Has IMRD become IMRDi in management journals? Implications as an independent structural component of research articles

Learned Publishing. 2021. Vol. 34. No. 4. P. 510–518.

Plakhotnik M. S.

The purpose of this study was to understand the practice of separating implications into separate sections or sub-sections in scholarly articles that report empirical research in social sciences. Using a stratified random sampling strategy, I selected 120 articles from 40 journals in the field of management available via the Social Sciences Citation Index. I analysed the articles using qualitative content analysis that was guided by two research questions: (1) Do journal articles include implications as an independent component? and (2) What guidance do journal editors provide about the presentation of implications in article submissions? The results show that 72% of articles separated implications into a section or sub-section whilst the remaining 28% integrated them into other main sections. Of the first group, three quarters of authors separated implications into sub-sections of the Discussion section and one quarter presented them as independent main sections that followed the Discussion. Several patterns related to the range, length, order, and type of implications sections and sub-sections emerged. The results also showed that only 4% of journals mention implications in their guidelines for authors. Journal editors could use the results of this study to discuss the importance of implications to the journal strategic development, articulate their position on the article structure, and audit their guidelines. Researchers might use the study results to improve their article structure and, hence, increase chances of receiving positive editorial decision.

Keywords: strategic development, Management research, Web of Science Core Collection, IMRD structure, qualitative content analysis