Abstract
Throughout its 14 chapters, How to Get Published in the Best Entrepreneurship Journals addresses various aspects of academic publishing and provides entrepreneurship scholars with valuable insights into publishing through the top-level entrepreneurship outlets. Drawing on the wisdom and advice of well-respected entrepreneurship scholars, the book serves both as an essential guide for PhD students and as a valuable resource for established scholars.
In his introduction, Alain Fayolle discusses why and how entrepreneurship scholars should strive to publish and how to recognize the topics worth researching. The book’s overview of top-tier entrepreneurship journals to consider as suitable outlets for novel research will be particularly helpful for novice researchers. At the same time, the book provides the numbers of submissions and acceptance rates of the journals, which will serve as a reminder of how tough the academic profession can be.
Following Fayolle’s introduction, Mike Wright addresses the several steps of the research process through answering a series of ‘How to …’ questions. He identifies the essential elements of good quality publications and outlines publication strategies for the researcher. In his next chapter, Wright reminds us of the work required even to get to a revise and resubmit stage, before further explaining the review process in detail. In this chapter, Wright lists the requirements for an article to be published, pointing out that neglecting any of them could be fatal to the prospects of a manuscript.
Per Davidsson’s personal touch and lively examples shed light on the building blocks of academic research and an academic career. A good research question, relevant contribution, persistence, and having good co-authors who are able to fulfil diverse roles in the publication process are most important. An interesting insight is provided when Davidsson – drawing on his longitudinal experience – interprets the academic cultures dominating our field: the ‘old school’ culture allowed multidisciplinary approaches ranging from empirical assessments to conceptual development that matured over time, while new scholars today are pressured to start fuelling and streamlining the publication pipeline as early as possible. Dimo Dimov also discusses the cultural aspects when he provides new insights on the differences between European and US scholarships. He compares the two systems through the socialization, training, focus, and communication embedded in the process of educating new scholars. Dimov discusses how preparation, expectations, and participation in academic conversation vary in the course of PhD programmes and how this influences the development of scholarship.
Robert Blackburn and Friederike Welter share their experiences in managing the research process from idea generation through to the dissemination of novel results. Among other things, they emphasize how planning in advance will facilitate the research process. Related advice is provided by Herman Frank and Isabella Hatak who provide practical hints on how to successfully conduct a literature review. They illustrate the differences between a literature review as a process and as a product: The former serves as an overview of a topic; the latter is a method for resolving a specific research question.
Benson Honig addresses how scholars are influenced by ethical questions. He outlines the institutionalized forces that increase the pressures to publish, increasing competition among scholars, and fostering the ‘publish-or-perish’ atmosphere in academia. In the worst case, Honig reminds us, these factors may persuade scholars to allocate their resources to unproductive, and even unethical, forms of research. Honig reminds all scholars of entrepreneurship of their obligation to serve as the vanguard of the entire field of entrepreneurship, and that the decisions they make influence practitioners, students, and other scholars.
Sally Jones and Helle Neergard discuss the PhD process and what is required of scholars targeting the publication of articles based on a thesis. The assessment of the pros and cons of monographic versus article-based theses is extremely valuable for early-stage scholars struggling to decide which form to choose. In a related discussion, Nicole Coviello addresses how researchers can improve their chances of publishing qualitative work in the top-tier journals, an arena still dominated by positivistic dogma. For instance, her suggestions highlight several issues to take into account, such as the importance of crafting the text. The qualitative paradigm is also approached by David Alhstrom and Garry Bruton who discuss their observations in conducting qualitative research in Asia. Understanding the nuanced role of contextual conditions is relevant for all qualitative endeavours. Another detailed aspect is provided by Franz Lohrke and colleagues who address the special requirements of exploiting the case method in entrepreneurship research. They focus on discussing the qualities of theory development and pedagogical cases. In addition to handling what are sometimes huge volumes of information, scholars have to select a certain aspect to distinguish a case and then convey that aspect through accomplished story-telling.
David Audretsch draws on his experience to stress the policy relevance of entrepreneurship research endeavours. He stresses that by investigating entrepreneurship as an underlying factor linked to economic performance, entrepreneurship research generates new information relevant to public policy. Thus, simply giving instructions for policy intervention is not enough, even if doing so would fulfil the criteria of respectable research. Finally, Andrew Corbett analyses how entrepreneurship research is positioned in relation to general management research. He concludes that in pursuing an extended reach for their research, scholars should not settle for stylistic manoeuvres but should target major changes in tone to arouse the interest of ‘new’ audiences. After all, the perspectives and expectations of reviewers from different disciplines will inevitably vary considerably.
Today’s scholars are under increasing pressure to publish their work, and they will benefit from reading this book and giving due consideration to the ‘ideas and ways towards a better future’ (p. 3). The book offers discussions on and insights into general points of entrepreneurship research, but also serves as a tool for resolving the practical issues affecting publishing scholarly manuscripts.