Reflecting on IJMR's most impactful reviews on the 40th anniversary of the British Academy of Management

Abstract

To mark the 40th anniversary of the British Academy of Management, this editorial addresses a question that IJMR's own editorial criteria have long presupposed but rarely made explicit: What distinguishes an influential management literature review from a merely competent one? We answer this question by curating a virtual special issue of the 10 most influential articles published in the International Journal of Management Reviews between 2001 and 2025, identified through a two-stage process combining bibliometric ranking, using the Composite Bibliometric Influence Score, with structured editorial judgement. A comparative reading of these 10 articles reveals 5 recurring dimensions of excellence: the diagnosis of a consequential intellectual problem, rather than a mere gap in coverage; methodological rigour and transparency treated as argument rather than procedure; a distinctive theoretical output (a model, framework, taxonomy or research agenda) that synthesis alone could not have produced; an article architecture whose structure mirrors the logic of the analysis; and practical relevance integrated into, rather than appended to, the theoretical contribution. Together, these dimensions show that influential reviews do more than organise existing knowledge: They impose conceptual order, resolve genuine ambiguities and equip scholars with tools for further inquiry. We close by setting out priorities for the next generation of review scholarship, including greater interdisciplinary reach, methodological pluralism and sustained engagement with societal grand challenges.