Understanding the Review Process (smj-review-process)

When to trigger

• You want to understand what happens after submission and roughly how long it takes
• A decision letter arrived and you need to read it correctly before responding
• You must decide whether and how to revise, and how to manage the action editor relationship
• You are unsure how to weigh conflicting reviewer comments

How SMJ review works (durable norms)

• Submissions go through Wiley's workflow (legacy tracking at ScholarOne Manuscript Central, mc.manuscriptcentral.com/smj). One of SMJ's four Co-Editors (current slate, pinned 2026-06-23: Rajshree Agarwal (Maryland), Mary Benner (Minnesota), Vibha Gaba (INSEAD), and Brian Silverman (Toronto); roster rotates, so verify the live SMS masthead) screens the paper and assigns an action editor (Associate Editor) who handles it. SMJ has Co-Editors rather than a single Editor-in-Chief.
• Many submissions are desk-rejected for fit or readiness before review. Those that pass go to (typically) two or more reviewers from the Editorial Review Board and the field.
• The action editor writes a decision letter that synthesizes the reviews and signals priorities; expect multiple rounds — a first decision is rarely an outright accept, and Major Revision is a normal, encouraging outcome.
• SMJ is highly selective: third-party metric aggregators report an acceptance rate around 7% and a median time to first decision on the order of ~54 days (indicative — UNVERIFIED against the official site). Track your paper's status in the submission system rather than guessing.
• Reviewers and the action editor push hardest on two axes: a clear contribution to strategy theory and credible identification/endogeneity. A paper can be empirically clean yet rejected for a thin strategy contribution, and vice versa.

Reading a decision letter

• Read the action editor's letter first — it tells you which comments are binding and which are optional. The editor's synthesis outranks any single reviewer.
• Classify every comment: (a) must-fix to survive, (b) should-fix, (c) reasonable to push back on with evidence.
• Watch for the one issue that recurs across reviewers (often endogeneity or contribution); that is the gating concern.

Planning the revision

1. Map all comments into a table: comment → reviewer → category → planned action.
2. Sequence the gating concern first (usually identification or contribution); a revision that nails secondary points but dodges the gating concern fails.
3. Decide where you will push back — politely, with evidence — versus comply. Disagreeing is acceptable if justified; ignoring is not.
4. Estimate scope honestly: new analyses, new data, reframing. If the work cannot be done in the round, consider whether the paper fits SMJ.
5. Keep the action editor's priorities central; align the response plan to the letter's emphasis.

Checklist

• You read the action editor's letter before the individual reviews
• Every comment is logged and categorized (must / should / push-back)
• The gating concern (identification or contribution) is identified and prioritized
• Conflicts between reviewers are noted, with a plan to reconcile or escalate to the editor
• The revision scope is realistic for one round
• You have decided which points you will respectfully contest, with evidence

Anti-patterns

• Treating all reviewers as equal and ignoring the action editor's synthesis
• Polishing easy comments while dodging the gating endogeneity/contribution concern
• Reading "Major Revision" as rejection and giving up — it is an invitation
• Arguing with a reviewer without evidence, or silently ignoring a comment
• Promising more than you can deliver in one round
• Starting the rebuttal letter before mapping and prioritizing the comments

Output format

【Decision】reject | reject-resubmit | major | minor
【Action-editor priorities】[from the letter]
【Gating concern】identification | contribution | other
【Comment map】count by category: must / should / push-back
【Reviewer conflicts】[noted + reconciliation plan]
【Revision feasible this round?】yes / reconsider fit
【Next step】smj-rebuttal

Templates & resources

• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — SMJ Co-Editors, double-blind policy, submission portal, and indicative timeline/acceptance figures