The origin of Washington Business Research Journal lies in the Proceedings of Abstract published of the Washington Business Research Forum started over 25 years ago with its first meeting held at Howard University. The goal of the Forum was to have faculty members and doctoral students present their papers and ideas in progress to seek suggestions and collaborations among faculty members and would be faculty members at universities in the Washington, D.C. metro area.

Over the years there have been various suggestions on taking the next step of broadening the base from the Consortium of Business Schools in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to national level and to supplement the Abstract Proceedings with a peer-reviewed journal. With that in mind, the first conference was held with an announcement that the journal would be started with a special consideration on the papers submitted for presentation at the conference.

To encourage faculty members at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), The National HBCU Business Deans Roundtable provided support for travel and holding of the conference, which was held during January 4-5, 2008 at Embassy Suites Hotel in Crystal City, VA. The spirit of nurturing research among colleagues, however, continued. The first issue of the Journal containing selected papers presented at that and subsequent conference held in January 2009 was published in January 2010.