An Examination of and a Commentary on the Increased Length of Published Research Papers

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe page lengths of the articles in the top accounting journals have been steadily increasing over the past two decades. The increase is about 42 percent using the average page length, and 45 percent using the median page length.These length increases are understated because the more recent articles now include online supplementary materials that are not counted as published pages. The number of authors per article has also increased over the past two decades from 2.1 authors to an average of 2.8 authors per article. To reduce the level of editors', reviewers', and our colleagues in the academe's fatigue, journal editors should consider word length constraints. Also, making our research more appealing to accounting professionals, policymakers, and the public is another incentive for journal editors to consider word length constraints.Data Availability: The data are available from the author on request.JEL Classifications: M21; M40.