MANUSCRIPT GUIDELINES

The goal of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Retailing is to present the latest in theoretical and empirical research in the field of retail marketing to an audience comprised of academicians, economists, geographers, researchers, top business executives and consultants. Retail marketing is focused upon activities supporting the sale of both services and products to householders, consumer behavior and satisfaction and the organization and management of retail supply chains that deliver these products.

JR seeks articles to provide critical new understanding about the management and technology of retailing and retail/service systems as well as the environment and history in which retail institutions operate and evolve. Manuscripts that may be characterized as descriptive essays, depictions of current events or current business practices are unlikely to fit well in the journal. Most reflect the extensive collection of field or experimental data.

JR authors demonstrate a strong knowledge of the literature of the field and rigorous logic. Increasingly they employ sophisticated statistical techniques for examining data or mathematical models as a means to test or develop ideas. However, articles reflecting effective use of all research techniques are sought. The criterion is that such articles offer important new insights for theory, models, management practice, or government policy in retail and service marketing.

Authors considering publishing in JR are welcome to communicate with the editor about their ideas.

Submission of Manuscripts and the Review Process

Submission to this journal proceeds totally online. Use the following guidelines to prepare your article. Via the homepage of this journal http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jretai you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. The system automatically converts source files to a single Adobe Acrobat PDF version of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF at submission for the review process, these source files are needed for further processing after acceptance. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail and via the author?s homepage, removing the need for a hard-copy paper trail.

For submission of articles to Journal of Retailing please go to the journal?s online submission site at http://ees.elsevier.com/retail

For papers longer than 45 pages in total, authors should discuss their space needs with the editor prior to submission. If the manuscript is based upon data or other materials published or under review elsewhere, the author(s) should submit a copy of these materials.

Manuscripts are initially scanned by the editor to determine if they broadly meet the requirements of the journal. Those accepted at this point will usually be read by two or more additional reviewers in a double-blind process.

The review process typically moves through two or three cycles of critique and revision before a manuscript is accepted. The process plays a key role in strengthening each manuscript, a benefit of considerable value to the author(s). Double blind insures that readers do not know the authors of the manuscripts and vice-versa. Authors should remove tell-tale tracks in their manuscripts, such as quotes obviously from their own research or detailed reference to their unpublished papers to preserve their anonymity.

In submitting a manuscript to JR, the author(s) vouch that the manuscript has neither been published, accepted for publication, nor currently under review at any other publication. The author(s) also agree that the manuscript will not be placed under review elsewhere while the review process at JR is ongoing. If accepted for publication by JR, the author(s) further agree not to withdraw it for submission elsewhere.

Articles accepted for publication must be printed, double-spaced on one side of the paper, on 8 X 11 with one-inch margins on all sides. In these manuscripts, tables, figures, and charts, etc., should be appended to the body of the manuscript. References should follow the style set forth below.

The body of the manuscript, tables, and references must be placed in a single file written in either MS Word or Wordperfect. All graphics, such as figures and charts, is preferably received in the form of camera ready copy. However, when this is not possible, the material may be received in a graphics file in either encapsulated postscript(eps), postscript(pc), or tagged image file format (tiff). Electronic files of the final manuscript on a 3.5" diskette are required with the accepted paper.

Accepted manuscripts must lastly include an executive summary of about 500-750 words. This review serves the role of an extended abstract for readers who wish to gain the flavor of an article prior to spending additional time with it. The review should highlight major findings and may point out interesting managerial, policy or social implications not touched upon within the main text. Authors should write in a style readily accessible to a broad audience and not simply extract various paragraphs from the main article.

Editorial Requirements

In preparing the manuscript for submission, the following editorial format should be followed.

Title Page: The title page should include the name, title, institutional affiliation, address, phone number, and e-mail address of each author. The date of the manuscript and any acknowledgments should appear on this page.

Abstract: The title of the manuscript and a 100-word summary summarizing the article should begin the numbered pages (page 1).

Text: The main text begins on the second page. A brief orientation of the focus and intended contribution of your study should introduce your paper.

Primary headings are centered in upper case and unnumbered. Secondary headings are flush left in upper and lower case. The first line of each paragraph should be indented.

Presentations are enhanced by a concise style and minimal redundancy from one section to another. Issues put forth in a literature review or methodology sections should be central to understanding the research issues. Data presented in a table or figure need not be described in detail within the text.

Special care is required in the presentation of equations and the capitalization and italicization of algebraic symbols. Spell out numbers one through twenty in the text as well as the word percent. Where spelling and hyphenation is optional, be consistent throughout the manuscript.

Reference citations should be placed in the text and consist of the cited author's last name and the year of publication, enclosed in parentheses, and without punctuation, for example (Hendon 1989). If the author's name appears in the sentence, only the year of publication should appear in parentheses, for example, " . . . as suggested by Markin, Lillis, and Narayana (1976)." References to multiple works should occur within one set of parentheses, separated by semicolons, as in: (Mathis and Jackson 1979; Megginson 1985; Hershey 1971). Where possible, citations should appear immediately before a punctuation mark.

Reference List: The list of references begins on a separate page and typed double-spaced. The first line of each entry is even with the left margin and subsequent lines are indented five spaces. Sort references by the first author's last name; multiple papers by the same author should be listed in chronological order. Use the examples below as a guide to reference style.

Book: Hall, Margaret, John Knapp and Christopher Winston (1961). Distribution in Great Britain and North America. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Journal Article: Cummings, Thomas and Susan Manning (1977). "The Relationship between Worker Alienation and Work-Related Behavior," Journal of Vocational Behavior, 10 (April): 167-179.

Book Chapter: Katona, George and Eva Muller (1963). "A Study of Purchasing Decisions," Pp 30-87 in Consumer Behavior: A Study of Purchasing Decisions. Lincoln Clark (ed). New York: New York University Press.

Conference Proceedings Paper: Westbrook, Robert A. and Richard L. Oliver (1980). "Developing Better Measures of Consumer Satisfaction: Some Preliminary Results," Advances in Consumer Research, IX(A), Kent Monroe (ed). Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Consumer Research. 150-165.

Unpublished Work or Working Paper: Rein, Martin and S. M. Miller. "The Demonstration Project as a Strategy of Change," Mobilization for Youth Training Institute Workshop. April 30, 1984, Columbia University, New York, NY.

Footnotes: Footnotes should be used sparingly and only for the purpose of extending or clarifying the main text with respect to an interesting, but somewhat tangential topic. Otherwise, the material should be included in the main text. Footnotes, numbered consecutively throughout the manuscript, should be typed, doubled spaced, and attached as a separate page.

Tables and Figures: Each table and figure is numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. The title should appear centered and in upper and lower case. Table footnotes should be indicated by a, b, c, and so forth.

Tables should be limited in size as much as is possible while still serving the purpose of the authors. Where a table is used, it should be as simple as possible. For example, it usually is not necessary to include both frequencies and percentages in a table.

Tables and figures for accepted manuscripts must be set forth on separate pages appended to the text. Authors must also provide camera-ready for all artwork at this time unless it is included in the electronic file and employs a general used presentation program.