Responsible Research Assessment

Responsible Research Assessment and the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA)

Management Research Quarterly (MRQ) endorses the principles of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and is committed to advancing responsible research assessment in scholarly publishing.

MRQ recognizes that the quality, relevance, and contribution of research cannot be adequately assessed through journal-level metrics or other quantitative indicators alone. As a scholarly journal, MRQ has a responsibility to ensure that editorial decisions are based on the intrinsic merits of the research and to encourage assessment practices that recognize diverse forms of scholarly contribution.

This commitment is consistent with MRQ's mission to publish rigorous and theoretically meaningful management research while recognizing methodological plurality, international diversity, engaged management scholarship, and contributions to management practice.

Our commitments

Assessment based on the research itself.
MRQ evaluates manuscripts according to their scholarly merit, methodological rigor, theoretical and/or empirical contribution, transparency, relevance to the journal's scope, and potential contribution to management knowledge and practice. Editorial decisions are not based on authors' institutional prestige, personal citation indicators, or the rankings or impact factors of journals in which authors have previously published.

Responsible use of journal and citation metrics.
MRQ does not use journal-level metrics, including Journal Impact Factors or journal rankings, as proxies for the quality of individual articles or researchers. Where bibliometric indicators are presented by MRQ, they are treated as contextual information rather than comprehensive measures of research quality or impact.

Recognition of diverse research contributions.
MRQ values methodological and theoretical plurality and welcomes quantitative, qualitative, mixed-method, field-based, and engaged scholarship. Research is assessed in relation to the research question, methodological approach, context, and contribution rather than according to a single model of scholarly excellence.

Recognition of scholarly and societal impact.
MRQ recognizes that research can create value in different ways, including advancing theory, generating empirical knowledge, informing management practice, contributing to policy, developing methods or datasets, and facilitating future research. No single citation-based indicator is regarded as sufficient evidence of the value of a research contribution.

Responsible authorship and attribution.
MRQ supports transparent authorship and appropriate recognition of individual contributions to research. The journal encourages the use of persistent researcher identifiers such as ORCID and will progressively strengthen contributorship transparency in accordance with international good practice, including the CRediT contributor taxonomy where appropriate.

Open and transparent scholarly infrastructure.
MRQ is committed to maintaining accurate and accessible article metadata, DOI registration through Crossref, transparent citation practices, and open scholarly infrastructure. The journal will continue to develop practices that facilitate the responsible discovery, attribution, and assessment of published research.

Continuous improvement.
Responsible research assessment is an evolving practice. MRQ will periodically review its editorial, publication, authorship, and research-assessment practices against DORA principles and other recognized standards of scholarly publishing. This statement will be updated as the journal's implementation of responsible research assessment develops.

DORA Signatory Status

Management Research Quarterly (MRQ) became an organizational signatory of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) in September 2026.

DORA is a global initiative dedicated to improving the ways in which scholarly research and researchers are evaluated. Its principles are closely aligned with MRQ’s commitment to assessing research on its intrinsic scholarly merit, methodological rigor, theoretical and empirical contribution, transparency, relevance, and contribution to management knowledge and practice.

As a DORA signatory, MRQ is committed to implementing responsible research assessment in its editorial and publishing practices. In particular, the journal will:

- assess manuscripts on the quality and contribution of the research itself rather than on the prestige of authors, institutions, or previous publication venues;

- avoid using journal-level metrics, rankings, or citation indicators as proxies for the quality of individual articles or researchers; - recognize diverse methodological, theoretical, practical, and societal contributions; - strengthen transparent authorship and contributorship practices, including the use of ORCID and, where appropriate, the CRediT contributor taxonomy;

- maintain accurate, open, and interoperable scholarly metadata and persistent identifiers;

- periodically review its editorial and publication policies in light of DORA principles and developments in responsible research assessment.

Implementation of MRQ’s responsible research assessment policy is overseen by the Editorial Office.

Questions concerning this policy may be directed to info@mrquarterly.org.

MRQ’s DORA organizational signatory status can be verified through the DORA signatory register.

Last updated: September 2026.