The Evolution of Project Management Research: The Evidence from the Journals

This article seeks to address the question of the current state of project management research through an analysis of the domain's advance over time, as evidenced in the pages of its principal academic research outlets. While there are many ways in which theoreticians and researchers have sought to examine the evolving nature of the project management research field, the attempt here involves a more forensic approach, based on a critical review of some of the published literature. Over the past twenty years there has been a substantial improvement in the quality and rigor of project management research, as evidenced by the standard of papers being published in three leading academic research journals that focus on project management research. This article represents the collective thoughts and reflections of the three journals' editors at the time of writing on the evolution of the project management research field.