A Systematic and Visual Overview of 25 Years of the Journal of Service Research: The Journey Continues

Abstract

When Journal of Service Research (JSR) completed its fifth lustrum in 2022, it offered an ideal opportunity to celebrate the present, review the past, and look forward to the service research community’s future. In reference to JSR’s specific aims to be rigorous, multidisciplinary, managerially relevant, and impactful, the current mixed-method study examines its evolution, thereby offering guidance for further research in the service domain. A newly identified, underlying topical structure embeds 15 research themes; it also reveals increasing disciplinarity among JSR publications’ theoretical roots, affirming the multidisciplinary focus the journal has achieved. Regarding academic impact, JSR accounts for around one-eighth (12.4%) of the service articles but nearly one-third of citations (30.0%) in the service domain. Similarly, in terms of practical impact, with a share of approximately 24.0% in the service articles that received media coverage, JSR publications are responsible for around 37.1% of the service domain’s media mentions. To increase these impacts, service scholars can use the insights generated herein to identify and pursue trajectories that warrant additional exploration.