Strategic Management Journal Submission Guide

Source: SMJ on Wiley, Strategic Management Society, Clarivate 2026 JCR release, accessed April 2026.

This is the SMJ-specific structural detail authors most often miss:

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

Three operational signals govern editorial assessment:

1. Strategy specialization. SMJ requires substantive strategy contribution. Pure-OB or pure-management work without strategy framing faces redirection.

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

3. Theoretical contribution. SMJ weights novel theoretical advance, not just empirical findings.

Recent SMJ issues span:

• Dynamic capabilities and strategic change

• Corporate governance and firm performance

• Mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures

• Innovation strategy and technology adoption

• International strategy and FDI

• Sustainability strategy and ESG

• Behavioral strategy and managerial cognition

• Platform strategy and ecosystem dynamics

For specific recent papers and DOIs, see SMJ on Wiley. Representative recent papers:

• 10.1002/smj.3489

• 10.1002/smj.3567

• 10.1002/smj.3623

• Submission to first decision: median 55 days (Wiley journal metrics, 2025)

• Submission to acceptance: median 806 days (Wiley journal metrics, 2025)

• Acceptance to publication: median 24 days (Wiley journal metrics, 2025); Early View is available

• Acceptance rate: 6% (Wiley journal metrics, 2025)

Get the process right from the source, then assess the paper on its own terms. The review tells you whether your paper clears the Strategic Management Journal fit check before upload, especially around strategy framing thin, wrong SMS journal chosen, and theoretical contribution incremental. 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.

Strategy framing thin

SMJ requires a substantive strategy contribution, not management or organizational-behavior work with a strategy label attached late. Manuscripts whose core question sits in adjacent fields, such as individual-level behavior, HR practice, or operations, read as out-of-scope even when the empirical work is strong. The fix is to articulate the strategy contribution explicitly in the abstract and introduction, naming the strategy construct, such as competitive advantage, firm performance, or dynamic capabilities, that the study advances rather than retrofitting strategy language onto a non-strategy result.

Check strategy framing thin before submitting to Strategic Management Journal →

Wrong SMS journal chosen

SMJ is the broad-strategy member of the SMS family, and the desk-screen routes entrepreneurship-strategy work to SEJ and international-strategy work to GSJ. A manuscript whose center of gravity is new-venture strategy or cross-border strategy may be redirected even when it is otherwise sound. The fix is informed routing: in the cover letter, state why the contribution is broad strategy rather than the entrepreneurship or international focus that would point to SEJ or GSJ, so the editor does not open with a transfer recommendation.

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

Theoretical contribution incremental

SMJ weights novel theoretical advance over confirmatory empirical findings, so a study that replicates or extends an established relationship without moving the theory forward struggles at desk-screen. Reviewers expect the paper to change how readers understand a strategy mechanism, boundary condition, or construct, not just add another context to a known effect. The fix is to articulate the genuine theoretical contribution, stating what the field believed before and what it should believe after. A SMJ manuscript readiness check can identify whether strategy framing, theoretical contribution, and SMS-journal alignment align before submission.

Check theoretical contribution incremental before submitting to Strategic Management Journal →

SMJ requires these at first submission:

• main document fully anonymized for double-blind peer review (no author names, no author affiliations, no acknowledgements; SMJ also recommends stripping author identity from file metadata)

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

• cover letter to the Co-editors answering SMJ's three questions: whether another manuscript from the same database has been accepted by or published in SMJ or another outlet, whether another manuscript from the same database has been submitted to SMJ or is under review at this or another journal, and whether the manuscript cites all relevant published work of all the authors; a yes to either of the first two or a no to the third means explaining how this manuscript differs from the previous work. Authors may also request specific Associate Editors or reviewers in the cover letter, and it is a natural place to state the strategy contribution and why SMJ rather than SEJ or GSJ is the fit

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

• the completed SMJ policy and pre-submission questions form, uploaded with the submission; SMJ returns the submission if the form is incomplete

• self-plagiarism disclosure: SMJ asks authors to cite all their prior relevant research and disclose any overlap in data with their prior work (the journal will not knowingly publish self-plagiarized research)

• data and programs: SMJ requires authors to give the editor and reviewers access to data and programs on request during review for replication, and to tell the editor at submission if access is restricted or limited; SMJ is open to publishing peer-reviewed dataset articles for datasets that enable broader research exploitation

• generative AI use: authors who used GenAI tools describe the tools and their purpose in the cover letter and add an "AI Use Statement" paragraph before the References; if no GenAI was used, no statement is needed but authors confirm this during submission

• costs: there is no fee for submitting; open access is optional, with an APC of $4,680 USD, £3,120, or €3,870 (before taxes) on Wiley's Strategic Management Journal open access page as read on 2026-10-10, and a Wiley Open Access Account or transformation agreement may cover all or part of it

For SMJ submissions, the most common artifact-related issue is incomplete self-plagiarism disclosure on submissions that draw on author dissertations, prior working papers, or conference proceedings with substantial text or data overlap. SMJ explicitly will not knowingly publish self-plagiarized research and asks authors to cite all prior relevant work; the cover-letter questions on prior use of the same database apply to revised manuscripts as well as initial submissions.

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

SMJ manuscripts move through three editorial stages, from Co-editor assignment to double-blind review and a decision. SMJ states that it does not pre-screen submissions: to evaluate a paper, it must be submitted online. The author guidelines give no stage-by-stage schedule; the timing figures are Wiley's journal-level medians in the timing section above.

Submission, Co-editor assignment and initial review

Submit through the Research Exchange portal. Each SMJ 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 then determines whether the paper goes through the double-blind peer review process. In the cover letter, authors may request specific Associate Editors or reviewers with no conflict of interest; the Co-editors make a good faith effort to honor requests but cannot guarantee them.

Double-blind peer review

If the manuscript passes the initial review, the Associate Editor selects the reviewers based on their scholarly expertise and availability. Reviewers are not aware of the authors' identities and vice versa; only the assigned Co-editor, Associate Editor, authors, and SMJ editorial office staff see the reviews.

Decision

Wiley's journal metrics for 2025 list a median of 55 days from submission to first decision, a median of 806 days from submission to acceptance, and an acceptance rate of 6%.

• Is Strategic Management Journal a good journal?

• Academy of Management Journal Submission Guide

• Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal Submission Guide

Before the reviewer-invitation stage, read the Strategic Management Journal package against the same risks this guide flags in the Manusights section. The test is whether abstract, methods, figures, and references agree on where this belongs.

• If the abstract still points toward strategy framing thin, 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 theoretical contribution incremental, compare the target journal against the adjacent venues named above before submitting.

Last verified: April 2026 against SMJ editorial pages.