Being successful at publishing Dr Alvin Lee Deakin University, Lecturer, Director Master of Marketing China Agricultural University, Melbourne University July 2018

How our circles look at publishing Journal editor’s view Your colleague’s view Your department and faculty administrator’s view Your view?

How to avoid publication of your work Work on The Obvious Venue Driven Research - Examples: studies of old phenomena in new settings such as a specific industry, international, internet context Just Adding One More New Variable Replications Offer an Exercise in Data Fitting - usually not interesting no matter how sophisticated the model Offer Descriptive and Purely Exploratory Work

Philosophical anchors of intellectual life Research Publishing – not for everyone, but a little once in a while doesn’t hurt Publication is a means, not an end You publish what you discover, make an original contribution to the field, and move the field forwards Teaching – a noble profession and a wonderful calling, great teachers read research regularly Learning about research and using research in teaching

Getting your work published in leading journals The “Leading” Journals: Accept only 8% - 10% of Submissions But 20 – 25% of Papers Not Desk Rejected 50% - 75% of Papers Invited for Revision Best of the Best They Have Influence (Impact) Most papers can find a home Important Incremental Contributions Areas Mature Over time and Become More Incremental and Less Interesting Substantive (Important) Contributions But secondary contributions to methods, measures, or modeling are encouraged and increases contribution Importance of Accessibility Can anyone read (or even interpret) the paper? The author(s)’ burden

FT50 Academy of Management Journal 2. Academy of Management Review 3. Accounting, Organizations and Society 4. Administrative Science Quarterly 5. American Economic Review 6. Contemporary Accounting Research 7. Econometrica 8. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice 9. Harvard Business Review 10. Human Relations* 11. Human Resource Management 12. Information Systems Research 13. Journal of Accounting and Economics 14. Journal of Accounting Research 15. Journal of Applied Psychology 16. Journal of Business Ethics 17. Journal of Business Venturing 18. Journal of Consumer Psychology 19. Journal of Consumer Research 20. Journal of Finance 21. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 22. Journal of Financial Economics 23. Journal of International Business Studies 24. Journal of Management* 25. Journal of Management Information Systems* 26. Journal of Management Studies 27. Journal of Marketing 28. Journal of Marketing Research 29. Journal of Operations Management 30. Journal of Political Economy 31. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science* 32. Management Science 33. Manufacturing and Service Operations Management* 34. Marketing Science 35. MIS Quarterly 36. Operations Research 37. Organization Science 38. Organization Studies 39. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 40. Production and Operations Management 41. Quarterly Journal of Economics 42. Research Policy* 43. Review of Accounting Studies 44. Review of Economic Studies* 45. Review of Finance* 46. Review of Financial Studies 47. Sloan Management Review 48. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal* 49. Strategic Management Journal 50. The Accounting Review

ABDC Journal List A* European Journal of Marketing Industrial Marketing Management International Journal of Research in Marketing Journal of Consumer Research Journal of Marketing Journal of Marketing Research Journal of Retailing Journal of Service Research Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science Marketing Science But, there are also very good journals in economics, psychology, and other disciplines ABDC Journal List A Caveat from ABDC: Journal lists should be a starting point only for assessing publication quality and should not constrain researchers to a particular domain.  There is no substitute for assessing individual articles on a case-by-case basis.

Journal reputation: perceptual rankings Source: Hult, Reiman, and Schilke (2009), “Worldwide Faculty Perceptions of Marketing Journals: Rankings, Trends, Comparisons, and Segmentations,” GlobalEdge Business Review, 3 (3), 1 - 23.

Impact Journal citation reports Citation impact compares how often a journal is cited. It is a ratio of the number of items cited : the number of items available for citation But a good way to get cited often is to write an article that everyone cites as a really bad example – “don’t do this” or “they made this awful mistake”

Citation impact of marketing journals 1982 2000 2016 JAMS NA 1.844 5.88 J Consumer Resrch 2.593 2.496 3.80 J Marketing 2.406 2.315 3.89 J Marketing Resrch 1.815 1.746 3.11 Marketing Science 1.392 1.340 2.16 J Advertising 0.645 0.620 2.90 J Retailing 0.629 0.605 3.77 J Advertising Resrch 0.604 0.582 2.03 Indust Marketing Mgmt 0.358 0.340 3.12

There is no BEST formula to get published No “Best“ Topic But some are more interesting than others No “Best” Number of Studies But multiple studies are often necessary No “Best” Methods But the method must be correct No “Best” Research Design But the research design must be appropriate to the research question(s)

Publishing is about creativity and storytelling How can you tell a compelling story? The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ...’ Isaac Asimov (1920) What is new? What is interesting? What is novel? What is important? What do people care about?

A good story has connections Creativity is about connecting things logically Try connecting: Theory Empirical results Management or policy issues Practical implications

Connecting things to get research ideas Theory  Management Issue Management Issue  Theory Phenomenon  Management Issue Management Issue  Phenomenon Phenomenon  Theory Theory  Phenomenon Theory Public Policy Phenomenon

How do I know an issue is interesting? What Is Interesting? Telling a Compelling Story Adding to Knowledge How Do You Know if an Issue Is Interesting? Ask Others Read Relevant Literature (and Cite It) Clearly Articulate What Your Paper Adds/What Gap(s) it Fills Interesting Compensates (to a degree) for Methodological Sloppiness

Start the story with an interesting question Marketing Is A Broad Field Many questions are very narrow Some questions are just not interesting Some questions are venue specific Some questions are temporally bound Focus on the Potential Impact of Your Contribution Theoretical Impact Scope of Practical Significance Guidance for Decision Makers

Map a method to answer your question Map Method to Question “Facts” and “Truths” Are Often Bound by Method Multiple Methods Create Robust “Facts” and “Truths” Requires Attention to Both Internal and External Validity

Let the method lead the reader to the impact Map Method to Question “Facts” and “Truths” Are Often Bound by Method Multiple Methods Create Robust “Facts” and “Truths” Requires Attention to Both Internal and External Validity Do you need multiple studies for generalizability or more robust results? – not X, but Y Can you eliminate alternative explanations? Can you set boundaries? Can you show that your results are not an artifact of the method or data? bias

How to generate interesting questions? Start with Big Questions Scope (Breadth of story) Impact (Relevance of story) Employ Appropriate Methods Multiple Methods Are Usually Better Acknowledge Limitations Address What Results Mean Theory, Management Implications Context and the Big Picture Complete the Story

Dr Alvin Lee A.Lee@Deakin.edu.au +61418904238 Department of Marketing Deakin University 221 Burwood Highway, Australia 3125.