Blogs

What determines whether your paper gets accepted at a top journal? Ask most business professors that question and you’ll get some familiar answers: strong theoretical contribution, methodological rigor, robust findings, and alignment with the journal’s scope.

Revising a research paper can feel overwhelming, especially with reviewer comments. The key is separating problems from tasks. Problems involve high-level issues like unclear arguments or weak theory, while tasks are actionable edits like adding citations or clarifying text. By focusing on problems first, graduate students, professors, and academic writers can revise more effectively and improve their chances of journal publication.

By the end of page 1 we’ve passed two of them. Don’t leave these critical junctions to chance! Across top business journals, reviewers and editors will say they evaluate the whole submission—and most do. But that evaluation may be only a minor aspect of their decision to reject or accept a paper. In fact, research suggests over 90% of our decision-making is subconscious (not that this is always a bad thing). Here’s what I’ve noticed as an editor to business school faculty for

The methods section seems to be many academics’ favorite (and first) section to write, because it’s primarily info they’ve had to write up already in order to conduct the research. It’s also many editors’ least favorite section to edit, because its data-dense nature means there’s not always much for us to do in terms of high-impact changes. But after 15 years of editing hundreds of business research manuscripts, I've gotten more comfortable with methods—at least, comfortable

Turning your conference paper into a journal submission isn’t just about fleshing it out and reformatting—it’s a full reimagining of your research for a broader, more rigorous audience.

Strategic academic editing can do more than improve prose. In this case study, three business school coauthors struggling with conflicting priorities and communication breakdowns transformed a fragmented manuscript into a cohesive submission ultimately published in Management Science. Learn how editorial mediation, narrative restructuring, and publication-focused revisions helped restore momentum.