David W.

Stewart

Getting Published:
Reflections of an Old Editor
M y time as editor has been a dynamic period for the
marketing community. It has witnessed the matur-
ing of information technology, the Internet boom
and bust, and the collapse of some of the most widely rec-
ognized and trusted of brands, including Andersen, Sun-
practices that have taken place. Second, I share my perspec-
tive as an editor on what is most likely to be valuable to the
discipline and find its way into the pages ofthe Journal, This
will be a brief treatise on how to get published. Third, I
acknowledge the contributions of the many people who have
beam, Oldsmobile, and Firestone, Even such seemingly contributed to the Journal's success.
powerful brands as Disney, McDonald's, AT&T, and Coca-
Cola have struggled. At the same time, the attention of the
popular business press and the public at large has become What We Have Done Together
increasingly focused on markets and marketing practices.
Issues of intellectual property, consumer privacy, and fair The marketing discipline has changed in fundamental ways
business practices have become part of the daily business in recent years. The contents of JM reflect that change. The
headlines. The celebrity attorney has been replaced by the community of which the Journal is a part broadened its
celebrity chief executive officer. The locus of economic focus in recent years. This broadened focus is reflected in
growth and new organizational forms has increasingly the content of the Journal, In preparing for my role as editor,
shifted westward from Europe, the East Coast, and the Mid- I did a coarse and subjective analysis of the content of JM
west to the West Coast and Asia, The only exception to these from 1996 to 1998, I repeated this content analysis for the
broad shifts appears to be Japan, once feared as an economic articles published during my tenure as editor from the begin-
powerhouse and now reduced to a troubled economy. ning of 2000 to the end of 2002, Table 1 provides a summary
of these two analyses. Although these analyses are crude and
Change is evitable and is what sustains the need for certainly miss important nuances, a comparison of the two
research and scholarship. Paradigms, assumptions, and even analyses is nonetheless revealing,
"facts" that dominate thought and practice at one point give
A particularly striking finding in this comparison is what
way to new facts and modes of thought. In my editorial
is not present. The Internet bubble is barely visible in the
statement at the beginning of my term as editor (Stewart
content ofthe Journal, I believe this says something positive
1999), I discussed the role of Journal of Marketing (JM) as
about the Journal and its review process, as well as the field
a tangible artifact of an intellectual community. This intel-
of marketing. In a journal devoted to the identification of
lectual community is very much alive and responsive to
generalizable market and business phenomena, there is no
change. It is again time for a change in the stewardship of the
place for fads. This does not mean that JM has ignored the
Journal, This change will, no doubt, bring new energy, new
Internet, e-commerce, and the information revolution. Quite
perspectives, and new directions to the Journal, However,
the contrary is the case. However, much of what has been
editors merely manage in a modest way the real changes that
published in the Journal about the Internet and e-commerce
occur in the intellectual discipline. Most of the articles to be
has not focused on the venue as the rationale for the contri-
published by the new editor during her first year are already
bution. Rather, the focus has been on more fundamental
written and in the review process. The problems and topics
market phenomena and business practices. The Internet and
on which scholars within marketing's intellectual community
e-commerce are merely components of these larger phe-
are working and will work reflect the broader social and eco-
nomena and practices.
nomic environment of which marketing is a part. An editor
has little, if any, influence on this environment. However, an As is now obvious to almost everyone, the Internet and
editor plays an especially important role in ensuring that the e-commerce are important because they can substantially
scholarship that derives from response to change is captured reduce transaction costs in the value delivery systems that
and published on a timely basis. serve some markets, and they can selectively create markets
that were not economically viable because geographic dis-
I discuss three things in my last editorial as editor: First, persion made search for and transactions within them unat-
I describe the changes that have occurred in the Journal over tractive to both buyers and sellers. However, it is not clear
the past three years. These changes suggest a great deal that the Internet created much incremental demand. All of
about the nature of the changes in markets and marketing this means that the real benefits of the Internet and e-
commerce are related to the well-known and even mundane
practice of taking marketing share from competitors through
David W, Stewart is Robert E, Brooker Professor of Marketing and Deputy reduced costs or superior quality or service. Some market-
Dean, Gordon Marshall School of Business, University of Southern
California,
ing scholars were making these points even at the peak of
the Internet frenzy.

Journal of Marketing
Vol. 66 (October 2002), Getting Published/I
 TABLE 1
Comparative Content of Articles in JAf

Articles Published 1996-98 Articles Published 2000-2002

Advertising and promotion (16) Relationship marketing (10)
Market orientation and organizational design (8) Advertising and promotion (10)
Personal selling and sales management (8) Marketing strategy (8)
Product development and management (7) Services marketing (8)
Channels of distribution (5) Product development and management (8)
Marketing strategy (5) Personal selling and sales management (5)
Customer satisfaction (4) Organizational design and perfonnance (5)
Relationship marketing (4) Critical analysis/interpretive analysis of marketing
Pricing (4) phenomena (4)
Services marketing (4) Retailing (3)
History and philosophy of marketing (3) Value of customers (3)
Knowledge management and decision support systems (3) Brands and branding (2)
Social influence (3) Buyer behavior (2)
Public policy and regulation (3) Quality (2)
Marketing research and demand forecasting (2)
Internet marketing and interactive shopping (2)
Retailing (2)
Packaging (1)
Buyer behavior (1)

It is important for the most influential journals in a field Some changes in the Journal are not so visible from a
to remain above the hype and faddishness that often charac- cursory examination of its content. The Journal has become
terize the popular business press and many consulting prac- more international. However, it has become more interna-
tices. The credibility of the Journal and the discipline rests tional by virtue of its authors rather than because of a spe-
on the ability to distinguish the important general phenom- cific focus on the unique characteristics of international
ena from the trivial. markets. Almost one-third of the articles published during
With a modest bit of interpretation, Table 1 demonstrates the past three years have had at least one author who was
that the focus of the field of marketing has been changing affiliated with an institution outside the United States, The
over time. Relationship marketing has become a more source of data for empirical studies has also increasingly
prominent part of JM's content. Similarly, work on the been from non-U,S, settings. These particular changes do
unique characteristics of services marketing has increased. not mean that the Journal has published more "international
Indeed, there is a strong link between relationship building marketing" articles. Quite the contrary is the case; few arti-
and much of what is done in the design and delivery of cles are published simply because they are international.
services. Work that once focused exclusively on channels Rather, the international composition of published authors
of distribution has largely been replaced with work that and the international sourcing of empirical data mean that
focuses on broader strategic issues of design of value deliv- the community of scholars has expanded and work is now
ery systems and interorganizational governance. Business- being carried out that is even more likely to be generalizable
to-business marketing has similarly been subsumed within across geopolitical and cultural boundaries.
broader frameworks for conceptualizing value delivery sys- One important characteristic of the Journal has not
tems that are ultimately driven by end-user consumers (at changed over time. The Journal of Marketing continues to
least in developed markets). welcome the broadest possible array of methodological
Focus on customer satisfaction appears to have been tools for describing and explaining market and marketing
replaced by a greater focus on the value of the customer. phenomena. Data and empirical results obtained through
Time and practice have shown that a satisfied customer is qualitative methods, interpretive research, model building,
not always a profitable customer, and unsatisfied customers experiments, surveys, and analysis of archival records are to
are often cost sinks that the firm would do better ignoring be found in the pages of the Journal, This eclectic mixture
than trying to serve. Pricing is an essential component ofthe of data and research methods is indicative of a journal that
value equation, but in the past several years it has been more is driven by theory and substantive problems rather than
closely linked to such topics as the design of value delivery method. This is a healthy characteristic and suggests an
systems, branding, and relationship building. intellectual vitality in the discipline.
The marketing mix remains alive and well in the content The changing character of JM's content and the eclectic
of JM. Product design, branding, advertising and promotion, mix of methods found in it suggest that there is no easy for-
personnel selling and sales management, and retailing all mula for describing articles that are published in the Journal,
continue to be well represented in the pages of the Journal, Given that JM's mission is to publish the best work in the
Close examination of the content of articles on these topics discipline, it should not be surprising that there is no simple
reveals changes in the broader environment. Thus, the mar- formula for publication. Indeed, if ever such a cookie-cutter
kets and industries in which data are obtained tend to reflect approach were to describe the Journal, it would suggest that
growth sectors such as services and high technology. JM has lost its way and inevitably will lose its influence.

2 / Journal of Marketing, October 2002

The Journal of Marketing continues to be among the most secondary contributions to methods, measures, or modeling.
frequently cited journals in all the social sciences precisely Indeed, such secondary contributions can increase the over-
because it publishes articles that make unique contributions. all contribution of a paper and sometimes make the differ-
Although there is no simple formula for publication in ence in whether a paper is published or rejected. Such
JM, articles that are published share some important charac- methodological contributions are not substitutes for sub-
teristics. These characteristics may not be so obvious to the stantive contributions, however.
reader or author, but they tend to emerge in the course of an Another important characteristic of JM is related to its
editor's work in processing more than a thousand manu- readership. The Journal of Marketing has the largest circula-
scripts. There are only a few basic reasons papers are tion of any academic marketing joumal. The vast majority of
accepted or rejected, though the precise ways these reasons its subscribers are not academics. The content of the Journal
manifest themselves in specific papers are legion. So what must be accessible to these readers. It is also important to rec-
are the keys to success? ognize that as a general marketing journal, JM is read by aca-
demics who are not specialists in a given area of marketing.
Getting Published This means that even well-published academic readers may
not be familiar with the unique jargon or specialized research
Know the Journal methods employed in a given paper. For this reason, JM
The first step in publishing in JM is developing an under- places a high premium on the readability of papers. Many
standing of the role of the Journal, which publishes only papers are rejected simply because they are inaccessible to the
about 10% ofthe manuscripts that are submitted to it. It pub- reader (usually by reviewers who are more knowledgeable
lishes the best work in the entire field of marketing; it seeks than the typical JM reader about the topic). Authors occa-
articles that make broad contributions to the field. As a sionally complain that reviewers did not seem to understand
result, an otherwise very good paper in a narrow area may or were not well versed in an area with which a paper deals.
not be acceptable for publication in JM. This does not mean In most cases, this lack of understanding is not the fault of the
that the paper is poor; rather, it means that the paper does not reviewers. Rather, it was not the reviewer who failed to under-
make enough of a general contribution to the marketing dis- stand but the author who failed to communicate. Most authors
cipline to warrant its selection over other papers. The best are too close to their work to know whether they are actually
papers on advertising compete for space against the best communicating, A good copy editor, who is always available
papers on channels of distribution. These papers, in turn, at a price, can work wonders with otherwise obtuse prose.
compete for space against the best papers in every other area Presenting a paper or having others read it can also uncover a
of marketing, A remarkably large percentage of the papers host of incomprehensible passages of text that seem crystal
submitted to JM, including those that are eventually pub- clear to the author and typographical errors that obscure the
lished, do a poor job of describing the incremental contribu- intended meaning of a statement.
tion of the paper. Therefore, a good place for authors to Knowing the journal to which you are submitting is an
begin when considering publication in the Journal is to essential first step in publishing. The Journal of Marketing
focus on the nature of the contribution of the paper. has unique characteristics, and prospective authors should
Although it is a good practice to review past issues of JM be aware of these, A lack of familiarity with the Journal is
for form and content, examination of past issues is not the often all too obvious: I have had papers forwarded to me by
best guide to the incremental contribution of a paper. Past past editors (some of whom have not been editors for ten
issues can indicate what is already known in an area and years), I have received papers that identify the Journal by the
therefore serve as a benchmark for assessing a paper's contri- wrong name, I have received papers in which the cover let-
bution. However, just because a topic has been addressed ter clearly identifies the topic of the paper as inappropriate
often in prior literature is no guarantee that a pajjer on the for JM, and I have received papers so filled with typos or
same topic will be publishable. Areas of inquiry mature over poor language that I could not send them out for review.
time, and research on a given topic tends to become less incre-
mental and less interesting. The thirty-third paper on a topic Increasing the Odds of Rejection
is simply not as useful or interesting as the first paper. Simi- The most common reason that JM rejects a paper is that it
larly, just because something was done in a previously pub- lacks a sufikient incremental contribution, I learned early in
lished article is not, in and of itself, justification for a practice. my tenure as editor that this explanation for rejecting a paper
Sloppy methodology or an incomplete model may be over- is especially disconcerting to authors. Such a rationale is based
looked in the first article on a topic (because the topic has not on a subjective judgment (though informed by the opinions of
been previously explored), but it is unlikely to be acceptable reviewers). It is also difficult to tell an author exactly what
in subsequent work (because the earlier flaws in need of cor- must be done to improve the contribution of a paper. Some-
rection should now be obvious from the prior work). times the methodology in an empirical study is so flawed that
It is also important to recognize that JM's mission is to the contribution could be improved only by redesigning the
publish substantive contributions to the marketing disci- study. More often, there is nothing wrong with the methodol-
pline. The Journal seeks papers that make conceptual, theo- ogy; the issue addressed is just not very important.
retical, or empirical contributions; it does not publish papers There are things a prospective author can do to improve
in which the primary contribution is methodological, mea- the likelihood that a paper will make a sufficient incremental
surement related, or modeling oriented. The Journal pub- contribution. There are also types of papers that are more
lishes articles that make a substantive contribution and make likely to be found wanting with respect to incremental contri-

Getting Published / 3
bution. The best approach to making an important incremen- research and is justified by a finding that adding a previously
tal contribution is to do something interesting. Whether some- unexamined variable accounts for some additional variance.
thing is interesting or not is an empirical question. So share Such research can be interesting, especially if the new variable
your idea with others; ask if something to which you are con- suggests boundaries for a phenomenon, but as with venue-
sidering devoting time and resources is interesting to others. driven research and replications, the burden for demonstrating
You might still wish to work on the idea even if others do not the importance of a contribution is high. The questions raised
find it interesting, but be aware that such ideas have a low are why this particular variable is examined and others are not,
probability of being published. Read the relevant literature why the selected variable is theoretically relevant, and how
and cite it. It is unlikely that you are the first to examine a par- important the added variance accounted for really is.
ticular issue or problem. You may be the first to examine a Some authors employ a strategy of taking selected vari-
particular dimension ofthe problem or issue, but you need to ables from a larger data set and attempting to make a stand-
articulate clearly what your paper adds or what gaps it fills. alone paper from these variables. They then take another
This is another area in which authors often complain that subset of variables and attempt to construct another paper.
reviewers do not understand or have not paid attention to in Nothing is inherently wrong with trying to leverage a data
their papers. What usually happens is that key literature is collection effort. However, there are some inherent dangers
ignored and a paper's contribution is framed in terms far too in doing so. Often, a single paper using all the available data
general. Interesting may compensate (to a degree) for con- makes for a far stronger contribution than several papers
ceptual or methodological sloppiness, but it is better to offer a each with a far more modest contribution, I have found it
sound conceptual and methodological approach that suggests common for reviewers to ask for additional information or
acquaintance with previous work in the same area. data and for the authors to respond that, indeed, they already
There are types of papers that have a particularly diffi- have the necessary data. Another danger in this approach is
cult time meeting the necessary hurdle for incremental con- that each subsequent study is likely to be less important than
tribution. This does not mean that such papers are never the last, especially when some of the same variables are
published, but they carry an especially heavy burden for used in each study. Therefore, even when the first study is
demonstrating the significance of their contribution, espe- published, the second study may not be. The result is a
cially in a journal like JM. Venue is seldom a sufficient weaker first paper and no second paper.
rationale for publishing a paper. Just because a particular Data fitting is not usually interesting no matter how
phenomenon has not been examined in a particular venue sophisticated the model or method is. This is the problem
(such as a specific industry or country) is not a good reason with much of the recent work employing structural equation
to do a study. This is the problem with much ofthe research modeling. There is an appropriate use for fitting models, but
in an international or Internet context. For example, it is merely showing that a set of data fits a model is not an espe-
unclear why consumer decision making should necessarily cially compelling contribution. The same data may fit many
be different in Malaysia, If it is not found to be different, different models with different theoretical implications.
investigation of the topic has a "so what?" quality. If it is Data may also fit a model for reasons as uninteresting as the
found to be different, finding a difference alone is insuffi- use of variables with highly correlated errors. The burden on
cient without an explanation for the difference. Unfortu- the author is to make a compelling case that there is theo-
nately, all too often the real reason for any obtained differ- retical or practical significance associated with fitting a
ence is trivial (consumers in Malaysia are not as familiar given model. Similarly, descriptive and purely exploratory
with the stimulus brands as consumers in the United States; work is generally less interesting. Such work certainly can
the required translation of the questionnaire produced dif- be important for the development of taxonomies or for the
ferences in the meaning of the questions compared with the identification of important relationships that have heretofore
original instrument). Similarly, trust and reputation are not been identified. Merely describing a phenomenon with-
important in many markets. Why would it be assumed that out some effort to suggest a conceptual basis for the obser-
there is any difference in an Internet context? Venue-driven vations leaves much unanswered.
research bears the burden of making the case that venue Finally, compelling contributions tend to avoid the obvi-
should matter for some important reason and then demon- ous. Many relationships have not been tested (especially in
strating that the expected difference is present for the reason specific venues), but there is a reason they have not been
posited. This is a high hurdle. tested. If outcomes are obvious, there is no real need to test
Replications are not compelling for similar reasons, A them. Demonstrations that the obvious does not hold can be
replication that works has a "so what?" character, A replica- interesting, but failures to demonstrate the obvious, when
tion that does not work raises questions about why. Replica- failure means an inability to reject the null hypothesis, are
tions may fail for many reasons, and most of these reasons incomplete. There are many reasons for obtaining results
are not interesting, A replication may fail because a differ- that do not differ from the null: insufficient power, insensi-
ent measure was used, a manipulation failed, or the sample tive measures, and weak manipulations, among others.
was inappropriate, A failure to replicate bears the burden of Again, the burden of demonstrating an interesting and com-
explanation. Such failures can be important for the estab- pelling contribution is high for such research.
lishment of the boundary conditions of phenomena, but this
too is a high hurdle, Increasing the Odds of Being Published
A variation of replication is the addition of a new variable. In addition to selecting interesting problems or questions on
This type of research often starts with well-established which to work, there are other things authors can do to

4 / Journal of Marketing, October 2002

increase the odds of publishing a paper. Get feedback early ial process. Ultimately, the editor must make a decision
and often. You can get feedback by presenting the paper at about your paper, however. This is a decision about your
conferences, at other universities, and to your own col- paper; it is not about you. The goal of the editor is to fill
leagues. Indeed, the colleagues with whom you interact each issues of the journal, subject to a quality constraint. This
day are an especially important source of feedback about means that your incentives and those of the editor are
how interesting the paper might be, how well you commu- closely aligned. However, you should listen to what the edi-
nicate, how you might better design a study and analyze its tor asks you to do. If you are unwilling to make the changes
results, and what the results might mean for theory and prac- that have been requested, you probably should withdraw the
tice. This is why choosing colleagues is such an important paper and submit it elsewhere.
part of a career decision. Good colleagues who are them- If you are given the opportunity to revise a paper, do so
selves active scholars are an invaluable resource. and do so quickly. Any opportunity to revise is a victory and
If you do not have a large set of local colleagues, and moves you a step closer to publication. The odds of eventu-
even if you do, ask others to read your paper. Identify key ally being published go up substantially when a revision is
people working in the same area, regardless of their loca- invited. In recent years, 75% of papers have been rejected
tion; share your work with them; and ask for feedback. Part after the initial review. Of the papers whose authors have
of the feedback you obtain should be finding out what oth- been given the chance to revise, half have eventually been
ers are working on in similar areas and reviewing what has published. Of the papers that have gone through a second
been recently published in the area. As an editor, I could revision, 90% have been eventually published, though some
usually identify the papers that had been read by no one of these have required several more rounds of revision.
other than the author before submission. Feedback helps and Much of the research in which we are engaged is time
raises the odds of publication. Early feedback even helps sensitive. Other scholars likely are working on similar top-
you avoid work on a project that has a low probability of ics, and some phenomena change over time in important
success in the first instance. ways. This means that the longer you wait to revise and
Listen to the reviewers; they are generally trying to help. resubmit a paper, the more likely its contribution will be
Reviewers often do understand what they read, but authors lower by the time it is reviewed again. Authors occasionally
are often not clear about what they mean. Identifying and become annoyed at the "inconsistency" of reviewers (and
correcting such gaps in communication are part of the pur- editors), because they were told a paper was interesting and
pose of the review process. Reviewers disagree far less often made an important contribution in one round of reviews and
than many authors believe. Indeed, reviewers generally subsequently were told that the paper's contribution was not
agree on the problems that exist in a particular paper. Dis- great in the next round of reviews. The odds that this will
agreements sometimes occur when reviewers offer potential happen go up the longer it takes the author to complete the
solutions for these problems. For example, all the reviewers revision. In such cases, the reviewers are not being incon-
may agree that one problem with a paper is insufficient sistent; rather, their evaluations are time dependent. Also,
power in a statistical test. One reviewer may suggest the longer the interval between a review and revision, the
increasing sample size to solve this problem, another more likely it is that a reviewer or editor will drop out of the
reviewer may suggest using a more sensitive measure, and a process. This is not always a problem, but sometimes new
third reviewer may suggest using a covariate to reduce the reviewers (sometimes multiple new reviewers) must be
error variance. In such a case, it is not unusual for authors to brought into the review process. Editors do not like to do
become concerned that the reviewers disagree about the this, and new reviewers often raise new issues. Although this
approach they should take in the revision. They lose sight of is frustrating to authors, it is often the authors who are to
the real problem, on which all agree. It is the solution to the blame for failing to revise on a timely basis.
problem rather than the particular approach that is impor- Appeals are possible but seldom successful. When an
tant. Authors sometimes use such "disagreements" disin- editor has made a decision, it is rare that the decision will be
genuously to dismiss reviewers' comments. An editor can reversed. If you believe that an injustice has been done, you
help sort through these kinds of disagreements, but it is can appeal to the editor. In some cases, the editor will then
important for authors to recognize that there is a difference assign the paper to a referee for an assessment. Usually this
between disagreements on fundamental problems and dis- process involves sharing the paper, all reviews, all responses
agreements with respect to suggestions for resolving the to the reviewers, and all correspondence by the editor with a
problem. The author who accepts the existence of the prob- senior scholar in the field (often a former editor). The senior
lem and works to resolve it will likely be met with a positive scholar is asked for an assessment of the decision and in
response from all the reviewers, regardless of the particular some cases recommends that the authors be provided a
solution that was adopted. chance to revise the paper. Revisions then go back to the
Arguing with reviewers is seldom helpful and may even original reviewers. Such appeals are at the discretion of the
hurt your case. If you believe a reviewer is wrong, appeal to editor, and authors have the burden of suggesting reasons
the editor. Let the editor know the source of your disagree- the request is appropriate. The majority of such appeals are
ment and offer whatever supporting evidence you can muster. resolved with a negative outcome, and even when revision is
In your response to the reviewer, you need only politely indi- invited, it is rare that the author is able to resolve the issues
cate that you disagree and have asked the editor for advice. (papers are rejected for good reasons).
When you have a question, contact the editor. It is part Rejection is inevitable for active scholars; learn from
ofthe editor's responsibility to help you through the editor- rejection. The comments of the reviewers and editor often

Getting Published / 5
 suggest the direction for a new paper. New papers (new data, broader than its authors and reviewers. The impact of a jour-
new conceptual framework) are welcome. Rejected papers nal depends in no small measure on its ability to influence
often form the basis for new work on the same topic. Indeed, the thinking and behavior of its readers. The Journal of
as editor, I have encouraged authors of papers on interesting Marketing plays an important role in influencing the mar-
topics to develop a new paper on the same topic even as I keting discipline through its readers who come to it solely as
rejected their current submission, I did not do so to be polite. a source of information and ideas. To the readers of the
Rather, I was encouraging further work on a subject I Journal, I say thank you for your continuing confidence in
believed would be a good addition to the Journal. Also, the ability of the Journal to inform, stimulate thinking and
many of the papers that are rejected by JM are published creativity, and motivate behavior. Second, I thank all the
elsewhere. The feedback from the review process can be authors who have submitted papers to the Journal, The qual-
helpful to an author in revising a paper for another journal. ity of the articles published in the Journal and the Journal's
Editors want to know the history of a manuscript. If your influence are a function of both the papers that are published
paper has been reviewed and rejected by another journal, it and those that are submitted but not selected for publication.
is in your self-interest to let the editor know this. Often, the Because the mission of the Journal is to publish the best
editor will contact the editor of the other journals to deter- conceptual and empirical work in the marketing discipline,
mine who the reviewers were. This enables the editor to find the willingness of authors to submit their best work to JM is
new reviewers who do not have a previous history with the critical to its success. To all of the scholars who have sub-
paper. It is common for the same reviewer to receive a paper mitted papers, I say thank you.
from different journals when the history of the paper is
The quality of the articles published in JM and the
unknown to the editor. In the worst case, the reviewer
impact these articles have on the field of marketing are sig-
informs the editor that he or she has seen the manuscript
nificantly enhanced by the insights, comments, and con-
before and that the current paper is identical to the one pre-
structive criticism ofthe scholars who review them, I thank
viously reviewed. Needless to say, this does not impress
the members of the editorial board who have shouldered a
either the reviewer or the editor with respect to the author's
heavy burden during my editorship, I also thank the many ad
willingness to learn from the review process and improve
hoc reviewers who have contributed to the review of papers.
the paper in response to constructive criticism. Editors are
Authors routinely comment that the reviews they receive
also open to suggestions for potential reviewers as well as
from JM are among the timeliest and most constructive they
suggestions for reviewers to avoid because they have seen
have received from any journal. These comments reflect the
the paper before or have a different point of view from that
quality of the reviewers rather than the editor. The timely
expressed in the paper. Editors are not always able to act on
and constructive criticism provided in the review process is
these suggestions, because reviewers may have other papers
one reason the Journal is so strong; these characteristics
or be otherwise unavailable. However, editors attempt to use
encourage authors to submit their best work,
suggestions when they are offered.
I also thank the past and future editors of the Journal,
Summary Past editors left me a strong legacy on which to build; I look
forward to the continuation of that legacy by future editors,
There should be no mystery associated with the publication I especially want to thank Robert Lusch, my predecessor, for
process. It is in the interests of everyone that authors under-
introducing me to the role of editor and for smoothing the
stand the mechanics ofthe publication process. At one level,
transition between editors, I wish Ruth Bolton much success
getting published is quite simple: (1) Work on interesting
as editor and thank her for her help during the waning por-
problems; (2) obtain feedback by having others read your
tion of my term.
work and by presenting it; (3) write well and, if necessary,
The journal staff of American Marketing Association has
use a copy editor (especially if English is not your first lan-
made the task of editor far easier than it might have been, I
guage); (4) be succinct and use space wisely; (5) provide rel-
evant details (What did you do? What literature did you use? appreciate their cooperation and assistance. My colleagues
What is your contribution?); (6) if given the opportunity to in the Marshall School at University of Southern California
revise, do so and quickly; (7) listen to the reviewers and the and my coauthors at other institutions deserve particular
editor; and (8) learn from and build on rejection. recognition. They have (usually) cheerfully tolerated my
absence from other departmental obligations and delays in
At another level, getting published is difficult. It is about
the completion of joint research projects.
creativity, and creative enterprises are always risky. Manag-
Finally, I owe a debt of gratitude to Brenda Miller, who
ing such risk involves persistence and hard work, but it is
has served as my editorial assistant throughout my term. The
worth the effort if the goal is a contribution to the intellec-
tual community, Journal would not have operated so smoothly or be where it
is today without her many contributions,
I appreciate the opportunity to have served as editor of
A Word of Gratitude Joumal of Marketing. It has been stimulating, educational, and
In closing, I thank all the members of the marketing com- most of all fun, I wish everyone as much fun in the future.
munity who have contributed to the Journal and made my
time as editor easier and enjoyable, I first want to thank our
readers, especially readers who do not otherwise directly REFERENCES
Stewart. David W, (1999), "Beginning Again: Change and Renewal
contribute to the Journal through submission and reviewing in Intellectual Communities." Journal of Marketing. 63 (Octo-
of papers. Great journals must have a readership base that is ber). 2-5,

6 / Journal of Marketing, October 2002