2018 Editorial for Management Learning

What is it about?

When we are invited as editors to contribute to conference sessions, workshops and talks on journal publishing, we sometimes hear the word ‘quirky’ as a label used to describe work published in Management Learning. What we take people to mean when they describe the journal in this way is that articles are unexpected, unconventional, unusual and unorthodox. These characteristics are highly consistent with the remit of Management Learning, which is to publish thought-provoking work that opens up existing ways of thinking about knowledge and learning to critical scrutiny. Evidence of the appeal of quirky scholarship may be inferred from the journal’s rising impact factor, which increased further this year from 1.393 to 1.836 (Management JCR 89/194). However, quirkiness also implies deviation from the mainstream. It can therefore be seen as work that is risky – or even marginal and eccentric – and hence not to be taken especially seriously. In this editorial, we seek to explore the meaning of quirkiness and, through this, to embrace the possibilities that such a positioning affords.

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