The 2025 M&SOM Practice-Based Research Competition:
A Biennial Practice-Based Paper Competition for the M&SOM Journal
April 2024
Objectives
The objectives of the M&SOM Practice-Based Research Competition are to motivate, help develop, reward and highlight high-quality OM research papers with significant practical relevance, and to publish these papers in the M&SOM Journal. This paper competition is distinguished by the following features: (i) its focus on practical impact; (ii) papers considered are not yet published; (iii) involvement of high-level practitioners to evaluate papers; (iv) presentations at the MSOM conference by contestants; (v) organization primarily by the M&SOM journal as opposed to the MSOM Society.
Scope and Admissibility
This competition seeks to reward unpublished OM research papers with a high potential or realized impact on practice. Work not implemented yet may be considered, as long as potential benefits to practice can be ascertained with a high level of confidence. More generally, validity (i.e., the extent to which the results presented do or would apply in practice) is a key evaluation criteria.
All required submission material must be submitted through manuscript central by September 16, 2024 (please select "Practice-Based Research Competition" for the manuscript type) and include:
- An unpublished paper complying with all existing M&SOM journal requirements;
- Additional evidence of potential or realized practical impact, including at a minimum one (possibly confidential) supporting letter by a practitioner who is not a paper co-author;
- A commitment by authors to attempt any requested revision work in good faith and publish their submitted papers in the M&SOM journal if invited to do so by the Academic Competition Committee (see Process section below). This commitment may be stated in a cover letter signed by all paper co-authors.
The main evaluation criteria include the following:
- Extent and validity of the realized or potential practical impact claimed;
- Academic contributions;
- Quality of exposition, including clarity of contributions;
- Potential for academic impact and future related work.
Papers having a substantial overlap with another paper that is already published, accepted or currently under review with another journal are not eligible. Suitable papers already under review with the M&SOM Journal may be considered at any stage of the competition (see Process section below), provided any missing required material is provided by the authors and consent is given by the paper authors, the Department Editor currently overseeing the review and the Competition Chair.
Process
The competition is supported by an Academic Competition Committee working within the Practice department of the journal: it is composed of M&SOM Journal Editorial Board members and chaired by a Competition Chair appointed by the journal EIC. The Competition Chair may appoint individuals to serve as guest Associate Editors for the competition, in consultation with the journal EIC. The competition also involves a Judge Panel composed of high-profile practitioners. The competition selection stages are as follows:
· In the first review stage, the Academic Competition Committee decides if each submitted paper has enough potential to eventually become an acceptable M&SOM publication within the imposed timeframe, and develops some feedback on the paper. This involves an initial desk review, possibly followed by a subsequent review by a committee member serving as AE and input by 1 or 2 referee(s). Considering all available input, the Competition Chair decides whether or not to invite the authors to submit a revision by a specified deadline for consideration in the second stage;
· In the second stage (Finalist selection), assigned AEs review submitted revisions, possibly soliciting further input from referee(s), and the Academic Competition Committee considers their input to decide whether each paper should be selected as a Finalist for the competition, which entails acceptance for publication in the journal, possibly conditional on the completion of some revision work;
· The final stage (prize awards) involves a Judge Panel composed of the Competition Chair and several high-profile practitioners. The Competition Chair appoints the Judges in consultation with the journal EIC, and coordinates their work. The Judges receive the latest paper version and any other submission material in advance, and also consider an oral presentation of each Finalist paper by their author(s) organized at the MSOM Conference. After reviewing the Finalist presentations (perhaps by video if a judge cannot attend), the Judge Panel meets to (i) decide upon the award of one or several First and Second Prizes further distinguishing papers among the Finalists; and (ii) develop written comments/quotes on the work presented to be subsequently used by the Journal, the Society and/or any other parties interested in the promotion of the Finalist papers (e.g., author(s), letter writers, promotion committees, etc.);
· After revisions are performed by the authors if required, Finalist and prize-winning papers are published in the Journal with a special mention on the paper cover page highlighting their participation and final status in the competition;
· At every key selection stage described above, the Competition Chair may decide to transfer a rejected paper and any related feedback developed as part of the competition to the EIC for further consideration as part of the Journal's regular submission review process for publication, provided consent is given by the author(s).
2024/2025 Competition Timeline
· September 16, 2024: Deadline for submission of papers and supporting material;
· September-November 2024: First round review process;
· December 2024-January 2025: Academic Competition Committee decides first round outcomes;
· April 2025: Deadline for selected authors to submit second round paper revisions;
· May-June 2025: Second round review process, Academic Competition Committee selects Finalist papers;
· June 28 2025: Finalist presentations and results announcement at the 2025 MSOM Conference (London Business School).
Academic Committee
To be announced.
Judge Panel
To be announced.
Inquiries
Related questions should be sent to Jérémie Gallien (Competition Chair) and Bernadett Racz (Administrative Assistant) at jgallien@london.edu and bracz@london.edu.