We are delighted to announce the six Editor’s Choice articles for 2026, carefully selected by the Editorial Board in recognition of their scholarly quality, practical relevance, and meaningful contribution to the evolving field of corporate governance.

Corporate governance is no longer confined to boardrooms, compliance structures, or conventional accountability mechanisms. It increasingly encompasses a broad and interconnected spectrum of issues—including sustainability, ethics, risk, technology, assurance, transparency, organisational resilience, and responsible decision-making.

The selected articles reflect this diversity. They address important and distinctive questions across the corporate governance landscape, offering insights that are relevant not only to academics but also to professionals, policymakers, regulators, and organisational leaders.

What makes these contributions particularly valuable is the interaction between academic rigour and practical relevance. Together, they demonstrate how meaningful corporate governance research can bridge theory and practice, challenge established perspectives, and support better-informed decisions in a rapidly changing institutional environment.

As Advances in Corporate Governance, we are proud to recognise research that does more than contribute to academic debate – it connects knowledge with practice and helps shape the future of responsible and effective governance.

Congratulations to the authors of our six Editor’s Choice articles. We look forward to sharing and celebrating their contributions with the wider academic and professional community.

Best Regards
Prof Sezer Bozkus Kahyaoglu
Editor-in-Chief

Editor’s Choice articles for 2026

Enhancing Corporate Governance via Machine Learning and Statistical Tools for Fraud Detection
Author: Tural Salmanov
This paper examines how machine learning and statistical techniques such as Benford’s Law and the Beneish M-Score can strengthen corporate governance by improving fraud detection. The proposed hybrid framework aims to enhance transparency, accountability and audit effectiveness.

Industry 4.0 Technologies and Public Procurement Nexus: An Analysis of South African Transformative Opportunities Towards Modernisation
Authors: Lawrence M. Mojaki & Nkanyiso K. Ndlovu
This paper examines how Industry 4.0 technologies—including AI, blockchain, the Internet of Things, cloud computing and big-data analytics—can modernise South Africa’s public procurement system. It argues that digital technologies can improve transparency, accountability, efficiency and service delivery.

Professionalising State-Owned Enterprise Boards: A Skills-Based Framework for Competence-Driven Governance
Author: Ernest K. Mutenda
This paper examines how South African state-owned enterprise governance can be improved through competency-based board appointments. It proposes a skills and qualifications matrix emphasising professional competence, ethical leadership, financial literacy and sector expertise to strengthen board effectiveness and restore public trust.

The Complexity of Governance: Validating a Pragmatic Systems Model
Authors: Perrin J.G. Carey & Divya Mahendran
This manuscript validates the previously proposed Complexity Governance Model (GOVIndicia®) using quantitative methods. It demonstrates that governance exhibits characteristics of a complex adaptive system and offers a practical framework for assessing governance quality beyond traditional compliance approaches.

The Convergent Singularities: Diagnosing the Meta-Crisis
Authors: Matthias Muhlert & Sezer B. Kahyaoglu
This paper introduces the Convergent Singularities Framework to explain how optimisation-driven systems create self-reinforcing societal fragility. Drawing on systems theory, complexity science, behavioural economics, philosophy, governance and AI, it argues for a shift toward resilience, strategic redundancy and human-centred decision-making.

The Impact of Organisational Culture on Corporate Governance in Public Entities: The Case of South African Revenue Service
Authors: Mzukisi Matandabuzo & Noah K. Marutlulle
This paper examines how organisational culture influences corporate governance within the South African Revenue Service. It concludes that leadership failures, unethical behaviour and dysfunctional culture contributed significantly to governance breakdowns, highlighting ethical leadership, accountability and institutional culture.

About the journal

Advances in Corporate Governance (ACG) is an open-access scholarly journal designed to stimulate and disseminate research that raises awareness of, drives the development of, and promotes adherence to good governance within and between organisations, communities, and countries worldwide. ACG covers governance and leadership, ethics and efficacy, reporting and digitalisation, and sustainability.