Special Issue Call for Papers
Review of Corporate Finance
Review Articles in Corporate Finance Research
We are pleased to announce a call for papers in a special issue of The Review of Corporate Finance (RCF) on Review Articles in Corporate Finance Research.
· Dr Raphael Markellos, University of East Anglia, r.markellos@uea.ac.uk
· Dr. Jun Wang, University of Manitoba, jun.wang@umanitoba.ca
· Dr. Geoffrey Wood, Western University, gwood23@uwo.ca
Special Issue Information
Advancing the field of corporate finance requires both technical skills, and theoretical and applied subject knowledge. Yet, when compared to most other disciplines found in business and management schools, review articles are underrepresented in corporate finance research. This is despite some of the most influential accounts in corporate finance research have been reviews. A well-known example being the La Porta et al. (2008) Journal of Economic Literature paper on legal origins. Moreover, Ph.D. students typically start their research careers with reviews of the literature.
There is no defined correct way to do a literature review. Systematic reviews have the virtue of capturing a broad cross section of salient research, the conclusions being directly driven by what is out there. However, this can also lead to quite small-scale studies being equated with definitive accounts. Again, it may be hard to advance theory if the review on an empirical topic throws up a multiplicity of theories. In narrative reviews, the approach is much more subjective, the author making choices as to what work to include according to perceptions of value, rigour and interest. This can make for a much more tightly knit and theoretically ambitious account, but at the same time, it is much harder to demonstrate rigour and prove that genuinely relevant work has been captured. Integrative reviews bring together work across fields. This may for example, help in drawing together work on, say, legal origin by finance and legal scholars. Again, integrative reviews on institutions can bring together comparative institutionalism and economic institutionalism. If they concern a concept rather than an empirical topic, consolidating and extending theory becomes much easier. In all three instances, however, the key criteria of literature reviews is that they may be useful.
Topics of Interest:
We welcome high-quality, original research papers on a wide range of topics including, but not limited to:
· Reviews of the literature using a key theory in corporate finance.
· Reviews of empirical finance literature capturing key distinctions in findings within and between nations.
· Introducing salient theories from other fields to a corporate finance audience.
· Interdisciplinary perspectives on corporate finance.
· Revies of literature in relation to theories along with associated outcomes, best practices, regulations and policies.
Submission Guidelines:
· All submissions will undergo a double-blind peer review process.
· Submissions to: https://rcf.manuscriptmanager.net/
Key Dates:
· A preliminary ideas development workshop will be held at the 2025 International Symposium in Finance, July 2025, https://isfinance.org
· Submission Deadline: 1 January 2026
Key References
Breslin, D., Gatrell, C. and Bailey, K., 2020. Developing insights through reviews: reflecting on the 20th anniversary of the international journal of management reviews. International Journal of Management Reviews, 22(1), pp.3-9.
Breslin, D. and Gatrell, C., 2023. Theorizing through literature reviews: The miner-prospector continuum. Organizational Research Methods, 26(1), pp.139-167.
Cronin, M.A. and George, E., 2023. The why and how of the integrative review. Organizational research methods, 26(1), pp.168-192.
Graham, J.R., 2003. Taxes and corporate finance: A review. The Review of Financial Studies, 16(4), pp.1075-1129.