Reasons Research Papers Are Rejected at Accounting Education Journals

Abstract

The authors of this manuscript have served as editors of two major accounting education journals for the decade ending in 2005. During this period, we evaluated approximately 500 research manuscripts submitted to the “Main Section” of Issues in Accounting Education and the Journal of Accounting Education. We performed a content-analysis of the files of research manuscripts that had been rejected to determine both primary and secondary reasons for rejection. We find that, by far, most manuscript rejections occur after a first-round review (i.e., after initial submission). We also find that, for the most part, the reasons accounting education research manuscripts are rejected are consistent over time, journal, and editor. The reasons for rejection are generally manifested early in the life of the project. Primary reasons for rejection are (1) a poorly motivated study, (2) a poorly designed study, and/or (3) an insignificant contribution to the accounting education literature. Poor writing is a common secondary reason for rejecting accounting education research manuscripts. The most common reason a manuscript was rejected after resubmission was the failure of the author to adequately address concerns expressed by reviewers and the editor during previous review rounds. We include an appendix that provides sources of guidance for getting manuscripts published in accounting education journals.

Construction of research articles in the leading interdisciplinary accounting journals

“…We could not find any prior research that examined this characteristic of research articles. Additionally, the academic literature has concentrated on the reasons for rejecting rather than accepting papers (for example, Howard and Stout, 2006;Stout et al, 2006;Primack, 2009). Thus our research questions are: "How are the attributes utilised in the selected articles?"…”

Reasons accounting case/instructional resource papers are rejected for publication

“…n = Total number of primary reasons associated manuscript rejection in each category. * From Stout et al (2006). actions taken by the novice physician or lawyer.…”

“…As shown in Table 3, 56.4% of the rejected manuscripts in our sample cited secondary reasons for rejection in addition to one or more primary reasons. Stout et al (2006) developed a coding scheme that included 25 reasons that accounting education research manuscripts were rejected. The authors of that study applied their scheme to analyze the reasons for rejection of research manuscripts submitted to Issues in Accounting Education and to the Journal of Accounting Education (JAEd).…”

Content Analysis: Its Use in Accounting Publications

“…Examinar empiricamente se as empresas aprendentes são mais competitivas e melhores performers do que os seus concorrentes (GOH; RYAN, 2008); analisar o conteúdo das políticas de denúncia e partes de códigos de ética e/ou deontologia, descrevendo essas políticas em empresas europeias lideres (HASSINK; VRIES; BOLLEN, 2007); determinar as razões para a rejeição de manuscritos de investigação submetidos a revistas (STOUT; REBELE; HOWARD, 2006). Desta forma, verifica-se a potencialidade da análise de conteúdo como método de investigação no estudo de uma vasta gama de temas e tópicos, sobretudo para, tal como refere Stemler (2001), permitir a verificação de tendências e padrões em documentos (na maioria dos estudos, nos Relatórios e Contas).…”