Call for Submissions

IIMB Management Review (IMR) and the Office of the Doctoral Programme are organising the Seventeenth IMR Doctoral Conference (IMRDC) 2026 on 9 & 10 January 2026, at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB). We would also consider a limited hybrid model in order to facilitate the online participation of invited speakers, doctoral students, and delegates.

Our objective is to encourage doctoral research and facilitate collaborative work among researchers from different institutions. We aim to provide a forum where insightful feedback from senior researchers and academicians can help improve the quality and rigour of doctoral student research. The IMR Doctoral Conference is a benchmark event in India's doctoral community, commended by participants for the thorough and constructive feedback provided through its “one exclusive discussant per paper” format.

IMRDC highlights

• Premier doctoral (PhD) student conference in India
• Open to doctoral students from India and abroad
• Three rounds of rigorous review
• Full IMRDC Scholarships (which would cover air travel, accommodation, and hospitality for the duration of the Conference) awarded to students whose papers are selected for final presentation.
• Limited travel, accommodation, and hospitality support to students whose papers are selected for Poster Presentation.
• One Exclusive Discussant per selected paper
• Invited Talks, Workshops & Panel Discussions by eminent academics.
• Papers presented at IMRDC have made it to publication in top-tier Journals.
• IMRDC winners from past Conferences are now Faculty at premier Institutions such as the IIMs, London School of Economics, and IÉSEG, France.

We invite full paper submissions from doctoral students in Management, across all areas including Decision Sciences, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance &Accounting, Information Systems, Marketing, Organisational Behaviour & Human Resources Management, Production & Operations Management, Public Policy, and Strategy.

The submissions will be reviewed by a Faculty Review Committee in multiple rounds, from which a set of papers will be selected for the final presentation and critiqued by discussants in the Conference. Papers selected for the conference will be considered for publication in IIMB Management Review, subject to author approval and after completion of the journal’s standard review process.

A Best Paper Award will be given to the best paper among those selected for presentation, based on the decision of the Conference Chairs, the Discussants, and the Faculty Review Committee.

Important Dates

Eligibility

• The conference is open to doctoral students who have commenced research on their theses.
• Only one paper per student is allowed; while co-authorship with faculty is permitted, the paper must be presented by the doctoral student at the conference.
• The paper should not have been published, or accepted for publication, in any academic journal.
  
  

Submission Guidelines

1. Only full paper submissions will be considered. Papers should be submitted to https://imrdc2026.iimb.scholarit.net in the prescribed format.
2. Submission Format
   • IMRDC-Scholarit submission page: When you make a submission, please ensure that all the fields in the information page are filled correctly. This would include Title of the paper; Keywords; Topic/Subject area; Abstract (200 words); Details of Author/Co-Authors which include first name, last name, email, phone number, affiliation, and country. Details of the authors’ names and affiliation should not appear in the main manuscript.
   • Full paper (without author identifiers):
     • The full paper submission should contain the title of the paper, the 200-word abstract, the keywords, and clearly outlined literature, methodology and results sections. The paper should be uploaded as a pdf file.
     • The paper, inclusive of tables, figures, references, and appendices, should be submitted as a single document and should not exceed 8,000 words.
     • References should be in APA style (The following link can be used for guidelines - http://www.bibme.org/citation-guide/apa/)
     • The paper must be formatted in Times New Roman, 12-point font with double line spacing and 1” margin on all sides.
     •  Authors must submit a nomination letter from the concerned thesis advisor/faculty-member. The letter should comment on the contribution of the paper to the student’s research agenda, especially for students not at an advanced stage of their research. The nomination letter should contain the signature and affiliation details of the advisor, along with the official seal.
   • Submissions not following the above format will be desk rejected.
   • All submissions will be put through an originality/plagiarism check.

For more details and regular updates about the conference, please visit:  https://www.iimb.ac.in/imrdc2026/

Conference Co-Chairs

Professor Malika, Marketing, IIMB

Professor Varun Jindal, Finance & Accounting, IIMB

About IIMB Management Review

IIMB Management Review (IMR) is the flagship, quarterly journal of IIM Bangalore. IMR is a peer-reviewed, Elsevier Journal available through ScienceDirect®. IMR is listed on the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) Journal Quality List as a category ‘B’ journal; IMR is also indexed on Scopus and the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI). As of 2023, IMR is a Gold Open Access journal, supported by IIMB.

Addressed to practitioners, researchers, and educators, IMR provides managerial insights in all core business functions, with a special emphasis on emerging economies. We invite you to view our journal at https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/iimb-management-review .

CONTACT DETAILS:

For any queries contact the Conference Secretariat at imrdc2026@iimb.ac.in  

All email queries should bear the subject line: IMRDC 2026

IMRDC Secretariat / IIMB Management Review, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore - 560 076, Phone: 91-80-26993099

Website: https://www.iimb.ac.in/imrdc2026/