The IPSB Journal

The International Protective Security Board (IPSB) would like to announce the creation of a new academically-inclined journal that will focus on close protection and corporate security, appropriately named The Close Protection and Security Journal. Those who work in close protection and corporate security recognize that there is a gap in the professionalization of the industry where education is concerned. Security professionals often lack a standardized approach to learning or studying the critical issues facing the industry. This journal hopes to fill in that gap, and this is a call for submissions for the inaugural issue of the publication!

Journal Description

Corporate security and close protection remain incredibly nascent professions as they are still being institutionalized in the 21st century. Most major corporations only started security teams as they would be currently recognized a few decades ago at most. A preeminent scholar of civil-military relations Samuel Huntington gave three criteria to define a profession: the profession has a function exclusively performed by them, the profession requires formal education and extensive experience, and the profession is self-regulating. Some educational institutions have implemented formal education for corporate intelligence analysis, and there are an increasing number of certification programs for areas like executive protection. However, within these training programs, there is a dearth of academic literature by which to fully establish a formal curriculum for corporate security. As such, this Journal is intended to support Huntington's second requirement for a profession by helping to create appropriate literature for the formal education of security professionals.

This Journal will be a bi-annual publication (twice a year) with the first issue being released in December 2023

Scope of Journal

The scope of the Journal is intentionally broad as there are currently no scholarly publications dedicated only to corporate security. Importantly, the intention of the Journal is to be a scholarly publication led by practitioners, offering their in-depth insights into historic cases, current issues, and emerging threats. The Journal aims to publish articles by authors who have professional or academic research experience with the subjects of their writing to better give insight into corporate security. Professional experience from prior military or government service is also acceptable as a means to bring important ideas from related fields to corporate security.

The Journal will have two types of articles: Research Articles (4,000-7,000 words) and Analytic Articles (2,500-3,500 words). Research Articles are in-depth studies of a particular topic germane to corporate security that will review the relevant literature and data to study important aspects of the problem. Analytic Articles are shorter pieces that focus on a single point or issue relevant to corporate security.

Topics for the Journal include but are not limited to: