Successful Authors and Effective Reviewers

Abstract

Bedeian, Van Fleet, and Hyman offer some data that cast doubt on the qualifications of the reviewers of the flagship journals in our field. Using two alternative measures of authoring success, we found the reviewers of Academy of Management Journal are as a group more accomplished scholars than the authors are as a group. However, we suggest that a more relevant conversation should be about addressing the large gap between the demand for effective reviewers and the supply of individuals who are both successful authors and effective reviewers. We encourage a two-pronged approach involving reducing the demand for reviews on one hand and increasing the supply of effective reviewers on the other hand. We offer several procedural and structural alternatives to initiate a conversation that might help to move us toward some norms to encourage and reward effective reviewing in our field.