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Warwick Business School
What’s so hard about publishing business & society research in top journals? (And what can we do about it?)
Stephen Brammer, Warwick Business School
Sponsored by oSustainable
Business
Initiative
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Aims Talk a bit about the challenges of publishing
business and society research Examine the counter factual Suggestions for how to overcome barriers to
publishing in top journals Some of these lessons are specific to B&S,
others are more general
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All publishing is hard & getting rejected is the norm Publishing in “top” (4*, “A”, etc) journals is
HARD and TIME CONSUMING Expect to spend more time in the preparation
stage (pre-submission) than for lower level hits, and expect processes of revision to take longer and be more protracted (though turn around times for review can be very good)
Expect to experience a volume-quality trade-off in your attempts to publish in top journals
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Challenges in publishing business & society research Widespread distaste for evangelical, tree-hugging,
sandal-wearing, politicised, band-wagonning, bearded, soap-box moralising
Lack of a “natural home” among top tier journals for B&S work
Inherently inter- and cross-disciplinary nature of research often leads to multi-theoretic framing
Inherent complexity to phenomena typically leads to multi-level, non-linear and complex narratives
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Challenges in publishing business & society research Many B&S scholars aren’t natural business
school stock, experience challenge in translating skills to B-school outlets
Value-sensitivity of many topics can make gaining engagement/access among potential research subjects/venues more difficult
“Community” issues – lack of a strong reviewer/mentor senior community?
Is B&S “zeitgeisty” any more?
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BUT
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What can we learn from examples like these? Motivating /Selling your work - Instead of reflecting on
what you find interesting or important about your work, ask “what might someone coming from a mainstream literature recognise as interesting in my work?”
Ask “what more general conversation might my paper make a contribution to?”
Concentrate on what your data actually say, rather than what you want them to say, be open and transparent about your evidence, use neutral language in your framing
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What can we learn from examples like these? Establishing/identify a strong link between your
contribution and a stream of work in your target journal – especially in theoretical terms
Be explicit about what your contributions are to that wider literature
Try to strip (most but not all) complexity from your narrative – multi-theoretic contributions are difficult to find homes for
If you can’t summarise your paper in two clear sentences, reviewers won’t be able to see your contribution clearly
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What can we learn from examples like these? Harness your specific advantages – coming from a
different discipline can help you make distinctive contribution, but try not to be “too different”
Do your market research - all journals are idiosyncratic, you need to unpack house style and mirror that in your approach
Construct neutral research questions, and relate these to issues of interest to participants to encourage engagement among participants
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Conclusions
ALL PUBLISHING in respectable outlets is very challenging – getting expectations right is a good start
Giving sufficient to the DEMAND-SIDE of the publishing experience is an important activity
This doesn’t mean that you have to sell your soul, it just means that you have to see work through others’ eyes
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