Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal Submission Guide

Source: SEJ on Wiley, Strategic Management Society, Wiley journal metrics page (2025 Journal Impact Factor), accessed October 2026.

The strategic implication: pure-entrepreneurship strategy fits SEJ; broader strategy fits SMJ; international strategy fits GSJ. Authors should articulate the SMS-journal choice in the cover letter.

Three signals this guide treats as the editorial screen (Manusights judgment, not a published checklist):

1. Entrepreneurship + strategy substance. Wiley and SMS describe SEJ as a general-interest entrepreneurship journal; the emphasis on a contribution at the intersection of entrepreneurship and strategy is Manusights judgment, not a published requirement.

2. Methodological rigor. Whether quantitative-empirical, qualitative, or modeling work, methods must be top-tier.

3. SMS-journal fit. Authors should articulate why SEJ vs SMJ or GSJ is the right SMS venue.

Topic areas this guide associates with SEJ (a Manusights reading of recent issues, not a Wiley list):

• New-venture formation and growth strategy

• Entrepreneurial finance and venture capital

• Innovation strategy in startups

• Family business strategy

• Corporate venturing and intrapreneurship

• International entrepreneurship strategy

• Social entrepreneurship strategy

• AI and digital entrepreneurship

For specific recent papers and DOIs, see SEJ on Wiley.

• First decision: Wiley's metrics page prints a 2025 median of 60 days from submission

• Submission to acceptance: Wiley's metrics page prints a 2025 median of 602 days

• Acceptance rate: Wiley's metrics page prints 6% for 2025

• Acceptance to publication: Wiley's metrics page prints a 2025 median of 23 days (Early View available)

This guide covers portal and policy. The fit call needs the manuscript itself. The review tells you whether your paper clears the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal fit check before upload, especially around pure-entrepreneurship without strategy framing, wrong SMS journal chosen, and wrong entrepreneurship venue chosen. Paid Manusights reviews include a 60-day money-back guarantee, and we do not train models on submitted manuscripts.

Three patterns generate the most consistent rejections.

Pure-entrepreneurship without strategy framing

We read SEJ as favoring a contribution that lives at the intersection of entrepreneurship and strategy, not entrepreneurship description alone, although Wiley and SMS describe it as a general-interest entrepreneurship journal. Manuscripts that document a new-venture phenomenon without a strategy-level question, such as how entrepreneurial choices shape competitive advantage, resource configuration, or firm-level outcomes, read as pure-entrepreneurship work better suited to JBV or ETP. The fix is to articulate the strategy contribution explicitly in the abstract and cover letter, naming the strategy construct the study advances rather than assuming the strategy angle is self-evident.

Check pure entrepreneurship without strategy framing before submitting to Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal →

Wrong SMS journal chosen

SEJ is one of three Strategic Management Society journals, so the choice of SMS journal is worth settling before testing the contribution itself. Broad strategy work without an entrepreneurship core belongs at SMJ, and international-strategy work belongs at GSJ. The fix is informed routing: state in the cover letter why the entrepreneurship-strategy framing makes SEJ the natural home rather than SMJ or GSJ, so the editor does not have to infer the choice and consider a transfer.

Check wrong sms journal chosen before submitting to Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal →

Wrong entrepreneurship venue chosen

Even when the strategy framing is present, SEJ competes with the broader entrepreneurship field, where JBV is the generalist flagship, ETP emphasizes theory, and Small Business Economics centers economics-oriented work. A study can be strong and still fit one of those venues more naturally if its core contribution is to entrepreneurship phenomena rather than to entrepreneurship-strategy integration. The fix is informed routing: compare the manuscript's central claim against each venue's editorial emphasis before committing. A SEJ manuscript readiness check can identify whether entrepreneurship-strategy framing, methodological rigor, and SMS-journal alignment align before submission.

Check wrong entrepreneurship venue chosen before submitting to Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal →

SEJ requires these at first submission:

• main manuscript file fully anonymized for double-blind peer review (Word or LaTeX at submission, with a PDF version for peer review when the main document is LaTeX; Word or LaTeX again after acceptance)

• separate title page with the title, full names, titles, email addresses, and affiliations of all authors, plus a running head of up to 60 characters (uploaded separately so reviewers do not see it)

• cover letter establishing the strategy-and-entrepreneurship intersection contribution and answering SEJ's three required questions on overlapping datasets, prior submissions, and citation of the authors' relevant work; authors may request specific Associate Editors or reviewers in the cover letter

• two abstracts, a research summary and a managerial summary of up to 125 words each, plus five keywords

• a manuscript that has not been previously published and is not under consideration elsewhere

• access to data and programs for the editor and reviewers on request during review (tell the editor at submission if access is restricted)

• optional requests in the cover letter for specific Associate Editors or reviewers with whom the authors have no conflict of interest

• no fee for submitting; the only fees associated with publishing an accepted article are optional, such as the Wiley Open Access APC of $4,300 USD / £2,850 GBP / €3,570 EUR (Wiley says many transformation agreements can cover it)

• acknowledgement in the paper of any use of generative AI tools, per SEJ's Generative AI Policy

For SEJ submissions, the most common artifact-related issue is pure-entrepreneurship submissions where the strategy contribution is asserted but not developed, or pure-strategy submissions where the entrepreneurship context is decorative. Wiley and SMS describe SEJ as a general-interest entrepreneurship journal, so treating the entrepreneurship-AND-strategy intersection as a fit test, and routing pure-entrepreneurship work to JBV / ETP / Small Business Economics or pure-strategy work to SMJ / GSJ, is Manusights judgment rather than a published rule.

Run a Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal pre-submission readiness check before clicking submit to verify the package meets the journal's entrepreneurship-strategy-intersection bar and full anonymization standard.

SEJ's author guidelines describe the editorial process in general terms and publish no stage timings. Each paper is assigned to a Co-editor, who does an initial review and decides whether to assign an Associate Editor; the Co-editor or Associate Editor determines whether the paper goes through double-blind peer review; and the Associate Editor selects the reviewers. The stages below follow that sequence without dates.

Intake and CrossCheck/iThenticate technical check

SEJ uses CrossCheck's iThenticate on every submission to detect duplicated text and possible plagiarism, and the guidelines say submissions that do not follow SEJ's formatting guidelines may be returned for revision and resubmission.

SEJ Co-editor and Associate Editor assignment

SEJ Co-editors assign submitted manuscripts to Associate Editors based on expertise and workload (authors may request specific Associate Editors or reviewers in the cover letter). The Co-editor or Associate Editor decides whether the paper goes through the double-blind peer review process.

External peer review (double-blind)

If the manuscript passes the initial review, the Associate Editor selects the reviewers based on scholarly expertise and availability. The review is double-blind, so reviewers do not know the authors' identities and vice versa. The guidelines give no reviewer count or review window.

Decision and revision rounds

Wiley's metrics page prints, for 2025, a median of 60 days from submission to first decision and a median of 602 days from submission to acceptance. SEJ's guidelines describe the review as developmental and publish no revision-round count.

• Is Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal a good journal?

• Strategic Management Journal Submission Guide

• Journal of Business Venturing submission guide

Before the reviewer-invitation stage, read the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal package against the same risks this guide flags in the Manusights section. What matters is whether every part of the package points at the same journal.

• If the abstract still points toward pure-entrepreneurship without strategy framing, revise the central claim before upload.

• If the evidence package leaves wrong SMS journal chosen, strengthen the methods, controls, figures, or supplementary material rather than expecting reviewers to infer it.

• If the cover letter cannot resolve wrong entrepreneurship venue chosen, compare the target journal against the adjacent venues named above before submitting.

Last verified: October 2026 against SEJ editorial pages.