Planning For Publication

PLANNING FOR PUBLICATION
The View from the Editor’s Chair

Lorraine Eden
Editor-in-Chief
Journal of International
Business Studies (JIBS)

Strategic Management Society 29th Annual International Conference
Washington, DC, October 10, 2009

OUTLINE: PLANNING FOR PUBLICATION

I. What Is International Business (IB) Research?
II. JIBS at a Glance
III. Planning for Publication: What does it take?
IV. The Big Hurdle: Avoiding a desk reject
V. Conclusions

2

I. What Is the Domain of IB Research?

1. MNE activities, strategies, structures & decision-making processes

2. MNE interactions with other actors, organizations & institutions

3. Cross-border activities of firms

4. Impact of the international environment on the activities,
strategies, structures & decision-making processes of firms

5. Cross-country comparative studies of businesses, business
processes & organizational behavior

6. International dimensions of organizational forms & activities

What Is Not IB Research?
• Activities, strategies, structures & processes of domestic firms

• Interactions of domestic firms with other domestic actors, organizations &
institutions

• Within-border activities of firms (e.g. investment, technology transfers)

• Impact of the domestic environment (e.g., cultural, political, economic) on the
activities, strategies, structures & processes of domestic firms

• Within-country comparative studies of businesses, business processes and
organizational behavior in the same country or environment

• Domestic dimensions of organizational forms (e.g., alliances, M&As) and
activities (e.g., entrepreneurship, corporate governance)

4

II. What Journals Publish IB Research?

• “Column” Cell” journals: Specialty journals that focus on
journals: one topic (e.g. international marketing,
Mainstream international management) or one approach
discipline-based
journals that to IB (e.g. practitioner oriented articles)
publish
“international”
aspects of their DISCIPLINES
discipline (e.g., Acct Econ Finc Mgmt Mktg PolSci 
Academy of
Management
Journal, Journal A
of Finance, R
Accounting E
A Int’l Int’l Int’l Int’l Int’l Int’l Int’l
Review) S

5

II. What Journals Publish IB Research?

The proposed new SMS journal– Global Strategic Management – will be a
“mini-cell” journal (International Strategic Management is an area within
Strategic Management , which itself is an area within Management)

DISCIPLINES
Finc Management Mktg Acct
A Strategic Entre- Org HRM Other
MGMT preneur- Behavior MGMT
R ship
E
A
S
Int’l Int’l Int’l Int’l Int’l Int’l Int’l Int’l

6

JIBS Is an Interdisciplinary IB Journal

JIBS is not a “column” or “cell” journal, but rather an
interdisciplinary “row” journal, spanning not only mainstream
business disciplines (e.g. management, finance, marketing), but
also IB aspects of other social sciences. Thus, its scope is broader
than “cell” specialty journals and narrower than “column”
discipline-based journals.

DISCIPLINES
Acct Econ Finc Mgmt Mktg PolSci 
A
R
E
A Int’l Int’l Int’l Int’l Int’l Int’l Int’l
S

7


III. Getting Published: What does it take?
V. Conclusions

8

III. JIBS at a Glance

• JIBS is a professional association journal, owned by the
Academy of International Business (AIB).

• AIB is the leading global community of scholars for creation
and dissemination of knowledge about international
business and policy issues. Established in 1959 - 50th
anniversary in 2008. AIB has approx. 3,200 members in 74
countries. Website: http://aib.msu.edu

• JIBS Home page: http://www.jibs.net
• JIBS Activities page: http://cibs.tamu.edu/jibs

9

JIBS at a Glance: A “Tier 1” Journal

Mission Statement:
To publish insightful and influential articles on
international business that are widely read and cited
by business and management scholars.

JIBS is widely recognized as

• The #1 scholarly journal in international business
studies.

• A “top 10” or “tier 1” scholarly business journal.

JIBS Statistics at a Glance
Number of Sales: 4,500 on-line and print (2009)
Number of pages: 1,640 and issues: 9 (2009)
Volume # 40 in 2009: The 40th Anniversary!
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

214 414 437 550 589 494 514
Submissions
43 41 31 40 52 66 76
Articles
6 6 6 6 7 8 8
Issues
Pages 835 603 570 726 942 1,244 1,391

JIBS.NET: N.A. N.A. 54,694 77,041 211,552 256,570 404,818
Article
downloads
JIBS.NET: Page N.A. N.A. 281,044 358,187 548,987 1,319,896 1,620,672
views

11

JIBS 2008 SSCI Ranking
Eighth Among Business Journals in 2008*
Rank Journal Title ISSN Total Impact 5-Year Immediacy Articles Cited Half-Life
Cites Factor Impact Index
Factor
1 ACAD MANAGE REV 0363-7425 11613 6.125 8.211 1.209 43 >10.0

2 ACAD MANAGE J 0001-4273 12285 6.079 7.670 0.273 55 >10.0

3 J RETAILING 0022-4359 2454 4.095 4.978 1.114 35 9.3

4 J MARKETING 0022-2429 9414 3.589 7.092 0.204 54 >10.0

5 STRATEGIC MANAGE J 0143-2095 13703 3.344 6.708 0.443 70 >10.0

6 MARKET SCI 0732-2399 2813 3.309 3.868 0.096 73 >10.0

7 J MANAGE 0149-2063 4912 3.080 4.532 0.225 40 >10.0

8 J INT BUS STUD 0047-2506 4990 2.992 5.030 0.320 75 >10.0

9 ADMIN SCI QUART 0001-8392 9086 2.853 6.313 0.125 16 >10.0

10 J CONSUM PSYCHOL 1057-7408 1060 2.841 2.766 3.000 25 5.4

* Only those journals with an impact factor score of 2.8 or higher are reflected.
12

JIBS 2008 SSCI Ranking
Seventh Among Management Journals in 2008 *
Rank Journal Title ISSN Total Impact 5-Year Immediacy Articles Cited Half-Life
Cites Factor Impact Index
Factor
1 ACAD MANAGE REV 0363-7425 11613 6.125 8.211 1.209 43 >10.0

2 ACAD MANAGE J 0001-4273 12285 6.079 7.670 0.273 55 >10.0

3 MIS QUART 0276-7783 5684 5.183 11.586 0.778 36 9.7

4 STRATEGIC MANAGE J 0143-2095 13703 3.344 6.708 0.443 70 >10.0

5 J MANAGEMENT 0149-2063 4912 3.080 4.532 0.225 40 >10.0

6 ORGAN RES METHODS 1094-4281 922 3.019 3.387 1.211 38 6.6

7 J INT BUS STUD 0047-2506 4990 2.992 5.030 0.320 75 >10.0

8 ACAD MANAG LEARN EDU 1537-260X 451 2.889 0.056 36 3.8

9 ADMIN SCI QUART 0001-8392 9086 2.853 6.313 0.125 16 >10.0

* Only those journals with an impact factor score of 2.8 or higher are reflected.

13

JIBS and the Big Five

Benchmarking vs the BIG FIVE business & mgmt journals

Yr ASQ AMR AMJ JIBS Org Sci SMJ
2008 2.85 6.13 6.08 2.99 2.58 3.34
2007 2.91 4.37 5.02 2.28 3.13 2.83
2006 2.46 4.52 3.35 2.25 2.82 2.63
2005 2.71 4.25 2.20 1.25 1.99 1.90
2004 3.40 3.72 2.65 1.29 2.30 1.98
2003 2.72 4.42 3.34 1.39 2.37 2.72
2002 2.63 3.70 2.54 1.46 1.61 3.09
2001 3.98 3.16 2.83 0.87 2.06 2.68

14

JIBS Structure

Editor-in-Chief
Area Editors
Managing Editor & JIBS Staff
Consulting Editors Board (CEB)
Editorial Review Board (ERB)
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
AIB Executive Board

15

JIBS Editorial Office

Anne Hoekman Lorraine Eden Deanna Johnston
Managing Editor Editorial Assistant
Editor-in-Chief
Michigan State Texas A&M University
University Texas A&M University

16

JIBS Area Editors …… + 30 Consulting Editors

Daniel C. Bello Sea-Jin Chang Witold J. Henisz Lee H. Radebaugh Lemma W. Senbet
Intl Marketing & Managing the Institutional & Political IB Policy & International
Supply Chair Mgmt MNE Environment of IB Accounting Finance

Anand Swaminathan Rosalie L. Tung Alain Verbeke Arjen van Witteloostuijn
Organization Theory Intl, Comparative & MNE Theory & Economics, Ecology &
& IB Cross-Cultural MGMT International Strategy Strategy in IB
17

The JIBS Review Process

• JIBS is double blind (but editors will know who you are)

• Uses three reviewers who send their reviews to the Area
Editor; the initial screening is done by the Editor-in-Chief and
Reviewing Editor

• Selection by country and area expertise where possible to
identify reviewers.

• Goal is 30 day turn from reviewers, two months from receipt
of manuscript to answer back to the author

18


V. Conclusions

19

IV. Planning for Publication: What does it take?

Less than one in
10 submitted
papers is
accepted for
publication at
JIBS and other
top-tier journals.

What does it take
to make it
through the peer
review process?

20

Getting Published: Key Steps

When writing a paper with the goal of having it accepted for
publication, there are several steps one can take to increase the
chances of successful publication:

1. Select a new, useful topic that makes a contribution to our
knowledge of IB.

2. Collaborate with other scholars.

3. Follow the journal’s policy guidelines.

4. Understand the peer review process.

21

1. Selecting a Topic

• The Problem should:
• Address a new and interesting question
• Challenge conventional wisdom
• Be counter-intuitive
• Make a contribution to / advance current thinking
• Reconcile anomalies between theory and/or evidence – solve
puzzles
• Where do you find ideas? Read, go into the field, attend conferences,
talk to people who are interested in your research area.
• Be prepared to enter an existing conversation with other scholars. What
story do you have to tell, and what data do you have to support your
story? How does your story fit into the existing conversation?

22

Common Shortcomings

• Paper motivation is weak
– “Gap in our understanding”. Is there really a gap -- or just an inadequate
literature review? Is the gap worth filling (maybe not)?

• Theory development is weak
– Theory by assertion or citation or reinvention of existing theory
– Intro of new variable highly correlated with many existing variables

• Empirical work is weak
– Mechanisms linking DV and IVs are not carefully specified, plausible and
observable
– Data do not “match” theory - unit of analysis, construct validity.
– Tests do not rule out alternate hypotheses or control for potential confounds.

23

2. Collaborate:
Team-based Research

• Ideas get better with a sounding board

•If you are new to the game, start with someone
who has published before

• Team research may not only be better but also
faster - share ideas, resources and competencies –
create learning alliances

24

Collaborate:
Test Your Ideas on Others

1. Friendly reviews – ask colleagues to read your work and give
comments. Revise the paper based on the comments.

2. Outside reviews – ask three or four scholars in the field to read
your paper and give you comments.
 Revise the paper based on the comments.

3. Present your paper at a workshop or conference.
 Revise the paper based on the comments.

4. Ready to submit your paper? What comes next ??

25

3. Journal Policies Improve Your Chances

Check journal websites for:
 Statement of Editorial Policy
 Instructions for Contributors
 Code of Ethics
 Style Guide
 Frequently Asked Questions

Remember you are entering a
conversation – what do you
have to contribute?

26

4. Peer Review:
Who does what?

• Who makes the decision?

• How does the process
work?

• Steps to take after a
decision is made

27

How does the peer
review process
work inside a
journal?

The 1st Round
Process at JIBS:
From OM
submission to
Decision 1 AE makes R&R or
Reject decision

28

The Revise-and-
Resubmit Process at
Admin Checks and
Passes to AE JIBS: Stages 2, 3 and
4
AE Sends Back to
Reviewers

Reviewers Score

OM  decision 1: 68 days
AE makes decision
R1 decision 2: 62 days
R2 decision 3: 37 days
R3  decision 4: 17 days Process continues to
Total “inside” time: Six Months Final Decision

29

What Next? Steps After a Decision

• Editor collects reviews and makes a recommendation

• If you get an R&R • If you get a Rejection
– Celebrate - you are – Don’t take the criticisms
partly through the “eye personally.
of the needle”! – Don’t appeal the decision –
– Attend to all reviewer with rare exceptions.
comments. – Fix the manuscript before
sending it to another journal.
– Return the revised
– Don’t bury it – every good
manuscript with your
paper has a home.
Responses within 4
months.

30


V. Conclusions

31

V. The Big Hurdle: Avoiding a Desk Reject

About 45 % of original submissions are desk rejected through
the internal review process.

Many authors are invited to fix the problems identified by the
JIBS Editors and to resubmit their papers to JIBS.

Submissions to JIBS --- in order to pass the internal review stage
and avoid a desk reject -- must meet minimum FIT, QUALITY and
CONTRIBUTION norms.

32

Reasons for Desk Rejection at JIBS

• Lack of Fit
• Manuscript topic does not fall within the JIBS domain statement (e.g. paper
not sufficiently international).

• Problems with Quality
• The manuscript does not have sufficient intellectual depth.
• Methods/analysis not appropriate to the research question being asked or
are not reasonably rigorous.
• Manuscript does not conform to accepted standards of scholarship in terms
of style, content and writing, or the paper is excessively long.

• Insufficient Contribution to IB Studies
• The research is not likely to be interesting to IB scholars.
• The manuscript does not advance our knowledge of IB studies.

33

Example of Desk Reject Letter #1

“Your paper is well done but does not advance the field in terms
of new theory in this area. None of the hypotheses is new. The
key contribution of the paper is to test existing hypotheses on a
new dataset. Papers that do not advance theory will receive, if
sent out for review, with an almost sure rejection by our
reviewers on the grounds that the paper does meet the JIBS
standard of making an innovative and insightful contribution to
IB studies.”

Recommendation: submit elsewhere or revise manuscript so as
to improve the contribution to IB studies.

34


“Your manuscript is only tangentially related to IB studies. The
paper is a single-country study of ___. While one of the
hypotheses is IB related, this is only a small part of the paper. If
you can rework the paper to really build in a strong IB aspect to
the theory development and empirical work, such that the paper
more clearly fits within the JIBS Statement of Editorial Policy,
then I would encourage you to submit the revised paper to JIBS.
You might find it helpful to read the JIBS Letter from the Editors
on "What makes a study sufficiently international?“ if you do
decide to rewrite the paper for JIBS.”

Recommendation: submit elsewhere or revise manuscript so as to improve
IB contribution.

35

“Your paper could make a useful contribution to the IB literature on _____ because ____.
The problem is that if I ask:” Why JIBS? Why was this paper submitted to JIBS I cannot
answer this question. Some problems I see are the following: The paper is not set up like
JIBS articles. The introduction and theory development do not link to IB studies nor to
previous papers in JIBS on this topic. The conclusions do not say why this paper is important
for IB scholars in general, or JIBS readers in particular. Moreover, the paper is too narrow
and needs to be broadened; the focus is too discipline specific and as a result, the paper
will be of little interest to the broad IB community. I am therefore desk rejecting your
manuscript. However, because your manuscript looks like it could make a useful
contribution to IB studies, I recommend that you revise it to address the problems identified
here and make a new submission to JIBS. Your paper needs to have clear answers to the
questions: (1)Why was this paper submitted to JIBS? (2) Will this paper be of interest to JIBS
readers? (3) Does this paper make an insightful and innovation contribution to IB studies? If
you do not wish to spend the time revising the paper so that it is more appropriate for JIBS, I
recommend that you submit it to a more narrowly focused journal in your discipline and
wish you luck with this manuscript. “

Recommendation: Improve the fit for the journal or submit elsewhere.

36

“I am desk rejecting your paper and recommending that you revise the paper and resubmit
it to JIBS. As the paper currently stands, if it went out for review I believe it would be
rejected on the first round. The reason is straightforward. The paper is an inductive case
study but its contribution to theory building is not clear. JIBS prides itself on theory
development and the way the paper is currently framed I cannot not tell what the main
theoretical contributions of the paper are, over and above what we already know about this
topic. Please let me stress that this is NOT a rejection of your paper because it is based on
qualitative research. In fact, JIBS has a Call for Papers on "Qualitative Research in IB”.
However, the qualitative research must meet the highest, most rigorous standards in terms
of "best practice" in qualitative methods, and the theory contribution of the paper must be
clear and significant. It is not obvious from reading your paper that it has followed best
practice in terms of, for example, construct validity, nor can I see how the paper contributes
to IB research either by developing new theory or by providing insights into existing
theories. My advice would be to rework the paper so as to address these weaknesses and
resubmit it to JIBS. This will improve the paper’s chances of passing through the JIBS review
process in a successful manner.”

Recommendation: Meet or exceed best practice and be clear about IB
contribution, or submit elsewhere.

37


V. Conclusions

38

VI. Conclusions: From the Editor’s Chair

• IB research is inherently interdisciplinary, bringing together scholars from
across the social sciences with an interest in IB.

• You are entering an ongoing conversation. IB Journals differ (column, cell,
row). Study journal documents and read the journals. Understand the
conversations. Know where and why you are submitting.

• Doing IB research and getting it published is hard work -- intensive,
collaborative, stressful and fun.

• The big hurdle is desk rejection. Submissions must meet the journal’s
minimum fit, quality and contribution criteria.

• Enjoy the process and celebrate your successes!

39

Any questions?

Please:
* Send your best IB research to JIBS
* * Join the JIBS community of scholars

JIBS: Our Business Is International Business

Thank you!

editor-in-chief@jibs.net

Planning For Publication

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