How to Publish Consumer Research Based on Experiments in the Top Marketing Journals

This chapter provides guidance about how to publish consumer research based on experiments in the top marketing journals. It stresses the importance of conveying a big picture idea, that is empirically supported, but that makes a fundamental theoretical advance. It describes three pathways to doing this, providing: (1) fundamental insights about humans that are demonstrated in a consumer context; (2) fundamental insights about consumers; or (3) fundamental insights about how marketers or policy makers may affect or be affected by consumers. The chapter first discusses the essential elements of any paper: a compelling storyline, fundamental contributions, multiple experiments, and transparent reporting. Next, it illustrates how to write the introduction, theory, methods and results sections. Examples demonstrate that the introduction and theory sections are used to build storylines based on the chosen pathway, but the same essential elements are included, and also the methods and results are fully reported and transparent