[AISWorld] Reminder: Call for Papers: Special Issue of Electronic Commerce Research

[Jason Cohen]

Apologies for cross-postings.

Call for Papers: Special Issue of Electronic Commerce Research

Cross-border e-Commerce Initiatives under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)

Topic: China has experienced significant economic growth since 1990, and since 2006, very aggressive growth in Internet based services and retailing. To capitalize on its leads in manufacturing and Internet services, the country launched the “Internet +” Plan in 2015 to apply internet and other information technologies to conventional industries, creating new value spaces and composite technologies needed for China’s further advancement in the 21st century.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) launched in 2016 augments this push into new technologies with the funding of regional infrastructure to deliver benefits to countries and customers beyond the immediate borders of China. The coverage area of the initiative is primarily Asia and Europe, encompassing around 60 countries, with future extensions into Oceania and East Africa. The anticipated cumulative future investment has been estimated at around 50 trillion RMB (~US$8 trillion); estimates from the Ministry of Commerce and iResearch suggest total turnover will hit 12 trillion yuan (about 1.74 trillion U.S. dollars) by 2020.

Cross-border e-Commerce under BRI shares some similarities with existing marketing and logistic channels; but in other ways it will be substantially different. Internet based systems are highly scalable – substantially more than traditional channels – and allow for economical, flexible wired and wireless infrastructure to augment roads and rail transit. But cross-border e-Commerce also complicate business processes; expose firms to higher business risk and uncertainty; lower the barriers to market entry; and create cybersecurity risks. Our special issue seeks the submission of high-quality papers on topics addressing the many substantial challenges of cross-border e-commerce. We have listed a number of potential research topics; submissions though are not limited to this list, and we invite high quality, innovative and novel investigations of any cross-border e-Commerce issues relevant to Internet+ and BRI.


Editors.  This special issue will be co-edited by:

  *   Rong Du, Xidian University. durong at mail.xidian.edu.cn<mailto:durong at mail.xidian.edu.cn>
  *   Jason Cohen, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. jason.cohen at wits.ac.za<mailto:jason.cohen at wits.ac.za>
  *   Jian Mou, Xidian University. Jian.mou at xidian.edu.cn<mailto:Jian.mou at xidian.edu.cn>
  *   Lei Sun, Xidian University. lsun at xidian.edu.cn<mailto:lsun at xidian.edu.cn>
  *   Jin Li, Xidian University. jinli at xidian.edu.cn<mailto:jinli at xidian.edu.cn>

Topics. The special issue will be devoted to the exploration of strategic, managerial, organizational, technical, security, privacy and policy challenges with regard to information services under e-commerce. We seek high-quality, unpublished contributions addressing electronic commerce in Greater China or in a Chinese context on the following and related topics:

·         The success of cross-border e-commerce (focusing on both buyers and seller’s perspectives)

·         The policies and cross-border e-commerce

·         Mobile technologies and cross-border e-commerce

·         Logistics and cross-border e-commerce

·         Privacy- and security-related issues in cross-border e-commerce

·         Service and cross-border e-commerce

·         Localization related issues in cross-border e-commerce

·         Cross-cultural issues in cross-border e-commerce

  *   Other emerging issues in cross-border e-commerce.

Submission Deadline. The submission deadline for full papers is November 1, 2018. Authors are encouraged to submit abstracts to the special issue editors prior to August 1, 2018, as a means to gauge the special issue editors’ interest and get suggestions on developing a special issue paper.
Submission Guidelines. Only original and unpublished research papers will be considered. Authors should limit their initial submissions to no more than 32 double-spaced pages in 12-point font with appropriate margins, inclusive of all materials (i.e., references, figures, tables and appendices). Author names and affiliations should be listed on the first page of the paper; the reviewing will be single blind only. All papers should be submitted via ECR’s submission system. Authors should select “Cross-border e-Commerce Initiatives under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Special Issue” when they reach the “Article Type” step in the submission process. Authors should follow Springer’s Electronic Commerce Research format.
Review Process.  The special issue editors will return first reviews and AE reports no later than 90 days from the date of submission, approximately November 1, 2018. We will use a developmental reviewing approach for this special issue, with the aim of helping special issue authors to achieve very high quality final publications. Second and third round reviews, as needed, will be completed on an expedited basis, if authors are able to turn their revisions around quickly. We also will provide special issue authors with an indication as early as possible of rejection for the special issue, including decisions based on a first reading by the special issue editors. Inappropriately targeted or under-developed papers will be returned immediately to the authors.
Publication Date. The publication of this special issue will occur on a “best effort” basis some time in 2019. The actual date of publication depends on the timing of completion of all the articles that it will contain, and is subject to the editorial staff’s and publisher’s ability to schedule it. ECR’s experience is that special issues are published no later than about 6 months after the last article of the issue is completed and sent to production by the authors and special issue editors.
For Authors:  Interested authors should feel free to direct questions to the special issue editors.

This communication is intended for the addressee only. It is confidential. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately and destroy the original message. You may not copy or disseminate this communication without the permission of the University. Only authorised signatories are competent to enter into agreements on behalf of the University and recipients are thus advised that the content of this message may not be legally binding on the University and may contain the personal views and opinions of the author, which are not necessarily the views and opinions of The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All agreements between the University and outsiders are subject to South African Law unless the University agrees in writing to the contrary.
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