Leadership
Leadership is an international, peer-reviewed journal designed to provide an ongoing forum for academic researchers to exchange information, insights and knowledge based on both theoretical development and empirical research on leadership. It publishes original, high-quality articles that contribute to the advancement of the study of leadership. The journal is global in orientation and focus. As our guidelines for authors makes clear, we are particularly interested in critical approaches to leadership. Submissions must at least engage with the critical literature on leadership, even if these are ultimately rejected. Authors intending to submit a paper should consult these guidelines carefully for a deeper explanation of what types of articles we will publish (https://journals.sagepub.com/author-instructions/LEA#WhatDoWePublish).
Advancing Understanding
Leadership advances the understanding and significance of leadership in the economic, political, technological and social relations of organization and society. The journal encourages debate about the changing nature of leadership and leadership research and the dilemmas, ambiguities and complexities of leadership theory and practice, past and present.
A Wide-Ranging Approach
Leadership is the leading scholarly journal in the field of researching leadership studies, at the cutting edge of the theory and practice of leadership and organization. The main emphasis in the journal is on interdisciplinary, diverse and critical analyses of leadership processes in contemporary organizations and society. Leadership encourages new ways of researching and conceptualizing leadership. We welcome diverse methodologies and theoretical perspectives, and approaches drawn from the humanities as well as the social sciences.
Broad Readership
Leadership is essential reading for academics, researchers and students engaged with leadership within the fields and disciplines of:
· Organizational theory / studies / behaviour
· Management
· Occupational psychology
· Sociology
· Cultural studies
· Political science and History
The International Studying Leadership Conference (ISLC)
The ISLC is held annually in December. It attracts leadership researchers from all over the world. The first conference was held at Oxford University in 2002. Conference participants often comment on the critical, rigorous, constructive and supportive atmosphere that characterizes discussions and debates at the ISLC.
Authors of papers presenting their research at the conference are also strongly encouraged to submit their work for peer review in Leadership. The Leadership editorial team is particularly keen to strengthen the links between the conference and published articles in Leadership. At the conference, SAGE give an award of the best paper presented at the conference and, after peer review, this is then published in a future issue of the journal.
Twelve good reasons to publish in Leadership:
1. Leadership is a peer reviewed, international journal that publishes original research on leadership.
2. Leadership publishes a selection of the best papers from the annual International Studying Leadership Conference.
3. Leadership publishes papers that are innovative, thought-provoking and critical both in content and format.
4. Leadership encourages submissions not only from business, management and organization studies, but also from other important leadership-related disciplines such as politics, history, philosophy, sociology and anthropology.
5. Leadership is particularly keen to publish papers from parts of the world that are significantly under-represented in contemporary leadership studies.
6. Leadership encourages non-traditional submissions. These may be: a think piece, review article, a debate, conversation or extended interview.
7. Peer reviewed manuscripts will receive 'double-blind' reviewing by at least two referees. Leadership has an International Editorial Review Board of experts within the field as well as an extended group of skilled and committed referees. Decisions on manuscripts are usually made within two months of submission.
8. The journal's content is highly downloaded from the SAGE journals online platform.
9. Leadership has an Impact Factor and is ranked in the Management Journal Citation Reports® and the Social Sciences Citation Index.
10. Leadership is ranked in the CABS and ABDC quality lists.
11. SAGE Journals platform ensures that Leadership content benefits from the very latest in online search and discoverability technology.
12. Unprecedented international reach - SAGE is the world's leading independent academic publisher. We proudly retain a culture that puts quality and individual relationships first. Your article will have global reach through our principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore.
Aims and Scope
Leadership is an international peer-reviewed journal that publishes the highest quality original research on leadership.
Leadership is designed to provide an ongoing forum for academic researchers to exchange information, insights and knowledge on both theoretical development and empirical research on leadership. We particularly favour papers that engage with the critical literature on leadership.
Leadership is an international peer-reviewed journal that publishes the highest quality original research on leadership.
Leadership is designed to provide an ongoing forum for academic researchers to exchange information, insights and knowledge on both theoretical development and empirical research on leadership. It will publish original, high-quality articles that contribute to the advancement of the field of leadership studies.
We are particularly interested in critical approaches to leadership. Submissions must at least engage with the critical literature on leadership, even if these are ultimately rejected. Authors intending to submit a paper should consult these guidelines carefully for a deeper explanation of what types of articles we will publish (https://journals.sagepub.com/author-instructions/LEA#WhatDoWePublish).
| Doris Schedlitzki | London Metropolitan University, UK |
| Gareth Edwards | University of the West of England, UK |
| David Collinson (Founding Editor) | Lancaster University, UK |
| Keith Grint (Founding Editor) | University of Warwick, UK |
| Brad Jackson | University of Waikato, New Zealand |
| Dennis Tourish | University of Sussex, UK |
| Johan Alvehus | Lund University, Sweden |
| Michelle C. Bligh | Claremont Graduate University, USA |
| Richard Bolden | University of the West of England, UK |
| Brigid Carroll | University of Auckland, New Zealand |
| Hamid Foroughi | University of Warwick, UK |
| Magnus Larsson | Lund University, Sweden |
| Sarah Robinson | Rennes School of Business, France |
| Owain Smolovic Jones | Open University, UK |
| Suze Wilson | Massey University, New Zealand |
| Donna Ladkin | Birmingham University, UK |
| Marilyn Ming Lee Poon | Universität Innsbruck, Austria |
| Vita Akstinaite | ISM University of Management and Economics, Lithuania |
| Mats Alvesson | Lund University, Sweden |
| Richard Badham | University of Sydney, Australia |
| J. Kevin Barge | Texas A & M University, USA |
| James R. Barker | Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada |
| Ralph Bathurst | Massey University, NZ, New Zealand |
| Brigitte Biehl | SRH Hochschule Berlin, Germany |
| Nick Butler | Stockholm University, Sweden |
| Peter Case | University of the West of England, UK |
| Sarah Chace | Christopher Newport University, USA |
| Joanne Ciulla | Rutgers University Newark Business School, USA |
| Timothy Clark | Singapore Management University, Singapore |
| Jonathan Clifton | Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, France |
| Jean-Louis Denis | University of Montreal, Canada |
| Hector R. Diaz-Saenz | Tecnológico de Monterrey, México |
| Katja Einola | Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden |
| Carole Elliott | University of Sheffield, UK |
| Mike Elmes | Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA |
| Michelle Evans | University of Melbourne, Australia |
| Gail Fairhurst | University of Cincinnati, USA |
| Jackie Ford | Durham University, UK |
| Pingping Fu | Nottingham University, China |
| Liz Fulop | Griffith University, Australia |
| Hugo Gaggiotti | University of the West England, UK |
| Suzanne Gagnon | University of Manitoba, Canada |
| Rita Gardiner | University of Western Ontario, Canada |
| Parisa Gilani | Bournemouth University, UK |
| Jonathan Gosling | University of Exeter, UK |
| Peter Gronn | University of Cambridge, UK |
| Eric Guthey | Copenhagen Business School, Denmark |
| Richard Hall | Monash University, Australia |
| Alma Harris | Cardiff Metropolitan University |
| Christian Harrison | University of Bolton, UK |
| Richard Harrison | University of Edinburgh, UK |
| Nathan Harter | Christopher Newport University, USA |
| Jean Hartley | Open University, UK |
| Jeff Hearn | Huddersfield University, UK |
| Mikinari Higano | Rikkyo University, Japan |
| Ingalill Holmberg | Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden |
| Jaap. A. Hoogenboezem | Maastricht University, Netherlands |
| Emerald Jay D Ilác | Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines |
| Gazi Islam | Grenoble Ecole de Management, France |
| Marian Iszatt-White | Lancaster University, UK |
| Zahira Jaser | Sussex University, UK |
| Antonio Jimenez Luque | University of San Diego, USA |
| Zahide Karakitapoglu-Aygün | Bilkent University, Turkey |
| Tom Karp | Kristiania University College, Norway |
| Mihaela Keleman | Nottingham University, UK |
| Barbara L. Kellerman | Harvard Kennedy School, USA |
| Steve Kempster | Lancaster University, UK |
| Sofia Kjellström | Jönköping University, Sweden |
| Karin Klenke | Northcentral University, USA |
| Niina Koivunen | University of Vaasa, Finland |
| Jean Lipman-Blumen | Claremont Graduate University, USA |
| Kevin Lowe | University of Sydney, Australia |
| Antonio Marturano | University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy |
| Kate McCombs | Samford University, USA |
| Rudolf Metz | Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary |
| Sara Louise Muhr | Copenhagen Business School, Denmark |
| Stella M Nkomo | University of Pretoria, South Africa |
| Joseph Nye | Harvard University, USA |
| Sonia Ospina | New York University, USA |
| Gillian Peele | University of Oxford, UK |
| Gianpiero Petriglieri | INSEAD, France |
| Micha Popper | University of Haifa, Israel |
| Annie Pye | Cardiff Business School, UK |
| Arménio Rego | Catholic University of Portugal, Portugal |
| Ron Riggio | Claremont McKenna College, USA |
| Paul Robson | Royal Holloway University of London, UK |
| Eugene Sadler-Smith | University of Surrey, UK |
| Paul Sanders | NEOMA Business School, Reims, France |
| Matías Sanfuentes | University of Chile, Chile |
| Nela Smolovic Jones | Open University, UK |
| Bert Spector | Northeastern University, USA |
| Chellie Spiller | University of Waikato, New Zealand |
| Sverre Spoelstra | Copenhagen Business School, Denmark |
| Valerie Stead | Lancaster University, UK |
| John Storey | Open University, UK |
| Jianmin James Sun | Renmin University of China, China |
| Neil Sutherland | University College London, UK |
| Stefan Sveningsson | Lund University, Sweden |
| Robert J. Taormina | University of Macau, Macau, China |
| Scott Taylor | University of Birmingham, UK |
| Steven S. Taylor | Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA |
| Leah Tomkins | University of the West of England, UK |
| Angela Trethewey | Arizona State University, USA |
| Sharon Turnbull | Lancaster University, UK |
| Stephen Turner | University of South Florida, USA |
| Mats Tyrstrup | Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden |
| Mary Uhl-Bien | Texas Christian University, USA |
| Sheena Vachhani | University of Bristol, UK |
| Meena Wilson | Center for Creative Leadership, Asia-Pacific |
| Gary Yukl | University of Albany, SUNY, USA |
| Malgorzata Zachara-Szymanska | Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland |
Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Leadership
This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.
Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/Leadership to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Leadership will be reviewed.
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.
As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.
- What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.3 Writing your paper - Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Funding
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests - Publishing policies
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving - Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Formatting
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Supplementary material
4.4 Reference style
4.5 English language editing services - Submitting your manuscript
5.1 ORCID
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
5.3 Permissions - On acceptance and publication
6.1 Sage Production
6.2 Online First publication
6.3 Access to your published article
6.4 Promoting your article - Further information
Before submitting your manuscript to Leadership, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
Leadership is particularly interested in critical approaches to its subject. While we do not intend to create a ghetto of critical Leadership literature, we do insist that the critical literature is at least engaged with, even if it is ultimately discounted. Papers that fail to take relevant critical literature into account will be rejected. Contributors are encouraged to read the Editorials published in recent issues, where what we look for in submissions is clearly spelled out. The journal welcomes contributions using any social science method, as long as the method is applied in line with best practice in that field. In line with our focus on actual social relationships, we do not publish work drawing mainly or only on student samples as a surrogate for work organizations. The following editorials and blog may provide further useful insights as to what is expected from a contribution to Leadership:
https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/HRQAGACFXNDEIIBWQWIW/full,
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17427150221147371
The journal publishes original full length theoretical, empirical, and review-based articles on all Leadership-related themes. We publish three types of papers – Standard Articles, Leading Questions and Media Reviews.
Standard Articles are generally restricted to a maximum of 10,000 words, including all elements (title page, abstract, notes, references, tables, biographical statement, etc.). Standard Articles can be theoretical or empirical but must make innovative advancements to leadership theory and/or thinking in some way.
The Leading Questions section provides an ‘open space’ to accommodate work that does not fit easily into the standard journal article format. This type of submission should be a ‘provocative piece’ that explores, and asks questions to our readership, around key leadership-related issues, dilemmas, and challenges. These questions could relate to theory, research, methodology, development and/or practice. Leading Questions pieces would typically be 6000-8000 words.
Media review papers should be based on international current affairs and link these to leadership issues that relate to recent leadership theory and research. This type of submission can be innovative and creative but must draw on general media (e.g. newspaper articles, social media, practical publications etc.). Media Review pieces would typically be 4000-6000 words.
Please note that word limits provided are for guidance only and that the editorial team may be happy to consider longer articles. If this is the case, please get in touch with the editorial team.
The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.
Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication. Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:
• The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors
• The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper
• The author has recommended the reviewer
• The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution).
All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
2.3.1 Third party submissions
Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:
- Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
- Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
- Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.
Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.
2.3.2 Writing assistance
Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance”).
It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.
Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.
Leadership requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
Leadership encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.
Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.
3.1.1 Plagiarism
Leadership and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway.
3.3 Open access and author archiving
Leadership offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.
4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.
Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.
This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplementary files.
Leadership adheres to the Sage Harvard reference style. View the Sage Harvard guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.
If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Harvard EndNote output file.
4.5 English language editing services
Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.
Leadership is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/Leadership to login and submit your article online.
IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.
The collection of ORCID iDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID iD you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID iD please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).
Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.
6. On acceptance and publication
Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.
Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.
6.3 Access to your published article
Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.
Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Leadership editorial office as follows:
Gareth Edwards, gareth3.edwards@uwe.ac.uk
Doris Schedlitzki, d.schedlitzki@londonmet.ac.uk