The British Journal of Management (BJM) is seeking a new Co-Editor-in-Chief to succeed Professor Paul Hibbert, who reaches the end of his term of office at the end of July this year. The appointee will work with the continuing two Co-Editors-in-Chief – Professor Riikka Sarala and Professor Shuang Ren - to support its significant growth and innovative development. We are immensely grateful to Professor Hibbert for all he has done – and continues to do – to build the journal’s standing and reputation during his term as Editor-in-Chief.
Paul has been instrumental in setting up the new Management Knowledge and Education (MKE) section. The section is an important outlet for scholarly research into education, educator experience and disciplinary developments with implications for learning and teaching, in the context of business schools and other venues of management learning. Paul’s successor should be able to provide leadership to continue to enhance and develop the profile of the MKE section.
BJM is the flagship journal of the British Academy of Management (BAM) and is now in its 36th volume, having been established in 1990 with David Otley as its founding editor. It is highly regarded globally, being rated as a ‘4’ in the Academic Journal Guide and ‘A’ in the ABDC list; its 2024 impact factor is 4.5, its 5-year impact factor is 6.4. BJM is listed as 75/302 in Business and 99/401 in Management by Clarivate. In 2024 there were over 791.29k full text views of BJM articles.
BJM provides an excellent outlet for research and scholarship on management-related themes and topics. It publishes articles which are traditional disciplinary scholarship or of multi-disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and internationally significant nature, and which are committed to making a contribution to theoretical debates and supporting positive social impact through thoughtful scholarship. With contributions from around the globe, the journal includes empirical, conceptual and methodological articles across the full range of business and management disciplines, including:
- Accounting and Finance
- Business Education and Pedagogy
- Business Economics
- Business Ethics
- Entrepreneurship
- Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
- General Management
- Human Resource Management
- Innovation and Technology
- International Business
- Management Development
- Management Knowledge and Education
- Marketing
- Operations Management
- Organisational Behaviour
- Public Sector Management
- Research Methods
- Strategic Management
- Sustainability
BJM does not accept review papers, and papers based on surveys of students are only considered for contributions to the Management Knowledge and Education section. BJM complements the other publications produced by the British Academy of Management, including the International Journal of Management Reviews, and is deliberately targeted at a wide readership interested in business and management. BJM publishes authoritative papers. These address the intellectual and academic needs of the broad academic management community both in the UK and on a wider global scale.
The journal received 1412 manuscripts in 2024, a 28% increase on the number received in 2023, 51% more than in 2022. The average time for first decisions (which is accept, revise & resubmit, or reject after the first round of review) is 81 days. The average time for desk rejection is 8 days. Reflecting the increase in submissions, we have enlarged the Associate Editor team.
BJM is part of the Academy’s portfolio of journals which includes the International Journal of Management Reviews. It publishes four issues a year. The Co-Editors-in-Chief sit on BAM’s Council and its Research & Publications Sub-Committee and so make a significant contribution to its broader communication and publishing strategy. In addition, they make an important contribution to the annual September BAM conference.
Person specification
It is essential for the candidate to:
- Have demonstrable experience, knowledge and understanding of journal publishing evidenced by factors such as being a journal editor or an associate/consultant editor.
- Have a world-class research record as evidenced by publications in top-ranked relevant academic journals.
- Be able to provide leadership, specifically to further develop the MKE section.
- Be able to establish and maintain collaborative networks with other journals in the MKE space, to support and grow the field as a whole.
- Have demonstrable experience in leadership, including understanding of policy/policy making
- Have a demonstrable broad knowledge and understanding of the different sub-fields, methods, and theoretical perspectives of management research evidenced by publication/grants/roles in university or other relevant bodies.
- Have a demonstrable capacity to handle a demanding workload.
- Have a demonstrable ability to work constructively with others in the publishing community, in particular co-editors, associate editors, authors, reviewers and the British Academy of Management (the Academy).
- Familiarity with DORA and the implications for journal management.
- A strong commitment to BAM’s core values and governance in particular with relation to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Respect.
- Have excellent communication skills.
Job Description
- At all times to work closely with the other Co-Editors-in-Chief to achieve the job description and objectives set down by the British Academy of Management, and to maintain good communications about all aspects of the journal with the Academy’s Executive Committee and relevant sub-committee. The Editors report to the Co-Vice-Chairs for Research & Publications.
- Develop and implement a strategy to further enhance the position of BJM in the Academic community and in relation to other leading management journals, and to obtain support for significant changes in direction from the Academy’s Executive Committee and Research & Publications sub-committee.
- Oversee the manuscript commissioning and review processes in a manner that is compliant with the DORA principles and BAM’s core values. This includes: working with the other Co-Editors-in-Chief and a team of Associate Editors to decide whether to commission special articles and to decide when an article should be accepted for publication; commissioning and overseeing the production of special issues; building the reviewer community of the journal.
- Work closely with the Managing Editor and the office of the journal to achieve the highest level of performance in the eyes of its stakeholders.
- To manage the day-to-day relationships with the publisher (currently Wiley) to monitor their performance with respect to the journal, to support the process of the retendering of the journal publishing contract and to advise the Academy’s Executive Committee on all strategic issues relating to this relationship.
- To promote the journal energetically to wide and global audiences, for example by active involvement in Meet the Editor events.
- To co-lead the editorial team in its work in an energetic and appropriate manner as ambassadors for the journal in the BAM and wider academic community.
- To attend quarterly Council Meetings, meetings of the Research & Publications Sub-Committee, and the BAM Annual Conference in September.
- This is a demanding role, and the expectation is that the successful candidate will be editor of BJM only, with due allowance for any necessary transition period.
Objectives
- To continue to build and enhance the quality, rigour and significance of papers published in the Journal.
- To work towards maintaining and improving the position of BJM in relation to other journals as regards reputation including impact factor and journal rankings.
- To work closely with Associate Editors to ensure that authors are offered constructive and developmental feedback.
- To be aware of the publishing ‘landscape’ within the business and management community, and to ensure that BJM keeps up to date with new practices and editorial procedures The British Academy of Management supports the publication of its high-quality journals for the benefit of its membership and the wider community.
The selection of the Co-Editors-in-Chief will be made by the Academy’s Research and Publications Committee and the persons appointed will be expected to work closely with that Committee in developing the future strategy of the journal.
All applications will be treated confidentially.
Application should be made by sending a CV and covering letter to Jack Harrington CEO, British Academy of Management at [email protected] by noon (UK time) on Wednesday 30 April 2025.
The interviews with the BAM Research and Publications Sub-Committee appointments panel will take place via videoconference in early June 2025.
We very much welcome prior, informal conversations with individuals who are interested in applying for this role. Please contact Professor Stephanie Decker ([email protected]).
The appointment is for 3 years, renewable once by mutual agreement.
The British Academy of Management
The British Academy of Management was founded in 1986 and is the leading community for management scholars. The organisation has a current membership of over 2,200 individuals, about 30% of whom are based in over 50 countries. The Academy provides a variety of training and development workshops and programmes for academics at various stages of their career. A 3-day annual conference and 1-day Doctoral Symposium are also held in September at various locations within the UK.
Revenue is generated primarily from the two journals, the annual conference, and other training and development activities. The Academy also has a significant role in representing the community to government and research councils and has established links with a number of related organisations both in the UK and internationally.
Further information about the journal may be found on its dedicated webpages at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14678551
Further information about the Academy is available on its website: www.bam.ac.uk, where links to our social media presences may also be found.