Editorial Statement

Although our primary focus is on articles that answer important research questions in marketing using mathematical modeling, we also consider publishing many other different types of manuscripts. These manuscripts include empirical papers reporting significant findings (but without any specific contribution to modeling), papers describing applications (emphasizing implementation issues), behaviorally oriented papers that contribute (theoretically or empirically) to the understanding of and/or lead to the development of mathematical models, and scholarly papers reporting developments (in fundamental disciplines) of interest to marketing (see http://mktsci.pubs.informs.org/ for more).

Manuscripts should report the results of studies that make significant contributions. Contributions can include significant substantive findings, improvements in modeling methods, meaningful theoretical developments, important methodological advances, tests of existing theories, comparisons of methods, and empirical investigations.

Marketing Science promises to provide constructive, fair, and timely reviews with the goal of identifying the best submissions for ultimate publication in the journal. We encourage you to consider Marketing Science as an outlet for your research.

STATEMENT OF EDITORIAL POLICIES

We first evaluate each manuscript on readabillity and whether it provides a significant original contribution on an important topic. The contribution may differ according to the type of manuscript (see http://mktsci.pubs.informs.org/). When a manuscript passes this initial evaluation, the Editor-in-Chief assigns reviewers, who evaluate the quality of the logic, methods, and evidence found in the manuscript. The reviewers also determine whether the manuscript is missing critical information necessary for them to complete their reviews. Finally, the Editor-in-Chief, with the help of the Associate Editor, makes a decision on the manuscript. All reviews are double blind, and anonymous participants only play advisory roles. We encourage reviewers to be constructive, fair, and timely, with the goal of indentifying the best of these submissions for ultimate publication.

The primary focus of the journal is on articles that answer important research questions in marketing using mathematical modeling. However, the journal is receptive to a diverse set of scientific approaches, including surveys, experiments, aggregate data analyses, deductive analyses, comprehensive reviews, well-documented applications, and novel implications of developments in other literatures.

Ultimately, we seek to reach a diverse audience well beyond academics in quantitative marketing. It is unnecessary, however, for every article to reach a diverse audience. However, in evaluating individual manuscripts, we will consider the ultimate audience for the article (e.g., marketing managers, general managers, public policy makers, regulators, consumers, consultants, market research professionals, other disciplines, etc.) and require evidence that the research can impact at least that audience.

The best manuscripts provide significant new knowledge or fundamental understanding that has the potential to allow their target audience to make superior decisions or take superior actions. For example, a theoretical manuscript might provide conditions in which apparently inferior alternatives are shown to be optimal. A methodological manuscript might provide a new method that leads to better actions than existing methods. A substantive manuscript might provide empirical regularities that suggest new, previously unknown actions. An empirical investigation might explain why some firms perform better than others. A behaviorally oriented manuscript may discover a finding that questions the results of, or leads to, new mathematical models. Such studies should contain sufficient detail to allow the reader to evaluate the method and replicate the results.