MIT Sloan Management Review will publish its final issue in September 2026 after MIT Sloan School of Management decided to shut down the 67-year-old journal, a move that has sparked intense backlash from academics, practitioners, alumni, and rival editors. Critics argue the publication served as a rare bridge between management scholarship and real-world executive practice. MIT Sloan Dean Richard Locke said the closure is part of a centralized communications restructuring designed to create a more “unified, strategic, and streamlined approach.” The school framed the decision as an effort to align external messaging and protect thought-leadership distribution. Opponents counter that SMR occupied a trusted intermediary role that podcasts and newsletters cannot replicate, especially for evidence-based, cross-audience management analysis. Longtime contributors and university business leaders used strongly worded commentary, citing the publication’s continuity and relevance. The controversy also intersects with broader publishing changes: the Financial Times has recently altered its FT50 list of leading business journals, and the combined reshuffling is heightening scrutiny over what kinds of research translation get prioritized in an AI-saturated content environment.