jibs-workflow

Journal of International Business Studies Workflow (jibs-workflow)

Overview

This is the router. It does not replace any specialized skill; it tells you which jibs- skill to use right now* for your JIBS manuscript.

Default assumption: unless the user says otherwise, treat the target as JIBS — the flagship, top-ranked international-business journal, established 1970, published by Palgrave Macmillan (Springer Nature) on behalf of the Academy of International Business (AIB), of which it is the official journal. JIBS studies cross-border, multi-country, and multilevel phenomena: MNEs, internationalization, cross-cultural management, international strategy/finance/economics, and global political economy, with country and culture treated as explicit levels of analysis. The non-negotiable bar: a manuscript must address a real-world international-business phenomenon, problem, or puzzle and state explicitly what it contributes to IB theory — incremental single-country extensions are discouraged. JIBS is paradigmatically and methodologically pluralistic (quantitative, qualitative, mixed, theory); rigor and a clear IB theoretical contribution are the gatekeepers, not any one method.

Editorial team context: Rosalie L. Tung (Simon Fraser University) is the current Editor in Chief on the Springer journal home and editorial-board page, with Anne Hoekman listed as Managing Editor. The submission route is the JIBS online tool at mc.manuscriptcentral.com; optional gold open access is priced on the Springer "How to publish with us" page.

When to trigger

• "What should I do next?" with a half-built JIBS manuscript
• You have cross-country data and a result but no clear IB theoretical story
• A reviewer/editor pushes on "phenomenon" or "contribution to IB theory"
• You received a JIBS decision letter (R&R or reject) and need to switch into response mode
• You keep bouncing between theory, cross-national measurement, and writing without a plan

Routing table

Current symptom	Next skill
Idea is vague; not sure it is a real IB phenomenon or JIBS-fit	jibs-topic-selection
Hypotheses ignore country/culture levels or lack an IB mechanism	jibs-theory-development
Front end reads as gap-spotting; the IB conversation is not engaged	jibs-literature-positioning
Design may not match a cross-country/multilevel claim	jibs-methods
Have data; unsure about measurement equivalence, CMV, endogeneity, models	jibs-data-analysis
Results exist but the "so what for IB theory" is thin	jibs-contribution-framing
Exhibits not self-explanatory or off the JIBS Style Guide	jibs-tables-figures
Prose buries the phenomenon or the contribution	jibs-writing-style
Ready to submit; need the Springer Nature / DART preflight	jibs-submission
Want to understand JIBS double-blind review/decisions before/after submit	jibs-review-process
Received an R&R; need to plan and draft the response	jibs-rebuttal

Default order

1. jibs-topic-selection — lock a phenomenon-driven, JIBS-fit question
2. jibs-theory-development — build the cross-level IB mechanism and derive hypotheses
3. jibs-literature-positioning — engage the IB conversation; state what you join
4. jibs-methods — match a cross-country/multilevel design to the question
5. jibs-data-analysis — measurement equivalence, CMV, endogeneity, the right estimator
6. jibs-contribution-framing — turn results into an explicit IB theoretical contribution
7. jibs-tables-figures — finalize main exhibits per the JIBS Style Guide
8. jibs-writing-style — full-manuscript prose polish (phenomenon-forward, author-date)
9. jibs-submission — Springer Nature preflight (anonymization, DART/DAS, format, files)
10. jibs-review-process — set expectations for the double-blind, multi-round process
11. jibs-rebuttal — after an R&R, plan revisions then draft the response letter

jibs-tables-figures and jibs-writing-style are late-stage polish. Do not invoke them while the phenomenon, IB contribution, or identification is still unsettled.

Decision shortcuts

• "I have a finding but no IB theory story" → jibs-topic-selection then jibs-theory-development
• "My intro says 'no one has studied X in country Y'" (gap-spotting) → jibs-literature-positioning
• "Single-country sample" → jibs-topic-selection (is this really IB?) then jibs-methods
• "Same-respondent survey across countries" → jibs-data-analysis (CMV + measurement equivalence)
• "Internationalization-as-process, regressor may be endogenous" → jibs-methods then jibs-data-analysis
• "Reviewer cites a 'From the Editors' methods editorial" → jibs-data-analysis
• "Submitting this week" → jibs-submission
• "Got an R&R with area editor + reviewers" → jibs-review-process then jibs-rebuttal

Difference vs. AMJ / SMJ / IB-adjacent stacks

• JIBS: international business — the contribution must be to IB theory and engage cross-border/multilevel phenomena; AIB's official journal; methodologically pluralistic; DART transparency regime.
• AMJ: general empirical management (often single-country); empirical and theoretical contribution; AOM journal.
• SMJ: strategy/performance questions; not specifically cross-border or culture-as-level.
• JWB / Management International Review / GSJ: IB-adjacent, but JIBS sets the field's bar for phenomenon-based rigor and cross-national validity.

If your study has no genuine cross-border, multi-country, or culture/country-as-level dimension, JIBS is likely the wrong venue.

Anti-patterns

• Do not skip jibs-theory-development and jump to analysis — JIBS rejects atheoretical, phenomenon-free work.
• Do not treat a single-country convenience sample as "international" without theorizing country/culture.
• Do not let jibs-tables-figures beautify exhibits before the model and contribution are settled.
• Do not let jibs-rebuttal draft a response letter before you have actually revised the manuscript.