This article is an editorial titled “Taking Stock and Looking Ahead” published in the Academy of Management Journal (AMJ), Volume 48, Issue 1, pages 9-15, in 2005. Written by Sara L. Rynes, the new editor, its purpose is to introduce the new editorial team and board, assess AMJ’s current standing, acknowledge the significant contributions of previous leaders, and outline the new team’s strategic direction and planned initiatives.
Rynes (2005) begins by highlighting AMJ’s strong position, stating that the journal is “vibrant and healthy”. A recent Academy member survey indicated that AMJ and other Academy journals were among the strongest areas of member satisfaction. Furthermore, major journal quality polls consistently place AMJ at or near the top of business and management journal lists.
The journal’s excellent standing is largely attributed to the efforts of past editors and board members, with significant credit given to the immediate past editor, Tom Lee. Rynes describes Lee as cheerful, optimistic, and a superb mentor to the editorial team and board. Under his leadership, initial manuscript submissions to AMJ rose from fewer than 500 in 1999 to 835 in 2004. Associate editors during Tom Lee’s term—Don Bergh, Dov Eden, and Marshall Schminke—are also praised for championing the journal and clarifying its operations. Managing editors Janet Thompson and Nancy Grandjean, along with copy and production editor Persephone Doliner and WINDEX editor Martin Evans, are thanked for their contributions to the journal’s stability and smooth transition. Finally, the exceptional service of board members and reviewers is underscored, noting that AMJ has become a benchmark for providing timely, high-quality, and developmental feedback to authors.
To assess the journal’s current strengths, challenges, and opportunities, the new editorial team surveyed 83 members of the then-current editorial board (90% of the full board). Respondents primarily represented the four largest Academy divisions: Organizational Behavior (25%), Business Policy and Strategy (23%), Human Resources (19%), and Organization and Management Theory (14%). The survey explored three main areas: the balance of theoretical, empirical, and practical contributions; the coverage of content areas; and desired future changes.
Role of Theoretical, Empirical, and Practical Contributions: According to the survey, 77% of board members considered theoretical contribution to be “critical” or “very important” for manuscript acceptance. When asked to allocate 100 points among the three categories, respondents, on average, assigned 42 points to empirical contribution, 41 points to theoretical contribution, and 17 points to practical contribution. This suggests that AMJ articles are expected to make strong theoretical and empirical contributions, with practical contributions playing a secondary role. However, notable differences existed across divisions; for instance, Organization & Management Theory (OMT) members placed the highest importance on theory (54 points), while Human Resources (HR) members assigned the lowest (34 points).
Coverage of Content Areas: About half (51%) of the board members felt AMJ’s current coverage was adequate. The other half desired more coverage in specific research areas, with the four most frequently mentioned being business policy and strategy (14%), micro topics in human resources or organizational behavior (10%), international research (7%), and meso- or multilevel research (6%). Some members perceived an imbalance between micro and macro topics. However, an analysis of articles published between 2002 and 2004 showed an approximate 50/50 balance between micro (individuals or teams) and macro (organizations, industries, markets, or governments) articles, with a slight edge towards macro when special research forums were included, and a slight edge towards micro when they were not. The new editorial team intends to maintain this balance.
The survey also revealed a split in opinions regarding AMJ adopting more of an economics framework. While 13% of board members desired a stronger focus on economics, 19% wished for fewer economics-oriented articles. The largest group, 31%, believed that AMJ’s strength and the broader Academy’s strength derive from the diversity of disciplinary perspectives (economics, psychology, sociology) and that this diversity should be preserved.
Desired Changes: There was no single consensus among board members regarding the most important changes for AMJ over the next three years. However, a strong desire to focus on encouraging more important, innovative, and interesting new work garnered significant support. Other suggestions included more flexibility or greater rigor in methodological requirements.
In light of these findings, the new editorial team established four key goals and initiated several steps to achieve them.
- Encouraging More Interesting and Innovative Research: This emerged as the most significant aspiration from the board survey. The team has made “interestingness, innovativeness, and novelty” an explicit rating category on reviewer forms. Associate editors will actively suggest ways to make manuscripts more interesting, beyond typical advice on organization or methodological soundness. It is also emphasized that qualitative research is “very welcome” at AMJ. The number of board members with expertise in qualitative research and reviewing has been substantially increased. Furthermore, AMJ’s mission statement has been modified to explicitly include inductive theory-building research alongside deductive, theory-testing work. The revised mission states: “The mission of the Academy of Management Journal is to publish empirical research that tests, extends, or builds management theory and contributes to management practice. All empirical methods—including, but not limited to, qualitative, quantitative, field, laboratory, and combination methods—are welcome. To be published in AMJ, a manuscript must make strong empirical and theoretical contributions and highlight the significance of those contributions to the management field. Thus, preference is given to submissions that test, extend, or build strong theoretical frameworks while empirically examining issues with high importance for management theory and practice. AMJ is not tied to any particular discipline, level of analysis, or national context”. The editorial team will also use a broad definition of “contribution to management research,” encompassing high-quality research that critiques current management practices or focuses on the welfare of stakeholders beyond managers or shareholders. A review of past “best article” winners indicates that qualitative studies have been honored disproportionately to their representation in the journal, with examples including Sutton and Rafaeli (1988), Gersick (1989), Isabella (1990), Dutton and Dukerich (1991), and Elsbach and Kramer (2003).
- Encouraging More Important Research: While not a new goal for AMJ, the team reaffirms the commitment to publishing work that addresses “big questions” and advances theoretical knowledge. The goals of “important” and “interesting” research are recognized as often intertwined. To encourage “bigger” submissions, AMJ has moved to a more flexible system regarding manuscript length. Previously, initial submissions were typically limited to 40 pages for regular manuscripts and 25 pages for research notes. Now, manuscripts are judged on their contribution-to-length ratio, allowing particularly strong contributions to exceed 40 pages at initial submission, especially for extensive contributions, meta-analyses, qualitative work, or studies using multiple data sets. Authors are still advised to be judicious about length, as reviewers may lose patience with overly long, repetitive, or unfocused papers.
- Encouraging Internationalization of Research: AMJ is committed to fostering international and cross-cultural submissions. To support this, the editorial board now includes an increased representation of non-North American scholars, and several associate editors have substantial experience in international research. Associate editors Brad Kirkman and Kenneth Law will dedicate a future “From the Editors” column to this goal, and the team will participate in “Meet the Editors” sessions focused on encouraging international research.
- Encouraging More Integrative Research: The journal’s strength is seen in its “big tent” nature, incorporating multiple disciplines, theoretical approaches, and levels of analysis. To further this goal, AMJ announced a new call for papers for a special research forum titled “Building Bridges across Levels“. This forum aims to encourage research that “builds bridges across different levels of theory and analysis” and specifically encourages research that spans levels of analysis, bridges subdisciplines within management, or links management research to other disciplines.
In conclusion, the new editorial team, while upholding AMJ’s traditions of high-quality research and thorough reviews, aspires to encourage and publish future research that is increasingly important, interesting, international, and integrative across theories, disciplines, and levels of analysis.
APA Reference: Rynes, S. L. (2005). Taking stock and looking ahead. Academy of Management Journal, 48(1), 9–15.