Publishing in Accounting Journals

1. Publishing in Accounting Journals J. E. Hunton Bentley College

2. q-Quality • Motivation • Contribution • Theory Ellison, G. 2002. Evolving Standards for Academic Publishing: A q-r Theory. Journal of Political Economy 10 (5): 994-1034.

3. r-Quality • Methodological rigor • Data collection • Literature review • Statistical analyses • Robustness of findings • Generality of results • Future extensions Ellison, G. 2002. Evolving Standards for Academic Publishing: A q-r Theory. Journal of Political Economy 10 (5): 994-1034.

4. q-r Theory Assumes eventual equilibrium due to social norms and expectations. q Q U A L I T Y r Present Future 1970’s Ellison, G. 2002. Evolving Standards for Academic Publishing: A q-r Theory. Journal of Political Economy 10 (5): 994-1034.

5. q-Quality post hoc Fatal Flaw • Motivation • Contribution • Theory • Methodological Rigor • Data Collection • Literature Review • Statistical analyses • Robustness of findings • Generality of results • Future Extensions post hoc Maybe fixable Depends…? r-Quality post hoc Probably Fixable Ellison, G. 2002. Evolving Standards for Academic Publishing: A q-r Theory. Journal of Political Economy 10 (5): 994-1034.

6. Creating q-Quality Developing r-Quality Exposing & Revising Submitting & Publishing ≈ 50% ≈ 25% ≈ 15% ≈ 10% Ideal Effort Expenditure 100% E F F O R T 0%

7. Observed Effort Expenditure 100% E F F O R T 0% Creating q-Quality Developing r-Quality Exposing & Revising Submitting & Publishing ≈ 10% ≈ 50% ≈ 5% ≈ 35%

8. Ideal versus Observed Effort 100% E F F O R T 0% Creating q-Quality Gap Developing r-Quality Gap Exposing & Revising Gap Submitting & Publishing Gap - 40% + 25% - 10% + 25%

9. How long does it take? • Researching, writing and publishing takes a long, long time. • Rough Estimates: • Creating q-Quality 6 Months • Developing r-Quality 6 Months • Exposing and Revising 6 Months • Submitting and Publishing 24 Months • First round: 2-6 months • Your response: 1-3 months • Second round: 2-4 months • Your response: 1-2 months • Last round: 1-2 months • Your response: 1-1 months • Publication: 1-6 months • Total 9-24 months 3.5 years from start to finish!

10. Lesson Learned • You need to have a portfolio of multiple projects on-going at all times. At a minimum: • Year One: Two projects • Year Two: Four Projects • Year Three: Six Projects • Thereafter: When one project in the portfolio of six drops off (hopefully via publication acceptance), add another and try to maintain at least six projects in your portfolio at all times! Portfolio of 6 Projects

11. Keys to Successful Publishing Before Submitting to a Journal

12. Keys to Successful Publishing Before Submitting to a Journal • Contribution What have you contributed to the extant state of knowledge?

13. Keys to Successful Publishing Before Submitting to a Journal • Contribution • Relevance Does the study have theoretical and/or practical importance?

14. Keys to Successful Publishing Before Submitting to a Journal • Contribution • Relevance • Exhaustiveness Do you know the literature, and have you suitably interpreted and incorporated prior findings?

15. Keys to Successful Publishing Before Submitting to a Journal • Contribution • Relevance • Exhaustiveness • Accuracy Are you properly analyzing your data and drawing inferences?

16. Keys to Successful Publishing Before Submitting to a Journal • Contribution • Relevance • Exhaustiveness • Accuracy • Theory To what extent is the theoretical development and/or application correct?

17. Keys to Successful Publishing Before Submitting to a Journal • Contribution • Relevance • Exhaustiveness • Accuracy • Theory • Exposure Have you received sufficient input from researchers on and off your co-author team?

18. Keys to Successful Publishing Before Submitting to a Journal • Contribution • Relevance • Exhaustiveness • Accuracy • Theory • Exposure Create value!

19. Keys to Successful Publishing After Submitting to a Journal

20. Keys to Successful Publishing After Submitting to a Journal • Responsive Reply in detail to each comment made by the editor and reviewers.

21. Keys to Successful Publishing After Submitting to a Journal • Responsive • Explanatory Thoroughly, yet politely, explain how and why you responded to each comment; and, how and why you performed questioned procedures, methods, analyses, etc.

22. Keys to Successful Publishing After Submitting to a Journal Stand your ground when appropriate, have faith in your study, and do not let the review process defeat you! If rejected, learn from the constructive input you received and remember-- there is a home for all good work, so never give up!! • Responsive • Explanatory • Persistent

23. Keys to Successful Publishing Most editors and reviewers expend a great deal of valuable time and energy on their reviews, so take the occasion to compliment them on their hard work and helpful input where appropriate—not gratuitously, but earnestly. After Submitting to a Journal • Responsive • Explanatory • Persistent • Laudatory

24. Keys to Successful Publishing After Submitting to a Journal • Responsive • Explanatory • Persistent • Laudatory • Yielding It is acceptable to hold firm on a position when you believe you are right, but, many times you are so close to your work that it is difficult to see a legitimate alternate perspective. Be flexible and adaptive to review comments—most of the time your paper is significantly enhanced through the review process!

25. Keys to Successful Publishing After Submitting to a Journal • Responsive • Explanatory • Persistent • Laudatory • Yielding REPLY with care!

26. Pathological Syndromes • I am not changing my paper! The stubborn syndrome

27. Pathological Syndromes • Wow, this is a brilliant idea, let’s conduct a study now before someone else beats us to the punch! The tortoise and hare syndrome

28. Pathological Syndromes • This first draft reads so well that we should send it into a journal immediately! The unread paper syndrome

29. Pathological Syndromes • In all humility, this study is clearly ‘Top Tier” material and nothing less! The perfect syndrome

30. Pathological Syndromes • The editor and reviewers obviously did not understand my paper—those incompetent nincompoops! The idiot syndrome

31. Pathological Syndromes • I’ll persuade the editor and reviewers that I am right and prove that they are wrong! The determined syndrome

32. Don't bee • Stubborn syndrome • Tortoise and hare syndrome • Unread syndrome • Perfect syndrome • Idiot syndrome • Determined syndrome