Writing a Publishable Paper – Principles, Questions, Realities, and Stumbling Blocks

Abstract

Purpose: This paper identifies what business faculty, new PhDs, graduate students, practitioners, and other scholars can do to improve the likelihood of publishing their research in academic journals.

Design/methodology/approach:  Despite the fact that well educated scholars are generally well informed about management principles and theories, the success rate for obtaining acceptance of papers submitted to academic journals is typically well below 50% -- with some journals rejecting up to 95% of papers submitted.

Findings:  This paper identifies principles important to writing an academic paper, questions to address to ensure that those papers achieve a high standard, realities that impact the publishing process, and stumbling blocks to overcome to get a publication accepted.

Originality/value: This article highlights the overlooked concept of flair factors in the selection process, identifies six factors that are vital for successful employee selection, suggests three tools to improve selection processes, and presents five propositions for practitioners and scholars.