Abstract
Journal of Management (JOM) is a “big tent” journal publishing quantitative (including experimental and meta-analytical), qualitative, methodological, theoretical, and review work in areas across the management field. Our content, authors, and readership are broad and diverse, and the research published in the journal has significant academic and practical relevance and impact, as evident in our skyrocketing submission numbers (JOM will likely receive over 1,800 manuscripts this year) and impact factor scores. Indeed, JOM ranks number 2 among applied psychology journals, number 3 among management journals, and number 3 among business journals in the most recent 5-year journal impact factor scores. This success owes to the care and guidance of the previous high-quality editorial teams and the Southern Management Association leadership. Our team appreciates you and is proud to stand on your shoulders as we continue to elevate the profile of the journal while remaining true to JOM's strong heritage of publishing rigorous, novel, and impactful research.
Before I address our vision, I want to thank outgoing JOM Editor-in-Chief Brian Connelly; senior associate editors Kris Byron, Zeki Simsek, and Chad Van Iddekinge; and associate editors and editorial board members for their amazing contributions to the journal and for ensuring a smooth transition. I also want to express my gratitude to our managing editor, Stro Prothro, who has worked tirelessly to effectively onboard our team, manage our daily operations, and serve as our Sage and production staff liaison.
I also want to introduce our phenomenal editorial team: senior editors, Gerry McNamara (Michigan State University) and Deidra J. Schleicher (Iowa State University); consulting and associate editor for theory, Mike Pfarrer (University of Georgia); consulting editors, Tima Bansal (Western University) and Sherry M. B. Thatcher (University of Tennessee-Knoxville); associate editors, Dev Bhave (Singapore Management University), David G. Collings (Trinity College Dublin), Nicky Dries (KU Leuven and BI Norwegian Business School), Nadine Kammerlander (WHU–Otto Beisheim School of Management), Tony Kong (University of Colorado Boulder), Peggy M. Lee (Arizona State University), Fabrice Lumineau (University of Hong Kong), Patrick F. McKay (East Carolina University), Hermann Ndofor (Indiana University), Elisa Operti (ESSEC Business School), Amy Ou (Hong Kong Polytechnic University), Samantha Paustian-Underdahl (Florida State University), Cuili Qian (University of Texas at Dallas), Orlando C. Richard (University of Massachusetts Amherst), Enrica N. Ruggs (University of Houston), Wei Shi (University of Miami), Ute Stephan (King's College London), and Michael C. Withers (Texas A&M University); managing editor, Stro Prothro (University of South Carolina); and our fantastic editorial board members, who are listed on the masthead of this and every issue.
Regarding our vision, as Editor-in-Chief, I have committed to three overarching themes: inclusivity, interesting and relevant research, and impact and integrity. JOM's focus on new ideas and interesting perspectives, coupled with its commitment to quality, make the articles published in JOM highly relevant and impactful both quantitively (impact factor and citations) and qualitatively (influencing both scholarly and practical work). It is difficult for editors and reviewers to balance requirements for empirical and theoretical rigor with novelty and originality; however, JOM has continued to do so for nearly five decades, resulting in the rare combination of quality, relevance, and openness to bold new ideas. Having the opportunity to contribute to this rich tradition is exciting, and we will introduce several new initiatives to accomplish this throughout our term. However, I want to highlight four key initiatives already in progress:
The first focuses on inclusion. Members of the JOM community, including the editorial team, authors, readers, and stakeholders, are distinct in many ways. Therefore, we are lucky to have a highly skilled and diverse editorial team committed to continuing to enhance JOM's inclusive environment. Senior editors Gerry McNamara, Deidra Schleicher, and I are leveraging these diverse minds to ensure that JOM's current and future stakeholders have equitable access to journal-related opportunities and develop a strong sense of belonging to the JOM community. To this point, we are exploring new ways of encouraging diversity and inclusiveness in the authors who submit to and publish their work in the journal and the ideas that make it into print while simultaneously enhancing quality and impact. You will soon see outreach and other influential activities, including webinars, workshops, and professional development opportunities, targeted toward these objectives.
We are also developing formal and informal mechanisms that will allow us to build an inclusive and sustainable pipeline of diverse future journal leaders to ensure our efforts become institutionalized. One such mechanism is demystifying the roles editors and editorial board members play in the scholarly development process. The aim is to arm diverse scholars with the tools necessary to craft their careers in ways that offer more equitable access to the key positions that drive success in our field. Several activities that support this objective are on the horizon.
The next two initiatives are focused on enhancing currently underdeveloped avenues to publishing interesting and relevant research in JOM. Given theory is the currency of our field, we aim to increase scholars’ interest in submitting conceptual and qualitative research to JOM. To this aim, our second initiative is targeted at elevating the role of theory building in JOM and the management field more broadly. Consulting Editors Mike Pfarrer and Sherry Thatcher will lead the outreach in this area, which includes upcoming editorials, workshops, and collaboration with other journals that welcome conceptual work. With our third initiative, we are continuing to encourage qualitative researchers to submit their work to JOM. Consulting editor Tima Bansal and our six associate editors who handle qualitative research will lead this charge. You will see editorials, workshops, and other activities designed to address the challenges inherent in producing and publishing qualitative research and evaluating rigor in novel qualitative methods in the next few months. We believe these initiatives will complement our established quantitative, methodological, and review work and increase the interestingness and relevance of our portfolio of published research.
Because reviewer development is critical to these initiatives, we are planning several activities aimed at helping scholars master the art of quality reviewing for quantitative, qualitative, methodological, conceptual, and review-focused work. Quality reviewing is developmental reviewing, which entails openness to bold ideas, new ways of thinking, and moving beyond merely highlighting problems to offering developmental and actionable suggestions that help authors bring out the best in their work.
The fourth initiative, our methods task force chaired by associate editor Mike Withers, directly targets impact and integrity. The aim of this task force is to elevate the methodological rigor of published papers and enhance the overall quality and reproducibility of the research we publish and uphold the highest standards in research integrity. This task force is comprised of two key groups: (a) a strategic methods task force that will develop and implement measures to enhance the quality of methodological assessments in the manuscripts we receive and chart a future methodological path for JOM and the management field more broadly and (b) designated methods reviewers who evaluate and provide feedback on the research methodologies employed in manuscripts that require a thorough and specialized methodological evaluation. We are thrilled to have a group of dedicated expert scholars who are committed to serving in these important task force groups. You will see significant contributions from these methods experts soon.
In close, JOM is a true management journal that has long succeeded at balancing empirical and theoretical rigor with novelty and originality. This is a rare achievement, owing in large part to its commitment to publishing sound and relevant research while simultaneously allowing authors to stay true to their original purpose, voice, and ideas in work that covers a broad and diverse range of topics and organizational areas. As Editor-in-Chief, I will work with our editorial team to continue to offer authors openminded and developmental feedback, transparent decision-making, efficient manuscript turnaround times, and resources to support these commitments.
Finally, I wish to thank the Pamplin College of Business and, particularly, Devi Gnyawali, Head of the Department of Management, and Saonee Sarker, Dean of Pamplin College of Business, who are graciously supporting me with the time and resources required of my role as JOM Editor-in-Chief.