Submitting to
Academy of Management Collections
Academy of Management Collections Submissions
Academy of Management Collections publishes curated sets of articles drawn from the extensive Academy of Management (AOM) archive of previously published journals. Submitting to Academy of Management Collections includes providing original essays that tie works together around a central theme. The journals include the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Perspectives, Academy of Management Learning & Education, Academy of Management Discoveries, and Academy of Management Annals.
A Collections essay typically includes about five—and generally no more than ten—articles selected from the AOM archive. These articles are brought together to form a coherent thematic whole, as articulated in the essay’s narrative.
Essays usually take a position. They may be normative, moving beyond a summary of “what is known” to suggest what should be. In Collections, authors build on their curated selection of articles published across AOM journals to advance arguments grounded in a specific theme.
Rather than simply synthesizing existing work, Collections essays use articles as a springboard for exploring new ideas. They often move between critique and reflection on past scholarship and speculation about future directions. In this way, essays are both critical and creative.
Collection essays provide opportunities to provoke thought, challenge prevailing assumptions, and propose new perspectives. While the collection reflects the past and present state of scholarship, the essay extends the conversation—engaging with it, questioning it, and imagining what might come next.
Submitting Collections Essays and Conversations
AMC publishes essays under the following three categories:
Essays
Authors identify a collection of articles published in AOM journals, chosen around a theme. The collection and its theme are then used as the inspiration for the essay, engaging the author’s voice and point of view.
Multivocal Essays
Two or more authors present different viewpoints on a topic and a collection or collections.
Conversations
Authors submit proposals to represent different voices in response to essays and multivocal essays.
AOM Collections Proposal Criteria
Potential contributors should submit a 300–400 word proposal outlining the position(s) to be taken in the essay. Proposals will be reviewed by the editors and evaluated based on their potential to generate broad interest, stimulate conversation, and spark new ideas. If accepted, the author will be invited to submit a full essay, which will then be reviewed by members of the editorial board.
Proposals should include:
- The articles to be featured in the collection. When submitting to Academy of Management Collections, aim to sample across all AOM journals and over time. Having a clear theme and a set of decision rules will aid your search. (The list of articles is not included in the 300–400 word count.)
- A brief description of the following elements of your proposal:
- Theme or themes. Identify the central theme of the collection and briefly explain your inspiration for choosing it.
- Your point of view. Essays provide leeway to move beyond the empirical and conceptual content of the articles to consider ethical or political issues, side effects, missed opportunities, and unintended consequences. The essay should take a stand—a normative position. How do the selected papers give rise to your point of view? How do you intend to “trouble the waters”?
- Invitation to conversation. With a normative position comes the need to invite others into dialogue. What is compelling or provocative about your argument? Consider a broad audience that may include policymakers, managers, workers, or the public. Who do you envision joining the conversation, and where might the discussion lead? What are your hopes?
Proposals are reviewed by the Associate Editors. If a proposal is approved, the author will be invited to submit a full essay or conversation. An invitation to submit does not guarantee acceptance. All submissions will undergo double-blind peer review, and a final decision will be rendered by the Action Editor.
Characteristics of proposals and essays
- Proposals and essays should be written in your own voice and clearly convey your position within a broader social context. Including your reflections and experiences in the narrative will not detract from the essay’s quality; in fact, it may enhance it.
- Essays should be readable to a broad, well-educated audience. Do not assume that your readers are academics. Instead, consider how your essay might engage a well-informed nonacademic audience while still offering insights that academics would also value.
- Connect the topic to issues that matter personally and socially. Why does it matter to you? What experiences or events led you to this perspective? What drew you to this problem or critique?
- Avoid unnecessary jargon. If technical terms are essential, explain them as you would to a layperson, ideally with a vivid example.
- The tone should not be strictly academic but instead clear, literate, and accessible.
Submission Requirements
Submitting to Academy of Management Collections is a two-stage process.
- Authors must first submit a brief proposal. See above for detailed requirements.
- If the proposal is accepted, the author(s) will be invited to submit the full collection, including the essay and the selected AOM-published articles, which will then undergo a double-blind peer review process.
When submitting a proposal to Collections, authors agree to abide by the journal’s publication requirements. Specifically, authors must:
- Confirm exclusivity. The proposal or essay must not be under review elsewhere and may not be submitted to another publication outlet during the Collections review process.
- Confirm originality. The proposal, essay, or collection must not have been previously submitted to Collections. This includes proposals covering the same broad topic area or drawing on a similar set of curated articles. If in doubt about the distinctiveness of a new proposal, authors should contact the editors for clarification.
Proposals should be submitted directly via the ScholarOne Manuscripts website. Proposals are peer-reviewed, with the process managed by the Editors and Associate Editors. If a proposal is approved, the author will be invited to submit a full essay. Please note that an invitation to submit does not guarantee acceptance.
Formatting
In general, AMC follows the AOM Style Guide for Authors. However, AMC uses endnotes instead of in-text citations, reference lists, and footnotes.
Endnote examples:
Book with single author
- Cheryl Strayed, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012), 87–88.
- Strayed, Wild, 261, 265.
A book with an editor in place of an author includes the abbreviation ed. (editor; for more than one editor, use eds.). Note that the shortened form does not include ed.
- Meghan Daum, ed., Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids (New York: Picador, 2015), 32.
- Daum, Selfish, 134–35.
Book with Multiple Authors
- Brian Grazer and Charles Fishman, A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015), 188.
- Grazer and Fishman, Curious Mind, 190.
Book with Author plus Editor or Translator
- Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera, trans. Edith Grossman (London: Cape, 1988), 242–55.
- García Márquez, Cholera, 33.
Chapter in an Edited Book
- Glenn Gould, “Streisand as Schwarzkopf,” in The Glenn Gould Reader, ed. Tim Page (New York: Vintage Books, 1984), 310.
- Gould, “Streisand as Schwarzkopf,” 309.
Journal Article
- Benjamin Bagley, “Loving Someone in Particular,” Ethics 125, no. 2 (January 2015): 484–85.
- Bagley, “Loving Someone in Particular,” 501.
The URL in the following example indicates that the article was consulted online; in this case, it is based on a DOI and is preferred to the URL that appears with the article.
- Jui-Ch’i Liu, “Beholding the Feminine Sublime: Lee Miller’s War Photography,” Signs 40, no. 2 (Winter 2015): 311.
- Liu, “Beholding the Feminine Sublime,” 312.
To ease the burden on authors, initial submissions are given leeway on formatting. Manuscripts will not be rejected solely on the basis of improper formatting. However, as an aid to reviewers, authors are encouraged to follow our format from the start. All manuscripts must fully comply with AMC formatting as a condition of acceptance.
Authors are strongly encouraged to review the AOM Style Guide prior to submission.
AI Policy
All submissions must be the original work of the author(s) and not the product of artificial intelligence (AI) tools unless explicitly appropriate to the research question and are properly cited. Authors must disclose any use of AI in the manuscript cover letter and in the acknowledgments section of the essay. Authors are also required to confirm they have read and understood AOM’s AI policy.
Ethics
Authors should review AOM’s Ethics policy page, which includes the Code of Ethics and detailed procedures for inquiries and requests.
For additional information, contact [email protected].
Submitting Your Proposal
Technical Help
If you need help submitting to Academy of Management Collections online, contact the ScholarOne helpline Monday–Friday, 12:00–20:30 ET, GMT-5:
- Phone: +1-434-964-4100 or +1-888-503-1050 (U.S.)
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: http://mchelp.manuscriptcentral.com/gethelpnow