What gets published and what doesn’t? Exploring optimal distinctiveness and diverse expectations in entrepreneurship articles

Marie Madeleine Meurer (), Maksim Belitski (), Christian Fisch () and Roy Thurik
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Marie Madeleine Meurer: Jönköping International Business School
Maksim Belitski: University of Reading
Christian Fisch: University of Luxembourg

Small Business Economics, 2024, vol. 63, issue 3, No 12, 1139-1170

Abstract: Abstract The field of entrepreneurship has seen remarkable growth, increasing the expectations of academic audiences. Articles need to balance novelty with rigorous methodology, theoretical contributions, social implications, and coherent argumentation to succeed in the publication process. However, navigating these varied and sometimes conflicting expectations to achieve optimal distinctiveness in academic narratives is challenging for authors. To explore how authors can achieve optimal distinctiveness amidst these complex expectations, we studied academic narratives and related editorial decisions of two leading entrepreneurship journals, Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice (ETP, 4,151 papers) and Small Business Economics Journal (SBEJ, 4,043 papers), using computer-aided text analysis. Our study debunks common assumptions about what makes a successful entrepreneurship paper, providing an empirical basis for understanding actual versus perceived publication requisites. Furthermore, we extend optimal distinctiveness theory by demonstrating that high distinctiveness is not uniformly advantageous, meeting numerous expectations is not necessarily beneficial, and clear language is crucial for complex narratives. Our study underscores that crafting narratives is more nuanced than traditionally believed.

Keywords: Optimal distinctiveness; Publishing success; Entrepreneurship journals; Text analysis; Narratives (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C55 C8 C88 L26 M13 O3 O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s11187-023-00865-0

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