Managing the Review Process in Accounting Research: Advice from the Trenches

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide advice to accounting doctoral students and new accounting Ph.D.s on managing the review process. We also hope that our advice and suggestions will assist more experienced accounting faculty in their research endeavors. We offer suggestions from the point of view of researchers at various stages in their career. We also interview a variety of current and former journal editors and provide their suggestions and insights. We first provide suggestions to help position the article so as to receive a more helpful review. We then discuss strategies for responding to the editorial process and provide specific advice for handling various editorial decisions including a rejection, a reject-and-resubmit, a revise-and-resubmit, and an acceptance. We build upon prior research by providing a summary of advice for each type of editorial decision and by providing advice and suggestions from editors and associate editors at a wide range of accounting journals.