From the editor.

I have been editing The Journal of Advertising for almost six months now and I have learned a tremendous amount over that time period. To begin, I must say that I have enjoyed the job--it is very exciting to read manuscripts that share newly discovered knowledge about advertising. I have learned

something from reading each and every manuscript that has been submitted to date. However, I have also learned a bit about the review process as well. For example, I have observed that rarely is there a singularity of views about manuscripts across three reviewers. Given this situation, I am very often put in a position to make difficult calls about whether a manuscript should be accepted for publication or whether authors should be given a chance to revise. Consequently, I thought it might be appropriate for me to comment on what I look for in manuscripts that I believe are acceptable for publication in the Journal.

In my opinion, an acceptable paper for The Journal of Advertising is one that meets several criteria, which include the following:

* An acceptable manuscript should make a substantive contribution to advertising theory. I am looking for papers that shed light on theory. I do believe, of course, that theory-based papers should have something to say about practice, public policy, or social issues. But it is my belief that the best way to make contributions to advertising practice or public policy making is by building a solid theory. In my opinion, manuscripts can make a substantive contribution to theory in one of many different forms. One way is by stating a formalized theory in purely conceptual terms. Another way would be by extending an existing theory in some meaningful manner. Yet another alternative is testing an existing theory. Thus, I am open to publishing either conceptual or empirical articles; however, I believe they need to focus on theoretical development.

* The primary focus of articles published in the Journal should be advertising. Having said this, please note that I take a broad view of advertising--an integrated marketing communication view. Thus, papers dealing with other aspects of promotion that have implications for advertising are acceptable. But manuscripts whose primary focus is consumer behavior, with only tangential implications for advertising, for example, are less likely to be considered as acceptable.

* An acceptable manuscript should have an appropriate contribution-to-length ratio. To be acceptable, longer papers need to make very significant contributions. On the other hand, I am open to publishing replications of theory tests and/or minor extension papers, but in my opinion, such pieces should be shorter than the average length of a typically published article.

* The closer a paper adheres to the Journal's guidelines for submission, the better chance it has to be published. Moreover, the cleaner the paper (in terms of its grammar and its lack of typos), the better chance it will have of being published. Please keep in mind that we are on target of having nearly 100 submissions this year. Thus, the reviewers and I are kept quite busy. Cleaner papers are easier to read and are likely to be reviewed more favorably. Perhaps this is because of affect transfer or just human nature, but the style and look of papers are important to reviewers.

Above are just some of my views based on my limited time as Editor. I am certain to add some items to this "list" in the future (and perhaps I'll delete some as well). Based on this limited list, however, it is my hope that potential Journal contributors will be able to craft papers that are more likely to be published.

Finally, I wish to say that many of the papers that have been submitted to the Journal to date have been great. I look forward to seeing them in print. Moreover, I encourage all scholars of advertising to keep on working and submitting papers to the Journal. To those who have yet to submit a manuscript, I encourage you to do so. To all readers, please continue to view The Journal of Advertising as the leading publication for learning about theoretical developments in advertising.

Russell N. Laczniak

Iowa State University