation standards. JMPR supports work that proposes validated indicators, replicable frameworks, benchmark methodologies, and transparent reporting practices—helping the field mature from isolated case studies to generalizable scientific knowledge.
Finally, JMPR was founded to strengthen the connection between scholarship and practice. High-quality research should not only advance theory; it should also be interpretable and usable by practitioners, policymakers, and organizational leaders. JMPR therefore values papers that clearly articulate practical implications, decision pathways, and measurable impacts—along with the assumptions and limitations that determine transferability. By fostering an interdisciplinary community of authors, reviewers, and readers, JMPR aims to accelerate high-impact research that improves how organizations and institutions plan, govern, deliver projects, allocate resources, and achieve sustainable and equitable outcomes.