PROPOSAL GUIDELINES

The mission of the new Academy of Management Perspectives (AMP) is to provide accessible articles about important issues concerning management and business. AMP articles are aimed at the non-specialist academic reader, not practicing managers, and rely on evidence as opposed to theory or opinion for their arguments.

Articles in AMP translate research findings for a non-expert audience and present new evidence that describes the world of management and business. AMP is open to the wide range of topics represented within the Academy of Management, although special attention will be given to manuscripts with broad appeal to the “thought leader” audience. Manuscripts that focus on issues that are of interest mainly to practicing managers will be a low priority. A useful guide in choosing a project for AMP is to ask oneself, could this manuscript be assigned to a class of business or management students?

A typical article might summarize what we know about a particular topic, going beyond a review of what research has found by organizing the material in ways that add value, drawing conclusions for practice, and thinking through the broader implications of the topic for society or public policy. A test of a good review is whether readers learn things that they would not have gathered from reading the original research. Articles might also present new findings, especially where they focus on topics that have been neglected by prior research.

AMP is also open to a range of evidence, including case studies, qualitative research broadly defined, and statistical analyses. AMP articles are fundamentally about evidence, however. Articles that are primarily based on opinion are a low priority.

Authors are asked to submit a short proposal (no more than 3 pages) outlining their article that includes an introduction and summarizes the general structure of your planned submission. The proposal should address the following questions:

1. What is the primary message of the article you are proposing?
2. In terms of identifying the potential audience for your article: 
1. Is there a primary audience or does it speak to more than one.  Which are they?
2. If it speaks to an academic audience, which areas within the Academy of Management domains are part of that audience?  Could you imagine your article being used as part of an academic reading list, and if so, which courses might it fit?
3. What is the basis for your arguments – is there a body of academic or practitioner studies on this topic or is it a relatively unique or new issue without many prior studies?
4. If you are presenting original information or findings, on what are they based?

Proposals may be submitted by e-mail to Lynn Selhat: selhat@wharton.upenn.edu

or by mail to:

Lynn Selhat
Center for Human Resources
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
204 Steinberg Hall/Dietrich Hall
3620 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6301
Download a hard copy of these guidelines.