---
name: jms-review-process
description: Use when you need to understand or set expectations for the Journal of Management Studies (JMS) editorial and peer-review process — desk screening, double-blind developmental review, and reading a decision letter. Explains the process and how to read decisions; it does not draft the response letter (jms-rebuttal).
---

# Understanding the Review Process (jms-review-process)

## When to trigger

- Before submitting, to calibrate expectations about timeline, desk-reject odds, and decision types
- A decision letter arrived and you need to interpret it (R&R vs. reject; major vs. minor)
- You are unsure how much weight reviewers vs. the handling editor carry
- You want to plan a revision strategy before drafting the response (then go to `jms-rebuttal`)

> Editorial structure, named editors, and exact turnaround change; verify the current team and policies on the official Wiley/SAMS pages. As of `检索于 2026-06；以官网为准`: JMS uses **double-blind** review; the editorial office is at **Durham University**; the General Editors/Editor-in-Chief and exact timelines are **待核实** unless quoted from an official page at submission time. The norms below are durable.

## How JMS review works (durable norms)

1. **Submission & routing.** A fully anonymised manuscript enters via ScholarOne (mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jmstudies). A General Editor (or an Associate/handling Editor) screens it and, if it passes, routes it to a handling editor in the relevant area.
2. **Desk decision.** Manuscripts that are off-fit, that lack a clear **theoretical contribution**, that are out of scope, or that are not engaged with a management/organization conversation may be desk-rejected without external review. The most common desk-reject reason is "no clear contribution to theory."
3. **External peer review.** Typically two or more reviewers in the focal conversation evaluate the theoretical contribution and the rigor of the method — held to the same bar whether the paper is quantitative or qualitative.
4. **Editor synthesis.** The handling editor weighs the reviews, forms an independent judgment, and writes the decision letter. The **editor's letter — not a vote count** — drives the outcome.
5. **Decision.** Common outcomes: reject; reject with possible resubmission as new; **major revision (R&R)**; minor revision; (rarely) accept. A first-round acceptance is essentially unheard of.

## JMS is developmental and pluralist

JMS's review culture is **developmental** and **method-pluralist**: an R&R is an invitation to improve the paper over (often) multiple rounds, and reviewers will push hardest on the **theoretical contribution**. For qualitative work, expect demands for a sharper model, clearer data-to-theory transparency, and a tighter contribution — *not* a demand to "add hypotheses." For quantitative work, expect endogeneity, CMB, and robustness pushback plus a "deepen the mechanism" demand. Treat an R&R as a serious opportunity, not a near-acceptance.

## Reading the decision letter

- **Find the editor's priorities first.** The handling editor's letter signals which reviewer points are essential vs. optional; address the editor's framing above all.
- **Distinguish fatal from fixable.** If the core contribution or identification concern is fatal and unaddressable, an honest reframe (or a different paper) beats a doomed revision.
- **Gauge encouragement.** "We see promise" + major revision signals a real path; "does not make a sufficient theoretical contribution" signals reject.
- **Count the asks by category.** Map every reviewer point to: theory / method / analysis / framing / writing — this becomes the plan that feeds `jms-rebuttal`.

## Planning the revision

- Decide whether you can meet the **theoretical-contribution** demands; if not, no method fix will save the revision.
- Scope new analyses, data, or fieldwork the reviewers imply and whether they are feasible in the window.
- Identify where reviewers conflict; plan to surface the conflict for the editor rather than silently siding with one.

## Checklist

- [ ] Decision type identified (R&R major/minor, reject-resubmit, reject)
- [ ] The handling editor's priorities extracted and ranked above individual reviewer asks
- [ ] Every reviewer comment categorised (theory / method / analysis / framing / writing)
- [ ] Fatal vs. fixable concerns separated honestly
- [ ] Feasibility of demanded new theory/data/analysis assessed against the deadline
- [ ] Reviewer conflicts noted for the editor's attention

## Anti-patterns

- Treating an R&R as a near-acceptance and making only cosmetic changes
- Treating an R&R as a rejection and walking away from a viable path
- Counting reviewer votes instead of reading the handling editor's letter
- Responding to a qualitative-paper review as if it demanded hypotheses
- Starting the response letter before mapping and planning the revision

## Output format

```text
【Decision type】R&R(major/minor) / reject-resubmit / reject
【Editor's priorities】1… 2… 3…
【Comment map】theory:[…] method:[…] analysis:[…] framing:[…] writing:[…]
【Fatal vs. fixable】…
【New work needed】theory / data / analysis — feasible? …
【Reviewer conflicts】…
【Next step】jms-rebuttal (plan revisions, then draft response)
```