Novelty in Creativity and Innovation Management Research: The What and How for Authors and Reviewers

Novelty is widely regarded as the foundation of scholarly contributions, yet its definition and pathways to achieve novelty remain too open for interpretation, especially for young scholars. This article reviews existing debates on novelty and advances a definition and framework that connects different knowledge production modes to three distinct pathways for generating novel research in management studies with a particular focus on the field of Creativity and Innovation Management. We argue that establishing novelty in a scientific domain requires a more nuanced argument than “what is observed and what is missing.” This article unfolds two questions: what is novelty in scientific research and what are the pathways to identifying and arguing for novelty. The article uses these to develop a novelty canvas for authors and an evaluative tool for reviewers and editors. These two tools are complemented with key questions, which authors and reviewers can use for reflecting on, articulating, and evaluating the novelty of research. By providing guidance for authors in the form of the novelty canvas, and for reviewers and editors in the form of an evaluation framework for novelty, this article gives practical guidance that may sharpen an understanding and more detailed view of novelty to ultimately advance the knowledge production within business studies and specifically creativity and innovation management research. Novelty, however, cannot be pursued in isolation, but must be balanced with rigor, relevance, and impact.