It is an expectation of a tenure-track faculty member that they publish in recognized journals. The College of Business has collectively done an outstanding job in this regard, with scores of major publications in recent years.
But journals do not just run themselves. They rely on academics to provide valuable professional service to keep these publications in operation, and, as is the norm, these efforts are unpaid. They are efforts of love for the discipline and the process, with activities ranging from editorial duties to peer review of articles submitted by other academics.
Andrew Li, the Williams Professor and Professor of Management, has been among the most prolific among COB faculty when it comes to publishing high-quality articles, but he is also a major contributor as well. Li serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Applied Psychology.
“The most important job that I perform for this journal is to review papers submitted to the journal,” Li said. “As part of the agreement to serve on the journal board, I review 8-10 papers every year. Typically, each paper takes about a day to review. If a paper gets rejected after the initial submission, my job is done with that paper. However, if the paper gets invited to revise for further consideration, I will need to review the paper after it is revised.” He mentioned that it is not uncommon for a paper to go through a multi-year process before it is finally accepted.
The Journal of Applied Psychology is among the top journals in his field. “The 2022 Impact factor of this journal is 9.9 (the five-year impact factor is 11.8). It is considered one of the top eight journals used by R1 schools to measure faculty research productivity and as the basis for tenure and promotion decisions,” he added, also stating that the journal typically receives between 1500 and 2000 submissions each year “The vast majority of them are desk rejected without being sent out to reviewers like me to review.” Acceptance rates of journals such as the Journal of Applied Psychology are typically about only five-percent.
Li has been on the editorial Board since 2020. Prior to this he served a similar capacity at the Journal of Management, and Group and Organization Management. “We don’t get paid for reviewing papers or serving in journals’ editorial boards. It is completely voluntary work but I view it as a professional duty,” he went on. “Yes, it takes a lot of time but if no one does it, then the whole process stops working. It requires volunteers like each one of us to serve as reviewers to contribute to knowledge advancement.”
More importantly, volunteers like Li help ensure the longevity of the field. “I think the biggest reward is that I help shape the conversations in the field,” he reflected.