January 6, 2026, CUFE Business School successfully held the 1st session of 2026 Excellent Academic Forum in Conference Room 615 of the Main Teaching Building at the Xueyuan South Road Campus. Zhang Si, Associate Professor at the School of Economics and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Deputy Director of the Editorial Office of Management Review, was invited as the keynote speaker for this forum. More than ten participants, including faculty members, doctoral students, master’s students from the Business School, as well as scholars from other universities, attended the academic event.
The lecture was chaired by Assistant Professor Liu Zixu from CUFE Business School. At the beginning of the event, Assistant Professor Liu introduced Associate Professor Zhang Si’s academic and editorial background to the audience. Associate Professor Zhang Si currently serves at the School of Economics and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. She previously completed postdoctoral research at Tsinghua University, and received both her Master's and Doctoral Degrees in Economics from University of Reading, UK. She also holds several academic positions, including Deputy Director of the Editorial Office of Management Review, Deputy Director and Secretary-General of the International Business Committee of the Chinese Enterprise Management Research Association, Research Fellow at the Technology Innovation Research Center of Tsinghua University, and Council Member of the Chinese Association for Science of Science and S&T Policy Research.
Her main research areas include economics of technological innovation, international business, and strategy. As first author or corresponding author, she has published more than ten papers in leading SSCI Q1 journals such as Technological Forecasting and Social Change, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, and R&D Management, as well as in major Chinese academic journals. Several of her papers have been reprinted by the Renmin University of China's Information Center for Social Sciences (RCCSE).
The theme of Associate Professor Zhang’s lecture was “Journal Editors’ Perspectives on Research Topic Selection for Academic Papers.” From the perspective of an experienced journal editor, she systematically analyzed the column structure, topic preferences, and key considerations for manuscript submission at Management Review. Drawing on a large number of real peer-review cases, Professor Zhang explained in depth the core elements of high-quality research topics, including the importance of research problems, theoretical contributions, and innovativeness, theoretical contribution, innovation, and the degree of integration with Chinese management practice. Her lecture provided highly practical guidance for young scholars and doctoral candidates, helping them better understand the submission logic and review standards of core Chinese management journals.
Following the lecture, participating faculty members and students engaged in lively interaction and in-depth discussions with Associate Professor Zhang on topics such as strategies for thesis topic selection, key considerations in journal submission, the contextualization of management research in China, and theoretical contributions from an editorial perspective. The discussion further enhanced participants’ practical capabilities in academic writing and research.
As an important platform for CUFE Business School to fulfill its mission of “contributing new management knowledge”, the “Excellent Academic Forum” is committed to focusing on cutting-edge issues in the field of business administration and Chinese enterprise management practice. It gathers global wisdom and innovative perspectives to provide theoretical support and practical paths for promoting the sustainable development of Chinese society and economy.
