Journal Submissions Should

• Include meaningful new implications or insights for theory that can be developed in various ways (e.g., falsification of conventional understanding, theory building through inductive or qualitative research, first empirical testing of a theory, meta-analysis with theoretical implications, constructive replication that clarifies the boundaries or range of a theory).
• Must be relevant to practice
• Identify both a compelling management issue and a strong theoretical framework for addressing it
• Define specialized terms and analytic techniques
• Appeal to AOM’s wide-ranging readership by making evident the contributions of specialized research to general management theory and practice and avoiding jargon
• Strive to produce original, insightful, interesting, important, and theoretically bold research
• Contribute to the field’s understanding of an issue or topic

Criteria for Publication

All articles published in Academy of Management Journal must make strong empirical contributions. Submissions that do not offer an empirical contribution will not be reviewed. Purely conceptual papers should be submitted to the Academy of Management Review. Papers focusing on management education should be sent to Academy of Management Learning and Education. Manuscripts that are evidence based rather than theory driven and papers with a primary focus of bringing new perspectives to an academic debate should be submitted to the Academy of Management Perspectives. Responses to or commentaries on previously published articles will be considered only if they make independent empirical contributions. Moreover, these submissions will also be peer reviewed.

A manuscript's empirical contribution is usually the most difficult element to revise in response to reviewer concerns, since measures and methods have already been applied and data collected. Two of the most common sources of manuscript rejection involve: (1) creation of new, weakly validated measures when well-validated ones already exist, and (2) implementation of flawed research designs. Because both of these features are determined at the research design stage, authors should seek peer review of their research designs and instrumentation before collecting their data.

All articles published in the AMJ must also make strong theoretical contributions. Meaningful new implications or insights for theory must be present in all AMJ articles, although such insights may be developed in a variety of ways (e.g., falsification of conventional understanding, theory building through inductive or qualitative research, first empirical testing of a theory, meta-analysis with theoretical implications, constructive replication that clarifies the boundaries or range of a theory). Submissions should clearly communicate the nature of their theoretical contribution in relation to the existing management and organizational literatures. Methodological articles are welcome, but they must contain accompanying theoretical and empirical contributions.

All articles published must also be relevant to practice. The best submissions are those that identify both a compelling management issue and a strong theoretical framework for addressing it. We realize that practical relevance may be rather indirect in some cases; however, authors should be as specific as possible about potential implications.

All articles published must be accessible to the AOM's wide-ranging readership. The fields and topics of interest to the Academy membership are reflected in the Divisions and Interest Groups. Authors should make evident the contributions of specialized research to general management theory and practice, should avoid jargon, and should define specialized terms and analytic techniques.

Manuscripts will be evaluated by the action editor in terms of their contribution-to-length ratio. Thus, manuscripts should be written as simply and concisely as possible without sacrificing meaningfulness or clarity of exposition. Typically, papers should be no longer than 40 double-spaced pages (using one-inch margins and Times New Roman 12-point font), inclusive of references, tables, figures and appendixes. AMJ reserves the right to ask authors to shorten excessively long papers before they are entered in the review process. However, we recognize that papers intended to make very extensive contributions or that require additional space for data presentation or references (such as meta-analyses, qualitative works, and work using multiple data sets) may require more than 40 pages. Manuscripts that are prepared incorrectly tend to be less favorably reviewed, and may be returned to the author for revision prior to submission to the full review process.

Style Guidelines

Please review our Style Guide for manuscript requirements prior to submitting.

Ethics

View AOM’s Ethics policy page, which includes our Code of Ethics and detailed procedures and inquiry requests.

For more information, please contact amj@aom.org.

Review Process

The review process for AMJ goes through various stages before a decision is reached.

Desk decisions. When a manuscript is first received, the editor completes a preliminary screening of a manuscript to assess the degree to which it:

(1) Fits the criteria described in AMJ's Mission Statement and Information for Contributors
(2) Possesses at least a minimal likelihood of being favorably evaluated by AMJ's reviewers. 

Submissions that fail to satisfy one or both of those criteria may be returned to the authors as a desk decision, sometimes in the form of a desk reject and sometimes in the form of a desk edit.

Normal review process. For each manuscript that passes the initial review stage, the editor assigns an action editor (either him or herself or an associate editor or guest editor) and three reviewers. Then, the action editor makes publication decisions about the manuscript. However, these decisions are made in conjunction with recommendations provided by members of the Journal's Editorial Board or other qualified reviewers. 

All submissions will be blind reviewed. Manuscripts prepared in a way that compromises blind review may be returned for revision prior to review.

AMJ strives to provide constructive and developmental feedback to authors within approximately two months. However, the initial quality of the manuscript can dramatically influence both the efficiency and effectiveness of the review process. The better developed a manuscript and the ideas it contains, the easier it will be to review, and the better the feedback you will receive. Therefore, manuscripts should always be reviewed by your scholarly colleagues prior to submission to the AMJ. Prepare manuscripts in accordance with the AMJ’s "Style Guide for Authors." Manuscripts that are prepared incorrectly tend to be less favorably reviewed, and may be returned to the author for revision prior to submission to the full review process.

Submission of a manuscript to AMJ also carries an implicit quid pro quo: willingness to review for AMJ. The cornerstone of the editorial process at AMJ is the willingness of colleagues to provide each other feedback through the peer review process. Authors who submit manuscripts to AMJ for review are expected to reciprocate by reviewing for AMJ if called upon to do so.

Directions for Users with an Account

Go to the Manuscript Central Website at  https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/AMJ and log in. At the Welcome Page, go to Author Center. On the right-hand side of the page, you will see Author Resources. Click below to submit a new document.

This is a six-step process.

1. Type, title & abstract
   • Document Type: From the drop-down menu, select type of document.
   • Insert title.
   • Insert abstract (if you are submitting a proposal, insert a brief description about your proposal). 
2. Attributes
   • Keyword: We require that you submit three keywords for each document you are submitting. From the drop-down menu of keywords, select a keyword, then click Add.
3. Authors & institutions
   • This page allows you to add additional authors.
4. Details & comments
   • Answer all questions on this page. Please note that you should include any acknowledgements in the Cover Letter section. All author identifiers must be removed from your work prior to submission. Refer to submission requirements for details.
5. File upload
   • Please note that File Designation is a drop down list and refers to the type of document that the author is uploading: cover letter, main document, supplementary file for review (which can be viewed by editors and reviewers), or supplementary file not for review (for the editor's eyes only).
6. Review & submit
   • This page allows you to review your entire application and make any necessary changes before submitting.

If you need assistance uploading your paper, please contact the ScholarOne helpline on weekdays (Monday - Friday)between 2400 - 2030 EST (UTC - 5) at 1-434-964-4100 or 1-888-503-1050 (US). You may also email them at:  S1help@clarivate.com or visit their website.

Directions for New Users

Go to the Manuscript Central Website at  https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/AMJ. On the right-hand side, you will see a box that says New User? Click on "Register here."

Registering is a three-step process.

1. Email and name: Enter salutation, name, and email address
2. Address: Enter mailing address
3. User ID & password: Here, you must create a password.
   1. Keyword: We require that you submit three keywords for each document you are submitting. From the drop-down menu of keywords,select a keyword, then click Add
   2. Unavailable dates: This is only for reviewers. Please leave blank.
   3. Signature: Insert your name and title.
   4. Browse: This should be left blank; you will upload your document later.

If you need assistance uploading your paper, please contact the ScholarOne helpline on weekdays (Monday - Friday) between 2400 - 2030 EST (UTC - 5) at 1-434-964-4100 or 1-888-503-1050 (US). You may also email them at:  S1help@clarivate.com or visit their website.