The Muma Business Review (MBR) is a new peer-reviewed open access journal specifically intended to serve the needs of both the practitioner-researcher. Its mission is to publish empirical findings and conceptual analyses that have been rigorously developed, that are communicated in a manner that is accessible to practicing managers and, most importantly, that address the real world challenges facing managers. It is specifically intended to serve the needs of the rapidly growing community of individuals that have received, or are pursuing, executive doctorates in business. Participants and graduates of these programs face a practical challenge: how to communicate what they have learned. Trade journals typically give insufficient weight to the rigor of what they publish. Academic journals, at the other extreme, tend to prize rigor above all else—including readability, timeliness and practical importance. The MBR seeks a middle ground, offering fast turnaround and valuing rigor--yet also recognizing the benefits of plain language and problems of practical interest. This editorial presents the philosophies of the MBR and lays out a broad framework of policies that will guide the journal’s submission, review and publication processes.
We are committed to interdisciplinary thinking and, in our quest to share relevant research that addresses contemporary issues in business, we support a broad view of what constitutes research. As such, our submission and other policies differ from traditional academic journals. As an open access publication, we will not charge any fees for submission or publication. Our publication will be readily available for readers in academia and the business world. Decisions on submissions will be rendered quickly—typically in less than a month— and authors should expect quick turnaround. We aim to publish articles within two months of initial submission, ensuring that what we publish is always current. Central to our mission is mentoring practitioner scholars. We instruct our reviewers to be both constructive and specific in their suggestions so our authors can improve their research and communication skills. In short, neither publishing with the MBR nor should reading what we have published should ever be a chore!