The Emperor Has No Clothes: Editorial Conflicts of Interest, Relational Opportunism, and the Crisis of Trust in Elite Business Journals

Abstract

Peer review is the cornerstone of academic legitimacy, but what if the process is compromised? This seminar presents findings from the first large-scale audit of editorial conflicts of interest (COIs) in two top-tier (FT50 and ABDC-A*) business journals over a 15-year period (2010-2024). Our study reveals widespread patterns of favour exchange among a small group of prolific authors and editors (54 scholars with 10+ articles each). These include reciprocal handling (editors accepting each other’s papers), prior coauthorships, and longstanding professional ties. Given our conservative measures and reliance on public records, this is likely just the tip of the iceberg.

This elite cohort, just 2.4% of all contributors, accounts for nearly half of all articles, with 50–60% of their publications showing evidence of conflict. The trend is worsening, peaking in 2024. We also find that conflicted papers are cited significantly less (-24%), indicating that COI loopholes undermine quality control and fair evaluation. The gatekeeping elite remains overwhelmingly male (94.5%) and North America–trained (90%), contradicting pompous commitments to diversity and inclusion.

The consequences are profound. When hiring, promotion, and reputation rely on journals structurally prone to bias, universities risk ethical, reputational, and even legal fallout. Harms may extend beyond academia when management practice and public policy is informed by compromised business scholarship. Drawing on principal–agent theory, we argue that editorial COIs are not isolated breaches but institutionalised forms of agency failure in a prestige-driven publishing economy.

The seminar will conclude with concrete reform proposals, ranging from transparency and audit mechanisms to incentive redesign and legal recourse, aimed at restoring fairness, integrity, and public trust in business scholarship.

Biography

Dr Raffaele F Ciriello is a Senior Lecturer in Business Information Systems at The University of Sydney Business School. He is known for critical dialectical inquiries into compassionate digital innovation, Web3 governance, and artificial emotional intelligence. Raff serves as Debate Editor for the Communications of the AIS, as Associate Editor for the European Journal of IS, and is a Distinguished Member of the AIS. His work appears regularly in leading journals, international conferences, and mainstream media (e.g., Financial Times, 60 Minutes, The Conversation, Sydney Morning Herald, ABC News). In his spare time he changes nappies, builds sandcastles, and is routinely beaten at chess by a six-year-old.