About the Journal

What is Accounting Research & Thought?

Accounting Research & Thought (ART) is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal seeking to publish all paradigms of empirical and qualitative accounting research, including thought-pieces and commentaries, in the normative, positive, and critical traditions. This includes replications and “no result” findings. Meaningful contributions to the profession, education, research, theory, and fundamental accounting concepts are all equally important and welcome, no matter the paradigm. ART accepts submissions under two general tracks – completed manuscripts and registered reports. ART is intended to inform, educate, and challenge the accounting profession, academy, regulators, and standard setters. Our hope is that within ART’s pages, readers will find and engage with a true academic dialogue.

ART will provide an open-access alternative to the traditional academic journal model through new and innovative, scientifically rigorous, open, transparent, and economically incentivized methods. ART strives to engage authors, reviewers, and editors in a “human” research, review, and publishing process. ART will be an author-, reviewer-, and editor-friendly outlet of preference for the highest quality, highest impact accounting research. Scientific peer review will be rigorous, but always scientifically sound, first and foremost. Reviewers will review, not co-author. Building a scientifically sound corpus of dependable knowledge requires publication of replications, null results, and registered reports. All three will be welcome on an ongoing basis at ART and will be given the same consideration as original studies with statistically significant results. If research matters enough to perform and publish, it matters enough to plan, report, and replicate.

How is ART different than other, traditional accounting journals?

ART is different from traditional accounting journals in... well, in just about every way. ART is different in its review process, scientific transparency, and economic and publishing models.

What is ART's review process?

Submission Types

Submissions will fall under three categories:

  1. Standard Submissions
    1. Empirical Research
      1. Archival
      2. Experiments
      3. Surveys
      4. Meta-analyses
    2. Qualitative
      1. Positivist
      2. Interpretivist
    3. Replications of any of the above with and without extension
      1. Direct
      2. Conceptual (a.k.a., in-principle)
    4. Thought-pieces
      1. Theory development
      2. Analytical
      3. Normative propositions
      4. Essays
      5. Methodological (with and without data)
    5. Registered Reports
      1. Experiments
      2. Surveys
      3. Archival studies
      4. Other
    6. Invited Submissions
      1. Any of the above invited by an editor.

      Review Process – Standard Submissions

  • Desk Rejections – expect a higher rate than traditional journals – we pledge to be mindful of reviewer and author time.
  • 1st Round – Double-blind peer review
  • Communication of edited and prioritized review reports and Editor’s assessment to the authors
  • 1st Round Author responses – this is the authors’ response to the reviews and assessment, not a revised version of the paper.
  • 1st Round Editor Decision (after reviewing author responses) – Reject, Revise, Conditional Accept, Accept
  • 2nd Round (on “Revision” editor decision) authors submit revised manuscript and responses detailing whether and how review comments were addressed
  • 2nd Round unmasked peer review
  • 2nd Round Editor Decision – Reject, Conditional Accept, Accept (Revise intentionally omitted)
  • 3rd Round Author responses and revisions only in the event of a Conditional Accept
  • 3rd Round Editor Decision – Reject or Accept
  • Copy editing and proofs.
  • Publication – online only, free open access (i.e., readers don’t pay, authors don’t pay, apart from original submission fee [no page fees, no open access fees]).
  • Papers will be published under the creative commons license level CC BY-NC-ND unless author teams specifically request less-restrictive licensing

Review Process – Registered Reports

     The editors encourage authors planning studies involving experiments or surveys to submit them as registered reports. Experiments and surveys are encouraged, but not required, to be submitted as registered reports. Experiments that have been publicly registered with sites such as osf.io or aspredicted.org can be submitted as normal submissions once run or as registered reports with the journal if they have not been run. Completed studies with public pre-registration will be looked upon favorably during the review process (i.e., all else equal, public pre-registration is preferred when submitting a completed study). The following details the review process for submissions as registered reports with the journal (i.e., where the study has not been run).

  • Desk Rejections – Expect a higher rate than traditional journals. ART will not waste anyone’s time.
  • 1st Round – Double-blind peer review
  • Communication of edited and prioritized review reports and Editor’s assessment to the authors
  • 1st Round Author responses
  • 1st Round Editor Decision – Reject, Revise, Conditional Registration, Registration
  • 2nd Round (on “Revision” or “Conditional Registration” editor decision) authors submit revised manuscript and responses
  • 2nd Round unmasked peer review
  • 2nd Round Editor Decision – Reject, Conditional Registration, Registration
  • 3rd Round Author responses and revisions in the case of conditional registration
  • 3rd Round Editor Decision – Reject or Register
  • Authors should keep editor updated periodically on study progress
  • Authors submit final report with a document detailing how they have fulfilled the registration document
  • Editor review of adherence to registration document, and any comments on exposition and conclusions.
  • Copy editing and proofs.
  • Publication – online only, free open access (i.e., readers don’t pay, authors don’t pay, apart from original submission fee).
  • Papers will be published under the creative commons license level CC BY-NC-ND unless author teams specifically request less-restrictive licensing.

Invited Submissions

  • 1st Round double-blind peer review (mandatory for all empirical, qualitative, analytical, methodological with data, and replication submissions, at the editor’s discretion for other thought-pieces)
  • Editorial discretion

What are ART's policies around scientific transparency?

All articles published will include, as an appendix in a separate file, the original and any subsequent round submissions, as well as the signed review reports and editor letter from each round. On publication, the reviewers’ identities will be public. For surveys, experiments, and structured or semi-structured interviews, the instrument will also be publicly available. All articles published will also include annotated code and links to data, where applicable, in a separate appended file. Data, code, and publications will be hosted and available through the University of Alabama Institutional Repository and may be hosted and shared via the authors’, editors’, and reviewers’ institutional repositories as well. ART strongly encourages, though does not require, authors to pre-register their studies with osf.io or another similar, publicly accessible system.

What is ART's publishing model?

ART is an always free, open access journal. ART will NOT adhere to a publication process governed by the legacy of hardcopy publishing. ART will not have volumes and issues, but rather will make individually numbered articles available via download as soon as they are accepted and ready for publication. This is intentional and meant to prevent sub-optimal, non-scientific editorial decisions to “fill” a particular issue or “save journal space.” Once the review process is complete, the incremental cost of hosting an article is approaching zero in the digital age. ART will publish all, and only, those articles deemed to be scientifically valid and rigorous and that meaningfully contribute to its mission. When new articles are available for download, ART will disseminate the title and abstract through appropriate channels such as social media accounts, ART’s official website, SSRN, and potentially to a mailing list (only for those who voluntarily sign-up, we will never spam). ART publications will be hosted through the Open Journal Management System and the University of Alabama Institutional Repository. DOIs will be provided through the University of Alabama Institutional repository. If feasible, ART will do its best to be indexed, tracked, and included in journal article aggregators such as SCOPUS and EBSCOHost. Authors, reviewers, and editors are encouraged to publicize those articles they have contributed to, and the accounting academy as a whole is encouraged to publicize those articles they believe are of value to other academics, students, and the profession. Publications can and are encouraged to be shared freely under Creative Commons licensing (BY-NC-ND, unless otherwise requested by the author team).

What is ART’s economic model?

ART was founded, in part, out of disgust with many aspects of the academic publishing model, including the economic models of for-profit journals. It struck the founders as ludicrous that journals should have their entire product and process funded by research institutions (and in many cases, taxpayers through state appropriations) and donated to the publisher, only for the publisher to turn around and charge the funding institutions large sums for access to the very research they originally paid for.

ART’s entire economic model is as follows:

As an open-access journal, ART will always be free to access through the University of Alabama’s Institutional Repository. However, we believe that editors’ and reviewers’ valuable time and input should be compensated, and some amount of money is required for basic operations. Therefore, what funding ART requires will come from submission fees. Financial transactions such as receipt of submission fees and payments to editors, reviewers, and authors will be administered through the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse School of Accountancy.

Submission Fee: $350 per article divided as follows:

Editor: $100 flat fee per paper handled regardless of outcome. Payable on final decision.

Reviewers: Up to $200 ($100 each)

                        $50 for a first-round, on-time, quality review (editor-assessed)

                        $50 for a second-round, on-time, quality review

In the event the paper does not progress to a second round, reviewers will be paid an additional $25 on final decision.

Journal Operations: $50

Journal finances will be managed as a passthrough fund of the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse School of Accountancy. Administrative costs may be deducted from any money retained for journal operations. At least annually, the journal will remit unencumbered funds (the excess of cash on hand over accrued editor, reviewer, and author refunds after any administration fees) as a donation to the Culverhouse School of Accountancy to be used for any of the following purposes, as agreed upon by the editor-in-chief in consultation with the director of the Culverhouse School of Accountancy:

  • General operating fund of the Culverhouse School of Accountancy
  • Scholarship funds for Culverhouse School of Accountancy undergraduate or graduate students (including PhD student stipend supplements)
  • Establishment of, or addition to existing, endowment funds for any of the above purposes

Desk rejections will refund $300 of the submission fee ($50 being retained for journal operations).