Dear Friends of Strategy Science,
I recently completed the 2023 Strategy Science annual report for the INFORMS Publications Committee and thought you might enjoy hearing news of this year's progress as a journal.
Impact Factor
Of course, our most significant news-which we reported a few months ago-is that we were finally eligible for and received an Impact Factor from Clarivate, which came in at 3.9-a score that is very close to Organization Science and not far behind Management Science, our two INFORMS sister journals of greatest interest to our readership.
Citations
In addition, citations to the journal continue to climb rapidly with citations to Strategy Science in published articles nearly doubling from 2020 to 2022, as reported by Clarivate. We see similar strong upward trends in citations per article in the two to four years after publication as reported by SCImago from the SCOPUS database. While there will be inevitable ups and downs in Impact Factor with a journal that publishes a relatively small number of articles, these citation trends all bode well for continued improvement in our impact metrics.
Submissions and Publications
Submissions continue to climb and, recently, at an accelerating pace. This year we are conservatively estimating a 25% increase in submissions from last year, which would mean a two-year increase in submissions of 55%.
Along with outstanding regular submissions in print this year, two important publication features are worth noting. First, our June 2023 Issue is a not-to-be-missed Special Issue on Corporate Purpose edited by William Ocasio, Matt Kraatz, and David Chandler. You can gain a sense of the Special Issue and the papers within it by reading the editors' introductory essay, Making Sense of Corporate Purpose, which is currently one of our most downloaded papers. Second, in our March 2023 Issue our first Virtual Special Issue: Strategy Science's Contributions to Doctoral Reading Lists appeared. This "living" document/list composed by Dan Levinthal and Gwen Lee is a curated list of papers that currently are or should be used in strategy PhD courses. This too is currently one of our most downloaded documents. Look for an online update in the next calendar year.
Review Process
We continue to make progress in streamlining the review process with a median time to first decision (for papers sent out for review) at 69 days and a median time to final decision at 119 days. We are committed to keeping the process fast. Senior editors at Strategy Science are encouraged to view reviewer comments as input to editorial guidance and not as reviewer-imposed hurdles or contracts with authors. Moreover, our philosophy is that the review process is primarily streamlined by reducing the number of review cycles rather than reducing time spent in each cycle.
Acceptances
Strategy Science continues to remain open to a broad spectrum of strategy-related work across multiple disciplines and research methods. We also remain highly selective with a single-digit acceptance rate among non-invited submissions. We currently have a healthy backlog of acceptances-a bit more than two issues-healthy in the sense that we have a bit of a buffer, but also healthy in the sense that your accepted paper will likely be in print in less than a year.
Visibility and Impact
Strategy Science continues to work on elevating the visibility and impact of published work in the journal through several social media and general marketing campaigns. We consistently advertise published and forthcoming articles through our LinkedIn and X (Twitter) site or feeds. New issues and new publications are also advertised through direct email campaigns and through the Academy of Management Strategy Division's listserv. Downloads of Strategy Science manuscripts have increased 61% over the past two years. In collaboration with INFORMS marketing we have recently launched a Strategy Science subscription campaign to university libraries and to related faculty. If your institution does not subscribe to Strategy Science, we encourage you to place a request with your librarian. Our experience is that such requests are our most effective marketing tool.
Journal-Supported Conferences
Strategy Science actively supported two conferences this year affiliated with the journal. In June, the Strategy Science Conference was held for the first time outside the US at LMU Munich, organized by Tobias Kretschmer. The conference received well over 200 submissions for roughly 70 speaking slots and was a tremendous success on all fronts. If you have not attended in the past, consider submitting for this year's Strategy Science Conference at University of Michigan, June 7-8. Look for a formal call for papers in the coming weeks. In October, the journal also sponsored a special issue conference on the theory-based view, co-organized by Alfonso Gambardella and Teppo Felin and hosted by the ION Management Science Lab at Bocconi University.
Looking Forward
We are excited about the journal's trajectory. Our primary aim continues to be the intellectual development of the field of strategy. We are excited by the continuing groundswell of top-tier institutions indicating that they use Strategy Science publications as first-tier publications in tenure and promotion decisions.
Please help us spread the word. Follow us on LinkedIn or X (Twitter). Look for our published work. Like and repost what you enjoy. Above all, send us your best work. We will do our own best to give it the careful consideration and feedback it deserves.
Sincerely,
Todd Zenger
Editor-in-Chief, Strategy Science