2026 College of Service Operations Best Student Paper Competition
Dear Colleagues and PhD students,
The POMS College of Service Operations invites submissions to the 2026 College of Service Operations Best Student Paper Competition. We welcome paper submissions related to Service Operations Management.
The first prize is accompanied by a $1,000 honorarium, and the runner-up prizes are accompanied by a $500 honorarium. The winner and two runners-up will be announced at the 2026 College of Service Operations Business Meeting during the 2026 POMS Annual Conference in Reno, NV in May 2026.
Eligibility Conditions
1. Entrants must have been a student on or after May 1, 2025, and the research presented in the paper must have been conducted while the entrant was a student.
2. Entrants must be planning to attend the 2026 POMS Annual Conference in Reno, NV.
3. Entrants must submit an abstract of their submitted paper to the 2026 POMS Annual Conference by the POMS conference deadline of November 16, 2025. If selected as a finalist, you must present your paper in person at the 2026 POMS Annual Conference. If not selected as a finalist, applicants may choose to withdraw their abstract or not register for the conference.
4. The submitted paper must present original research conducted primarily by the student entrant. Some assistance by other individuals (such as the student's faculty advisor) is permitted, however, the entrant's primary research advisor must certify that the student's share of contribution to the paper exceeds 50%.
5. Entrants must be a member of the POMS College of Service Operations on the date of submission (visit the POMS Website for information on how to become a POMS/College of Service Operations member).
6. Entrants may only submit one paper.
7. Entrants CANNOT submit the same paper to ANY other POMS College Best Paper Competition for the 2026 POMS Annual Conference.
Submission Requirements
A complete entry consists of:
1. A cover letter (in PDF format) completed by the student stating: a) the entrant's contact information, b) the contact information of the entrant's primary research advisor, c) the paper title, and d) appropriate keywords for the submitted paper.
2. The paper in completely anonymous form (in PDF format), with a length of at most 32 pages including tables, figures, and references but excluding the appendix, and strictly compliant with all submission formatting standards of the POM journal (see http://www.poms.org/journal/author instructions/). The file name should be a short-form title of the paper.
3. An attestation letter (in PDF format) signed by both the student entrant and a faculty advisor confirming that the entrant and the paper satisfy the eligibility conditions.
Entrants should send their submission containing the above three files to Liana Victorino (lianav@uvic.ca).
Complete entries must be received on or before November 16th, 2025. It is the entrant's responsibility to allow for the appropriate time to enroll as a new member of the POMS College of Service Operations (approximately 2-3 business days).
Selection Procedure
Upon receiving the submission, the paper will be processed through the following procedure:
1. All papers will go through the screening process to check for the eligibility and anonymity.
2. Papers that pass the screening process will be sent to at least two reviewers for review and evaluation on four aspects: (1) Contribution to Academia and Practitioners; (2) Theoretical and Managerial Insights; (3) Rigor of Methodology and Analysis; and (4) Presentation / Writing.
3. Finalists will be selected based on reviewer evaluations. All finalists will present their work in person at the 2026 POMS Annual Conference in a set of special invited sessions within the Service Operations Track.
4. The first prize and two runner-up prizes will be determined based on the evaluations of judging panel that will review the finalist papers and observe the presentations. The winner and two runners-up will be announced and the finalists will be celebrated during the 2026 College of Service Operations Business Meeting during the 2026 POMS Annual Conference.
Any questions regarding the 2026 POMS College of Service Operations Best Student Paper Competition should be sent to 2026 POMS College of Service Operations Best Student Paper Competition Committee Members:
Guillaume Roels (INSEAD), guillaume.roels@insead.edu
Liana Victorino (University of Victoria), lianav@uvic.ca
Best,
Xun (Peter) Xu, POMS College of Service Operations President
