CYGNA: The good, the bad and the ugly of editorial and reviewing responsibilities
Reports on our 64th CYGNA meeting where we shared experiences about reviewing, special issue editing and other editorial roles
As we have discussed before in CYGNA: One size doesn't fit all - Diversity of academic career paths, academic careers come in all shapes and sizes. However, at some stage nearly every academic will want to publish. In the past, we therefore organised several CYGNA meetings about publishing and adding interest to academic writing (see e.g. Publishing in Management, Psychology and International Business and The wonderful world of book publishing). We also host weekly Cygna Writes sessions.
In this meeting we talked about the other side of the coin: reviewing all those papers and acting as an editor, whether it is editor in chief, associate editor, or special issue editor. Ciara O'Higgins organised and hosted an excellent meeting on this theme, convening a panel of ten CYGNA members: Maike Andresen, Argyro Avgoustaki, Marian Crowley-Henry, Axèle Giroud, Inge Hill, Lee Martin, Margarita Nyfoudi, Victoria Pagan, Olga Ryazanova, and Martyna Śliwa.
The meeting topic was clearly of great interest to our CYGNA members as we had 44 participants coming from all over the world and the two hours just flew by.
Panel 1: Understanding the (Associate) Editor’s role
The first panel focused on the most senior editorial roles, such as Associate Editor or Editor in Chief. Maike, Axèle, Olga, and Martyna provided us with invaluable lessons on the questions below (and more), drawn from their extensive experience in the field. It gave all of us a much better idea of the breadth and variety of these roles, as well as their joys and challenges.
- What does an editor do?
- What does an editor expect from reviewers?
- Why and how to become an editor?
- Questions you’ve always wanted to ask an editor but didn’t have the opportunity
Resources
- Hello from the other side: Reflections on a decade at the editor’s desk [see also linked video below]
- Why be an editor? Excellent article gathering reflections from the Academy of Management Learning team of editors, including CYGNA's very own Olga Ryazanova. The introduction below provides you with a nice taster.
Why be an editor? It entails voluntary service, is intellectually demanding, and comes with an unpredictable workload that often seems to arrive at precisely the wrong time! The reflections [in this article] illustrate three key themes — collaboration, scholarship, and growth — that show why editing can be such an important and fulfilling part of a scholarly way of life.
Panel 2: Exploring and getting involved in different roles in academic journals
In the second panel, we talked about other editorial roles such as being a special issue guest editor, being part of the editorial/advisory board, or acting as a social media liaison. Marian, Inge, Margarita, and Victoria shared precious lessons on the questions below, including reflections on book editing.
- What different roles exist? Why (or why not) take on roles and what is expected?
- How do you get involved in any of these roles?
- Why and how to get involved in a special issue?
- How to be strategic about when, how and where to get involved with journals?
Resources
- CYGNA: Thriving in Research and Coping with Uncertainties [scroll down for Rea Prouska's excellent presentation on special issue editing, see picture below]
- Not specifically linked to this panel, but important all the same: Consider registering with national copyright agencies such as ALCS and CAL so that you get copyright payments when your books and academic articles are used.
Panel 3: Reflections on reviewing: why, how and where to review
In our last panel, we talked about reviewing. Argyro and Lee shared their personal experiences, kicking off a lively discussion across all panelists and participants on the following topics.
- Why, where, when and how much should you be reviewing?
- What is a good review/reviewer?
- How are reviewers found / picked?
- Where to find training/support for reviewing?
Resources
- Reflections on the completion of AMR’s Bridge Reviewer Program [Christa Sathish]
- Many journals publish articles on how to do high-quality reviews, here is an example from Journal of International Business Studies based on content analysis of good reviews and interviews with action editors.
Common themes that arose during the meeting
Huge thanks for Ciara O'Higgins who not only acted as an incredibly efficient and caring host, but also found time to write up the following notes.
Volunteering for editorial roles
- When thinking about volunteering for an editorial role, do it for the right reasons, i.e. when you are passionate about the topic and/or the field and you want to shape the conversation. This also means choosing a role in a journal where you
- have a solid record of publishing and reviewing
- are ready to commit to the substantial time commitment required
- The importance of the research community: You need to be well connected and/or known in the community to
- be considered or invited to take on the role
- find reviewers – the more connected you are, the better you can do the job
- promote the visibility of the journal (through webinars, PDWs, meet-the-editor…)
- Carefully consider what team to be a part of (editorial team or for a special issue):
- Diversity of profiles, experiences, perspectives, career stages, etc…
- Discuss difficult decisions together as a team – it’s not necessarily a solitary role
- Work together to shape the field (what) and the way things are done (how)
Reviewing
- Be polite and constructive, but even more important, be clear and concise in your comments.
- Find your balance – in number of reviews but also in length & style of review.
- Find it difficult to reject papers because you empathise with the authors? Think of it more as “how many rounds will this need to culminate in a publication?” If it’s too many, don’t waste everyone’s time.
Related videos
Related blogposts
- The four P's of getting published
- Own your place in the world by writing a book
- Strange journal invitations popping up in my inbox every day
- Are referencing errors undermining our scholarship and credibility?
- Why does my paper get a desk-reject time and again?
- Open syllabus: an essential tool to evidence the teaching impact of your research
- Does your research have policy impact? Introducing SAGEPolicyProfiles
- CYGNA: Publishing in Management, Psychology and International Business
- CYGNA: The wonderful world of book publishing
Copyright © 2025 Anne-Wil Harzing. All rights reserved. Page last modified on Sat 14 Jun 2025 11:09
Anne-Wil Harzing is Emerita Professor of International Management at Middlesex University, London. She is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business, a select group of distinguished AIB members who are recognized for their outstanding contributions to the scholarly development of the field of international business. In addition to her academic duties, she also maintains the Journal Quality List and is the driving force behind the popular Publish or Perish software program.
