Topic Selection & AMJ Fit (amj-topic-selection)

When to trigger

• You have a dataset, a context, or a phenomenon, but no sharp research question
• You are unsure whether the idea belongs at AMJ vs. its AOM sister AMR (theory-only, no data), or at non-AOM venues ASQ (Cornell/SAGE) or SMJ (Wiley/SMS), or a field journal
• The question feels like "no one has studied X here" rather than "theory predicts something surprising"
• You want to pressure-test fit before investing months in data collection

AMJ fit test (all four must pass)

AMJ's mission is "to publish empirical research that tests, extends, or builds management theory and contributes to management practice," and it judges every paper on three criteria: a strong empirical contribution, a meaningful theoretical contribution, and practical relevance. The fit test below operationalizes those criteria.

1. Phenomenon-grounded but theory-driven. AMJ wants real organizational phenomena (micro OB, macro/strategy, HR, entrepreneurship, organizational theory) examined through a theoretical lens. A purely descriptive or purely methodological paper does not fit.
2. A theoretical mechanism, not just an empirical association. Ask: why would A affect B, and when? If you can only say "they are correlated," you have a topic, not yet an AMJ paper.
3. Original data and a defensible design are feasible. AMJ is empirical and welcomes all empirical methods — qualitative, quantitative, field, laboratory, meta-analytic, and mixed. If you cannot get suitable data of any of these kinds, it is an AMR idea (theory-only, no data), not an AMJ idea.
4. Surprise or tension. The strongest AMJ questions sit on a tension between theories, a counterintuitive boundary condition, or an unresolved debate — not a confirmation of the obvious.

Choosing the divisional home