Author Guidelines

Marketing Science & Practice Journal publishes original research in marketing science and practice. Before submitting, please read these guidelines in full. Manuscripts that do not follow them may be returned without review.

1. Scope and article types

The journal accepts two types of manuscript.

Original research articles report new empirical work, whether quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods. Maximum 8,000 words, including abstract, tables, figures, and references.

Systematic reviews synthesise an existing body of literature using a transparent and reproducible search and selection procedure. Authors should follow an established reporting standard such as PRISMA and include the search strategy, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and a flow diagram. Maximum 8,000 words.

The journal does not publish conceptual essays, opinion pieces, book reviews, or narrative literature reviews without a documented method.

Submissions must fall within the aims and scope of the journal. Manuscripts outside scope are rejected at initial screening without external review.

Manuscripts are accepted in English only.

2. What to submit

Every submission consists of three separate files.

Title page, uploaded as a supplementary file. It contains the full title, the full name of every author in the order agreed between them, each author's institutional affiliation and country, each author's email address, the ORCID identifier of each author, a clear indication of the corresponding author, and the acknowledgements, funding statement, and conflict of interest statement.

Anonymised manuscript, the main document. It must contain no author names, no affiliations, no acknowledgements, and no funding information. Self-citations should be written in the third person, for example "Alkhawaldeh (2024) found" rather than "we previously found". Remove identifying metadata from the file properties before uploading.

Cover letter, a short statement confirming that the work is original, is not under consideration elsewhere, and falls within the journal's scope, together with a brief note on its contribution.

Manuscripts are submitted in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx). PDF submissions are not accepted for review.

3. Manuscript structure

Empirical articles should follow this structure.

  • Title
  • Abstract
  • Keywords
  • JEL classification codes
  • Introduction
  • Literature Review
  • Theoretical Framework and Hypotheses Development
  • Methodology
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Theoretical and Practical Implications
  • Limitations and Future Research
  • Conclusion
  • References

Systematic reviews follow the structure appropriate to their reporting standard, but must include an explicit methods section describing the search and selection procedure.

Title. Concise and specific. It should name the relationship studied and, where relevant, the context.

Abstract. A single paragraph of no more than 250 words, with no citations, abbreviations, or references to tables and figures. The abstract must be able to stand on its own, and must state the purpose, the method, the main findings, and the contribution. Every figure reported in the abstract, including the sample size, must match the figure reported in the body of the paper.

Keywords. Between four and seven, separated by semicolons.

JEL classification. Between two and four codes, selected from the Journal of Economic Literature classification system at https://www.aeaweb.org/econlit/jelCodes.php

4. Formatting

  • A4 page, 2.5 cm margins, single column
  • Times New Roman 12 pt, 1.5 line spacing, justified
  • Numbered headings to a maximum of three levels (1, 1.1, 1.1.1)
  • Continuous line numbers and page numbers throughout the manuscript
  • British or American spelling, applied consistently

Tables are numbered consecutively, each with a caption above it, and placed in the body of the text where they are discussed. Tables must be editable text, not images. Report statistics to three decimal places and state the software used.

Figures are numbered consecutively, each with a caption below it, and supplied at a minimum of 300 dpi. Figures must be legible in greyscale. Where a figure or table is reproduced or adapted from another source, cite the source and obtain written permission to republish it under CC BY 4.0.

Equations are numbered consecutively in parentheses at the right margin.

Accepted manuscripts are typeset by the journal into its published layout. Authors do not need to reproduce that layout at submission.

5. References

References follow APA 7th edition, in both in-text citations and the reference list.

Before submitting, check each of the following.

  • Every source cited in the text appears in the reference list, and every entry in the reference list is cited in the text. This is a frequent cause of revision requests.
  • Author names, years, volume and issue numbers, and page ranges are accurate.
  • A DOI is given for every source that has one, in the form https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx
  • Where multiple works by the same author share a year, they are distinguished as 2024a, 2024b.
  • Names are given consistently throughout, in the form surname followed by initials.

Authors are encouraged to cite relevant recent literature from a range of sources. The journal does not require or encourage citation of articles published in Marketing Science & Practice Journal, and reviewers are instructed not to request such citations.

6. Required statements

The following appear on the title page, not in the anonymised manuscript, and are added to the published article after acceptance.

Ethics approval. Research involving human participants must state the name of the approving ethics committee and the approval reference. Where no formal approval was required, state this and explain why.

Informed consent. State that participants gave informed consent, that participation was voluntary, and that responses were treated confidentially.

Conflict of interest. Declare any financial or personal relationship that could be seen to influence the work, or state that there is none.

Funding. Name every funder and give the grant number, or state that the research received no external funding.

Author contributions. For multi-authored papers, state briefly what each author contributed.

Use of artificial intelligence. Disclose any use of generative AI in preparing the manuscript beyond straightforward language correction, editing, and formatting, naming the tool and the purpose. AI tools cannot be listed as authors and cannot be cited as sources. Authors remain responsible for the accuracy of everything in the manuscript. See the journal's Publication Ethics page.

Data availability. Authors are encouraged to include a statement indicating where the data supporting the findings can be obtained. The Editor may request access to the underlying data at any stage of the review process, and authors are expected to cooperate with such a request.

7. Authorship

Authorship is limited to those who made a substantive contribution to the conception, design, execution, analysis, or writing of the work, and who approve the final version and accept responsibility for it. Everyone who meets this standard must be listed, and no one who does not.

Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors after submission must come from the corresponding author with the written agreement of all authors, including any author being removed. Such changes are not accepted after acceptance except in exceptional circumstances.

8. Originality and similarity screening

Manuscripts must be original and must not have been published previously or be under consideration by another journal. Work previously posted as a preprint on a recognised preprint server, or presented at a conference, may be submitted, provided this is disclosed in the cover letter with a link to the preprint where one exists.

All manuscripts are screened with Turnitin before review. Authors should ensure the similarity index is low and that any overlap is properly quoted and cited. Reuse of the author's own previously published text without citation is treated as self-plagiarism.

9. Review and decision

Submissions are screened by the Editor for scope, completeness, and minimum quality. Those that pass are sent for double anonymous review by at least two independent reviewers. Full details are on the Peer Review Process page.

Indicative timelines: 7 days from submission to first decision, 100 days from submission to acceptance, and 15 days from acceptance to online publication.

Authors invited to revise should submit a revised manuscript together with a point-by-point response to each reviewer comment, stating what was changed and where. Changes in the manuscript should be highlighted.

10. After acceptance

Authors receive proofs for checking. Only typographical corrections are possible at this stage. Articles are published under CC BY 4.0, authors retain copyright, and each article receives a Crossref DOI. See Copyright and Licensing for reuse and self-archiving terms.

11. Fees

The journal charges no fees of any kind. There is no submission fee, no article processing charge, and no charge for withdrawal at any stage. See Article Processing Charges.

12. Submission

Submissions are made through the journal's online system at https://msprj.com. Authors must register before submitting.

Questions about a submission may be sent to editor@msprj.com