It was founded and originally published by Clive Woodckck, a journalist for The Guardian.

[1][2] The papers published in the ISBJ are submitted by international academics (from a broad range of disciplines) covering theoretical, methodological and empirical studies of small firms.

The ISBJ endeavours to provide a critical forum for world class contributions on the analysis of small firms as the articles in the ISBJ important to academics, policy makers, practitioners and analysts in government and organizations, seeking to understand small businesses, entrepreneurial processes and outcomes.

The papers are assessed in terms of "focus [...]; theoretical positioning; methodological rigour; policy and or practitioner implications; and interest for future research activity".

[7] The ISBJ Best Paper Prize of is currently awarded to: Alex Kevill, Kiran Trehan, Shelley Harrington and Selen Kars-Unluoglu (2021) for their paper on "Dynamic managerial capabilities in micro-enterprises: Stability, vulnerability and the role of managerial time allocation".