msom-workflow

Manufacturing & Service Operations Management Workflow (msom-workflow)

Overview

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

Default assumption: unless the user says otherwise, treat the target as M&SOM — the premier operations-management journal, published by INFORMS and sponsored by the MSOM Society, founded 1999 and published quarterly. M&SOM covers the design, procurement, production, delivery, and recovery of goods and services. The non-negotiable gate: an operations decision or problem must be central to the contribution, executed at top-tier rigor — whether the work is analytical/stochastic (optimization, queueing, stochastic models, game theory, revenue management) or empirical OM / data-driven analytics. A strong analytics, marketing, or finance-flavored paper is routinely desk-screened if the OM core is not the primary contribution. Submissions are routed by author-chosen Department (six of them) and two preferred Department Editors, so "fit" means matching the right department, not a generalist pool.

> Editorial team: Georgia Perakis (MIT Sloan) is listed as Editor-in-Chief on the 2026-06-20 M&SOM home and editorial-board pages; INFORMS announced that her final term expires 31 December 2026 and that the search committee aims to propose a successor by 1 July 2026. The M&SOM home page lists 2024 Impact Factor 4.2 and five-year Impact Factor 6.6. Check the masthead and editorial-board page before relying on current editor names.

When to trigger

• "What should I do next?" with a half-built M&SOM manuscript
• You have a model or dataset but the operations decision is not yet the centerpiece
• A reviewer/DE pushes on "where is the operations contribution?" and you are unsure which stage is the bottleneck
• You received an M&SOM decision letter (R&R or reject) and need to switch into response mode
• You keep bouncing between model, analysis, and writing without a plan

Routing table

| Current symptom | Next skill |

|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------|

| Idea is vague; not sure an operations decision is central or M&SOM-fit | msom-topic-selection |

| Model/hypotheses lack a crisp operational mechanism or tradeoff | msom-theory-development |

| Front end reads as a gap; the OM conversation is not engaged | msom-literature-positioning|

| Method/identification may not match the operations problem | msom-methods |

| Have proofs/numerics or data; unsure about rigor, replicability | msom-data-analysis |

| Results exist but the "managerial/operational so-what" is thin | msom-contribution-framing |

| Exhibits cluttered, off INFORMS style, or not self-explanatory | msom-tables-figures |

| Prose buries the operations insight; too much notation up front | msom-writing-style |

| Ready to submit; need the ScholarOne + department-routing preflight | msom-submission |

| Want to understand double-anonymous review and department routing | msom-review-process |

| Received an R&R; need to plan and draft the response | msom-rebuttal |

Default order

1. msom-topic-selection — lock an operations decision that is central and M&SOM-fit
2. msom-theory-development — build the model / operational mechanism and its tradeoff
3. msom-literature-positioning — engage the OM conversation and the right department
4. msom-methods — match the analytical/empirical method to the operations problem
5. msom-data-analysis — proofs, numerical studies, estimation, identification, replicability
6. msom-contribution-framing — turn results into an operational/managerial insight
7. msom-tables-figures — finalize exhibits in INFORMS house style
8. msom-writing-style — front-load the insight; control notation; structured abstract
9. msom-submission — ScholarOne preflight, anonymization, department routing
10. msom-review-process — set expectations for double-anonymous, department-routed review
11. msom-rebuttal — after an R&R, plan revisions then draft the response letter

> msom-tables-figures and msom-writing-style are late-stage polish. Do not invoke them while the model or identification is still unsettled.

Difference vs. other OR/OM and management stacks

• M&SOM: an operations decision is central; analytical or empirical; INFORMS double-anonymous; 32-page typeset cap; ScholarOne at mc.manuscriptcentral.com/msom; author-routed departments.
• Management Science (INFORMS): broader OR/management scope and an OM department, but not OM-exclusive; its author-facing fee policy differs from M&SOM's submission-guideline page.
• Operations Research: methodological OR contributions where the method can be the contribution; M&SOM insists the operations problem is.
• POM (Production & Operations Management): overlapping OM scope, different society (POMS) and house style.

If an operations decision is not the centerpiece, M&SOM is the wrong venue.

Router output snapshot

【Stage detected】topic / theory / positioning / methods / analysis / framing / exhibits / writing / submission / review / rebuttal
【Operations lever central?】yes / reshape (→ topic-selection)
【Lane】analytical / empirical
【Next skill】msom-...
【Live-check items】page cap, departments, masthead → author guidelines

Anti-patterns

• Do not skip msom-topic-selection — a paper whose OM core is only a backdrop is desk-screened.
• Do not let msom-tables-figures beautify exhibits before the model/identification is settled.
• Do not let msom-rebuttal draft a response before you have actually revised the manuscript.
• Do not treat msom-writing-style as a substitute for a real operations contribution.