Getting Your Research Published Peter J Danaher Department of Marketing University of Auckland

1. Frontiers in Services – Doctoral Colloquium Brisbane, Australia – June 2006 Getting Your Research Published Peter J Danaher Department of Marketing University of Auckland

2. Outline • Why publish? • Research process • Format for a paper • Getting the submission right • Insights from the trenches • Getting the revisions right • How it’s done at JM

3. Why Publish? • Requirement for RQF or PBRF (publish or be damned) • Personal satisfaction (pure pleasure) • Establish a reputation and build a career (promotion) • Build knowledge (save the world)

4. How Does it Work? • Do some research • Write it up • Send it to a journal • Editor rejects the paper…. or invites a revision • You revise and resubmit (possibly several times) • Paper is accepted • Paper is published

5. That’s Easy – What’s All the Fuss About? • Doing top-quality research is hard • Writing a 30-50 page paper is a challenge • Top journals (JM, JMR, JCR, Mkt Sci) accept only 10% of papers • Review process is slow and frustrating • Reviewers generally less knowledgeable about your work than you are

6. What Makes Me Such a Smarty Pants? • Published over 50 refereed articles • JMR (6) • Marketing Science (3) • Journal of Marketing (1) • JASA (1) • JAR(6) • Plus, JR, IJRM, EJM, JAMS and Marketing Letters

7. What Makes Me Such a Smarty Pants? • Editorial Board member for the Journal of Marketing • Associate Editor for the Journal of Service Research, Journal of Interactive Advertising and the Australasian Marketing Journal. • Ad hoc reviewer for Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Management Science, JCR, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Journal of Forecasting

8. Paper format • Abstract • Introduction • Literature Review • The Model/Theory • Hypothesis Development (if appropriate) • Data description • Data analysis/results • Discussion • Conclusion, limitations and future research • References, tables, figures

9. Publishing from a PhD • PhD work could be the best you ever do • 3 years of effort • Fewest distractions • Plan to publish 3 articles from your PhD • Build this into the structure of your PhD • PhD is only the first step in publishing. It’s not the end of the road, rather, the beginning

10. What Are the Secrets? • Submission • Target the right journal – were previous key papers published in this journal? • Format your paper to that used by the target journal (including references) • Get feedback before you submit the paper • Make the Abstract and Introduction exciting and get your point(s) across • Have something to say and communicate this

11. What Are the Secrets? • Submission • Suggest/nominate reviewers (e.g., JM, JMR, JCR and Mkt Sci all ask for this) • Look at the Editorial Board members, some will be reviewers • Equally, gives names of those who may be antagonistic • Talk the paper up a little in the covering letter • Check spelling and grammar • Attention to details such as section numbers, equations, notation, etc.

12. Revisions –yuk! • Submitting the paper is only the beginning • But still do spend the time to perfect the original paper • Revisions are inevitable • Put as much effort into the revision as the original submission • Turn it around quickly

13. Revision Secrets • Don’t ignore the reviewers or editor no matter how stupid they are • Tailor your revision notes around the reviewer comments • Number the responses or keep them in the same order as the reviewer comments • Repeat the reviewer comments then respond to them • Help the reviewer navigate through the revised paper by telling him/her where the changes are

14. Revision Secrets • Don’t forget to also respond to the editor • If you disagree with a reviewer, explain this separately to the editor. This is a neutral person • Make copies of reviewer responses for editor and each reviewer. It’s amazing how often paperwork gets mixed up in the review process • If using electronic submission, watch out for glitches

15. Comments from the previous JM editor, Ruth Bolton • Normally sends a paper to 3 reviewers, one of them an author-nominated reviewer and one not a specialist in the topic • Will decide on outcome after at most 2 revisions • No third revisions, no appeals unless a paper is ‘new’ • Recognizes that review process is ‘noisy’ • Believe it or not, feels bad about 90% of papers being rejected

16. Meet the Editors (vicariously) • Recent Mkt Sci conf had editors of 11 marketing journals, including the top 4 • Never submit a paper before it is ready • Remember to respond to the Editor’s letter • If you are unsure is a paper is suitable for their journal, you can ask b4 submission • Editors are competitive with each other • Consider putting your working paper on SSRN.com to protect your IP

17. Conclusion • Research - the old adage of 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration still applies • Editors and reviewers are on the lookout for good ideas, but don’t dismiss the details • Maintain the required hygiene • Work on your writing • Don’t give up