Aims and scope

DECISION is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal published by the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, India since 1974.

Uncertainty and complexity have become increasingly salient over time in individual and organizational decision-making environments. Management, as a discipline, has made significant strides in its quest for creative and rigorous abstractions, frameworks, approaches, techniques and toolkits that can help enhance and support the cognitive capabilities of individuals responding to such environments. It continues to deepen our understanding by translating uncertainties and decoding complexities to analytically manageable forms.

The journal invites original empirical and conceptual articles on the content and process of decision making from the perspective of diverse decision makers including, but not restricted to, managers, consumers, policy makers, voters, and entrepreneurs. To this end, the journal welcomes decision-centric research from scholars of Organizational Behavior, Information Systems, Strategic Management, Consumer Behavior, Accounting and Finance, Operations Research, Behavioral Economics, Public Policy and any other stream of Management or allied research with a healthy interest in how decisions are made at an individual or collective level of analysis.

DECISION aims to address issues related to, but not limited to:

• Nature and mechanisms of individual and managerial decision making
• Contemporary decision environments arising in economic, societal, business and public management phenomena
• Ethical issues in decision making in individual, organizational, social and policy contexts
• Functional specificities in organizational decision making - including accounting, behavioral, design, finance, human resources, legal, marketing, operations, policy, procurement, strategy, supply chain, and technology
• Inter-disciplinary aspects and challenges in individual and organizational decision making

We are interested in studies that investigate these topics in a context with relevance to both theory and practice.  In order to be considered for publication in DECISION, we suggest that a manuscript:

• Ensures the study's relevance to one or more of the key areas mentioned above;
• Articulates the rigor in the method(s) used for theorizing, demonstrating and validating the different aspects of the study;
• Makes a significant theoretical contribution to the existing discourses in management and related literature;
• Has practical implications in organizational and/or social context

While we welcome research set in any context, DECISION endeavors to be a forum for exchange of ideas and research among management scholars particularly in the global South.
The journal accepts submissions in several formats such as original research papers, research commentary, case studies, review and curation, point – counterpoint and perspectives.  We also publish book reviews – these are by invitation only. 

Research Papers
Research papers include articles that make a novel and insightful contribution to management literature.  We welcome full-length articles that are original, grounded in existing literature, and build, refine, advance, validate and/or challenge extant theories.  In this category of papers, authors are expected to also present the verity of their claims either through cohesive arguments or through empirical evidence.  Recommended word limit of research papers is 10000 words including all figures, tables, references, etc.

Research Commentary
Senior researchers in different management and related disciplines present their ideas on the directions for future research in a discipline, theme, or area of work.  Research Commentaries are aimed at discussing a particular research stream, a school of thought or a methodological approach drawing from classic and contemporary research to highlight how the stream of research has evolved. We expect research commentaries to be useful to young researchers as they present as yet unanswered research questions on the theme.  Recommended length of research commentaries is 3000 words including all figures, tables, references, etc.

Case Studies
Case studies serve two purposes – as teaching aids and/or as tools for generating and demonstrating theory.  They must be based on original empirical research. While a teaching case should aim to provide the basis for classroom discussion of real-world phenomena, issues, challenges and decision choices faced by individuals or organizations, a research case should be an outcome of an in-depth research study with the aim to describe an interesting or distinctive situation through which certain abstractions are then created.  We also welcome comparative case studies where more than one context is examined and contrasts or similarities between them are presented. 

Synthesis, Review and Curations
The purpose of Synthesis, Review and Curations (SRC) section is to create meaningful, connected bundles of articles published on specific themes of significant interest to different management disciplines and to present an effective and accessible multi-perspective summary of the work.  Authors aiming to write SRC articles must emphasize the implications of the review or curation for management theory, practice or education.  SRC submissions should not exceed 12000 words including all figures, tables, references, etc.

Point – Counterpoint
‘Point-Counterpoint’ (P-CP) section of DECISION is aimed at generating debates around different management issues, phenomena or streams of thought.  Theoretically rigorous or empirically challenging topics are debated upon with the purpose of questioning deep underlying assumptions in our existing ways of thinking around a particular theme.  Methodological debates may also be part of the P-CP section should there be multiple perspectives to an approach.  The Editor-in-chief will solicit counterpoints from informed scholars and invite the original authors to respond to these counterpoints.  While anyone (or more people) may initiate a P-CP debate, such proposals need to be vetted by the Editor-in-chief in consultation with suitable experts from the editorial board. One-page proposals may be submitted for P-CP via email to decision@iimcal.ac.in mentioning the scope and the issues surrounding the debate. 

Perspectives
Given the increasing need to bridge the gap between practice and academia in management, DECISION invites short opinion pieces from practitioners as singular contributions or as conversations where contemporary issues of importance are presented with the aim to trigger further discussions, research and theorizing. Perspectives are primarily by invitation, although those interested in contributing can contact the Editor-in-chief briefly outlining the theme, its relevance to contemporary management thought and practice and the potential academic discussions it can generate.  Recommended length of Perspectives articles is 3000 words all figures, tables, references, etc.