Abstract
Dennis Kivlighan, Co-Editor
Lyn M. van Swol, Co-Editor
Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock, Associate Editor
Bret Bradley, Associate Editor
Bertolt Meyer, Associate Editor
The editorial team of Small Group Research invites authors to submit proposals for the 2026 Review Issue. Articles for the Review Issue are high-impact scholarly surveys of important group and team research literatures. They summarize recent research, provide integration across disciplines, emphasize theory, and highlight important directions for future inquiries. The Review Issue is open to all areas of group and team research, including research methods and group-based learning activities.
We are interested in interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary reviews that (a) address critical turning points in the literature in terms of evolving theory, enduring issues where reviews can reveal future areas of attention, levels of analysis issues, or improvements in methodological approaches, and (b) explore the topic, theory, or method across disciplines. Manuscripts by a team of interdisciplinary authors are preferred.
Proposals should be submitted
Please note that we are not accepting manuscripts
Proposals should be double-spaced and include no more than ten pages of text. References, tables, and appendices do not count in this page limit. After the heading on the first page of the body, place the words – SUBMISSION FOR ANNUAL REVIEW 2026 – in caps and centered on the page. All proposals will be subject to editorial review. Please do not send complete papers–if you have a draft of your paper, please note that in the proposal.
Submissions will be evaluated with respect to the following criteria (we encourage you to address these in your proposal):
(a) Relevance. The proposed manuscript should thoroughly review a significant and important research area within the group and team literature.
(b) Integration across disciplines. The proposed manuscript should aim to integrate theory and research across the different disciplines that study groups. If the proposed review is limited to specific disciplines, identify this and explain why these disciplines are selected.
(c) Viability. The proposal should represent an achievable project within the tight time constraints required. More detail on the timeline is provided below.
(d) Organization and Coherence. The proposal should follow a logical structure, read clearly, and thoroughly represent the available research.
(e) Insight for Future Work. The proposal should convey important implications for future theoretical or methodological developments, or applications.
Review Issue Timeline:
April 1, 2024 through May 1, 2024 Proposals due to the Small Group Research online submission portal at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/sgr. Be sure to select “Proposal” in the Manuscript Type pull down box. Also indicate that your submission is a 2025 Review Issue Proposal in your cover letter.
September 15, 2024: Final decision on proposal and initial feedback provided to authors.
February 15, 2025: Full draft of paper due to Small Group Research.
April 15, 2025: Feedback to authors on full paper.
June 15, 2025: Final paper submitted to Small Group Research.
February 2026: Publication of 2025 review issue of Small Group Research
The following list represents the topics published (or accepted to be published) in the 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 review issues. Please review to avoid overlap or to build on previous reviews if topics intersect.
• Algorithms for computational faultline/subgroup detection
• Bona fide group
• Cognitive diversity
• Conceptual, methodological, and logistical problems of emergent states research
• Cross-disciplinary health care
• Creativity and Innovation
• Demonstrability
• Evolution of teams
• Examination of partner effects in group contexts
• Feedback in virtual teams
• Group communication and transactive memory systems
• Group deviance
• Hidden profile paradigms
• High Reliability Teams
• History of teamwork
• Interactive input-process-output models of group social influence
• Interdependent work
• Language and group process
• Leadership and innovation
• Minority influence in CMC
• Motivational systems theory of group involvement
• Multiple team membership
• Peer feedback
• Personality in small groups
• Resilience
• Science of multiteam systems
• Teaching teamwork skills
• Team emergent states
• Team person-role fit
• Team reflexivity and team information processing failures
• Team self-leadership
• Team training
• Technology to study team interaction
• Virtual teams and Virtual Meetings
• Work team design characteristic