Overview
Dissertation Digests communicate the main findings from a doctoral dissertation (e.g., DBA, executive DBA, executive Ph.D., D.M., etc.) that highlight the practical and theoretical importance of the findings and reports how evidence was used to make inferences by applying rigorous qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods.
Structure
Each submission should follow a defined format with the following section headings:
- Abstract (maximum of 200 words)
- Synopsis (maximum of 800 words): Use these sub-section headings:
- Purpose
- Problem of Practice
- Results
- Conclusions
- Practical Relevance
- Introduction
- Literature Review
- Research Method
- Findings
- Discussion
- Conclusion
- References
Use Times Roman 12-point type and the 8.5 x 11 inch page setting. The document should be double spaced throughout; place page numbers in the lower-right corner; and leave top and side margins of at least one inch.
The length of the submission should not exceed a maximum of 10,000 words including the abstract, the synopsis, figures, tables, references. Dissertation Digests will not have appendices. However, the authors must provide additional materials—which will not be published—in order to provide reviewers a sufficient understanding they deem necessary to determine how data was sampled, collected and analyzed for the final results, regardless of method used in the research. Examples include survey instruments, correlation tables, or sample of coding steps or coding trees. The additional materials should be included at the end of submitted manuscript under the heading of “Additional Materials for Reviewer.” The authors may choose to make some of these additional materials available with an appropriate link. For citation and reference style, use the Academy of Management Journal style, which can be found here.
The editors reserve the right to request the full dissertation on which the submission is based. If requested, the EMR editors will only use the full dissertation to help evaluate the EMR submission. Upon completion of its review, the EMR will remove the full dissertation from any EMR repository. Authors of accepted articles are asked to submit a biographical sketch of about 100 words. The sketch should identify relevant professional occupations and, if possible, authors academic affiliation and degree (in progress or earned). Authors should identify their key contributions to management practice and academia. Contact information including affiliations, postal address and email address should be made available. During the review please keep the EMR managing editor (engaged-management-review@case.edu) informed of your changed address or long absence. A high-resolution photograph should also be provided not exceeding 250 KB.
Process
Authors should review the EMR Mission Statement and Purpose prior to preparing their submission. Articles are submitted online [details to be determine for the web site and therefore this section is a work in progress].
Accepted papers will be copy-edited by a professional copy editor. Authors are expected to review edits in page proofs. EMR will contact authors about one month after the managing editor assigns the manuscript to an issue.
Format
Ensure key technical terms are defined. A technical term is a word or phrase that is not in general use, that is, not normally be in the dictionary with a meaning that anyone other than you would normally ascribe to it. Put quotation marks around the first appearance in your submission of each technical term and provide a definition in the Glossary.
Avoid using abbreviations for the names of concepts. Use ordinary words for variable names, not code names or other abbreviations. Be consistent with naming conventions for constructs in text, tables and figures.
Names of organizations and research instruments may be abbreviated, but give the full name the first time you mention one of these
Use text to describe mathematical concepts. In others words, use “we surveyed 200 engineers,” rather than “we surveyed n=200 engineers.” However, do use commonly accepted mathematical symbols such as β for regression weights and numbers to report results. Numbers are presented at most with two decimals. Put spaces on either side of equals signs, minus signs, etc.
Avoid language that might be interpreted as denigrating or biased.
Write in the active voice (“They did it.”) instead of the passive voice (“It was done.”) to make it easier to for readers to see who did what. Use the first person (“I” or “we”) to describe what you, or you and your coauthors did.
Tables and Figures can be used but they should be done sparingly and only when necessary to convey an important point central to the submission.