The search for the smartest management publication is underway
The Chartered Association of Business Schools, The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and the British Academy of Management (BAM) are delighted to announce the launch of the 'Management Publication of the Year Awards 2026'. These awards celebrate substantial business and management research that informs policy, business, and third sector practices.
Now in its second year, the awards build on the success of their inaugural launch, continuing to highlight management research that drives positive change across business, policy and society.
Award categories
Entries of publications are invited in five broad categories to be judged from the shortlists. To reflect the reach that research has in the digital age, we welcome books, eBooks, podcast series, blog series and film. Single journal articles do not qualify.
Sustainable Futures - this category celebrates research that sets out to positively impact people and planet
SME Growth - this category celebrates research that seeks to address the challenges SMEs face in achieving growth
Social Enterprise and Innovation - this category celebrates research into social enterprise and innovation
Technological Disruption - This category celebrates research that sets out innovative approaches to navigate rapid and complex technological change
Inclusive Work - this category celebrates publications that show how organisations can embed inclusion into everyday practice in ways that drive innovation, resilience and social mobility
An additional Innovation in Research award will be presented, selected by the judges from the category winners. This award recognises work that demonstrates deep insight, fresh thinking, and a willingness to challenge conventional wisdom, underpinned by robust new research.
The judges will also select an overall Management Publication of the Year award from the category winners. These two cross-category awards cannot be entered or self-nominated; they are determined solely by the reviewing and judging panel.
Running across all awards is a common desire to recognise research that tackles the major socio-economic and environmental concerns of our society. We want to celebrate research that will help us lead, manage and re-organise socio-economic lives in a way which creates an economy for everyone: a productive, green economy that is good for people and the planet.
The judges will be looking for works that display originality, significance and rigour, along with potential for practical application and real-world impact. Submissions should demonstrate clearly how they meet these criteria. For further details on the award categories, please see the accordion below.
The nomination site is open on Monday 2 February 2026 until Friday 15 May 2026 at 12:00 BST.
Nominations can be made via the awards platform, where you will find full guidance and terms and conditions.
Category information
Submissions: Who and what can be nominated
Submissions must be made by an author, co-author, or editor (i.e. the person responsible for final preparation or compilation of the publication. By making a submission, entrants are deemed to have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by these Award rules.
The Organising Parties reserve the right to exclude or disqualify a submission for any legal purpose at their discretion. This may include use of personal data which has not been approved by an individual, or misuse of third party intellectual property. Entrants will be notified if a submission is excluded in this way.
If you have a research-based book-type publication in the UK - for example, a book, podcast, vlog, or blog series - and you think it has the power to influence practice, then please consider nominating it for this award.
Those short-listed for an award will have their work exposed to a combined membership of over 230,000 individuals working across the busness, management and higher education sectors and their wider networks, and the shortlisted entries will be invited to a prestigious awards ceremony at the British Library in spring 2027.
Submit your nomination via the awards platform.
Nomination criteria and award process
Criteria
To nominate, you must have:
A digitally accessible copy (a link or PDF share which much provide 'free access' for the administrators and judging panel)*
One author must be employed by a UK-based Higher Education Institution at the time of publication
Must have been published between 1 February 2024 and 31 January 2026
We welcome substantial work that is published in multiple formats, including books, eBooks, podcasts, blog series, film (or other)
A maximum 500-word summary statement explaining what the publication is about, why it matters to the business and management community, and its implications for practice**
Evidence of academic underpinning and rigour of the nominated publication
*Please note, sole, co-authored and edited books/multimedia output can be nominated
**Studies with potential and proven wider reach and impact beyond the business and management academic community will receive additional credit in competition scoring.
Judging process
Submissions will be judged using criteria familiar to those working in academia - namely 'originality, significance and rigour' and additionally, all submissions will be considered for their potential to positively impact business, third sector and policy practitioners.
Originality will be understood as the extent to which the publication makes an important and innovative contribution to understanding and knowledge in the field. Publications that demonstrate originality may do one or more of the following: produce and interpret new empirical findings or new material; engage with new and/or complex problems; develop innovative research methods, methodologies and analytical techniques; show imaginative and creative scope; provide new arguments and/or new forms of expression, formal innovations, interpretations and/or insights; collect and engage with novel types of data; and/or advance theory or the analysis of doctrine, policy or practice, and new forms of expression.
Significance will be understood as the extent to which the publication has influenced, or has the capacity to influence, knowledge and scholarly thought, and the development and understanding of policy and/or practice.
Rigour will be understood as the extent to which the publication is based on underlying intellectual coherence and integrity, and adopts robust and appropriate concepts, analyses, sources, theories and/or methodologies.
Process Timeline
Nominations will be shortlisted by a panel comprising experienced members and practitioners from the British Academy of Management and will include academic experts in each of the five categories. The award winners will be decided by a separate small panel of high-profile judges, to be announced.
The shortlist will be announced at the Chartered Association of Business Schools conference in November 2026 and the winners will be announced at an event hosted by the British Library in March 2027, date to be announced.
Nominations can be made via the awards platform, where you will find full guidance and full terms and conditions.
To hear more about our quest to celebrate an existing piece of published work which brings fresh thinking to some of the UK’s most pressing challenges around business management and leadership, please listen to the podcast here.
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