Manuscript Preparation for Initial Submission

All manuscripts must be sent directly to the Editor. Do not send manuscripts to the Publisher or the Associate Editor. JPSSM is set up to process electronic submission of manuscripts. Therefore, please submit your materials, including a cover page document, as an email attachment to jpssm@gsu.edu.

Order of Inclusion

A. Front Matter
First Page: Title of paper, name and position of author(s), each author(s)' complete contact information (complete postal address, phone number, fax number, and email address). Manuscripts received without complete contact information for each author will be desk rejected.

Second Page: A brief sketch for each author limited to only the following information: name, highest degree held and awarding school, current title or position, current organization or institution, and email address. Example: William L. Cron (Ph.D., Indiana University), Professor of Marketing, M.J. Neeley School of Business, Texas Christian University, b.cron@tcu.edu.

Do not include information on prior publications, courses taught, organizations consulted, etc. (i.e., limit the information to only the above). The email address of each author must be included.

If you have any acknowledgements of assistance, please place these on the second page under the brief author sketches.

Third Page: Title of paper without names of the author(s) and a brief abstract of no more than 100 words summarizing the article. Be sure the abstract walks the reader through major aspects of the article. Begin page numbering on this page, placing the numbers at the bottom center. This page will be Page 1.

B. Body of Text
Text begins on the fourth page. The title of the paper should not appear again at the top of this page. First-level headings (major headings) are to be centered; second-level headings are to be flush left; third-level headings are to be indented, followed by a period and the related copy beginning immediately thereafter. Headings should be in boldface type, in upper/lower case. Font for the entire manuscript should be 12 point Times Roman or the equivalent (i.e., serif).

Do not begin with the heading "Introduction." Of course, the first several paragraphs will be your introduction, but do not label it as such.

Footnotes are to be avoided. In an extraordinary case in which a footnote is needed, number it in the body of the text and place the note text just before the references.

Manuscript length should normally not exceed 40 pages including all appendices, tables, figures, and references. Use standard 8 1/2 X 11 white paper.

Throughout the manuscript, use only one space after punctuation -- not two. This includes after periods, colons, questions marks, and other types of punctuation.

C. Technical Appendices
Technical appendices may be used to include mathematical or highly technical material that supports the main text but is not critical to the reader's interpretation of the text. Label these appendices "Appendix 1," "Appendix 2," etc. They must be referred to in the text of the article, but are not to be designated for placement (unlike tables and figures -- see below).

D. Tables and Figures
Each table or figure should be placed on a separate page and numbered consecutively beginning with Table 1 and Figure 1. A table or figure should not be included unless it is referenced in the text of the article. In the paper, tables come first followed by figures. Placement in the text should be indicated as follows:

Review a recent copy of JPSSM to see how to set up the format and titles for your tables and figures. Table or figure number and title should be typed on two separate lines in boldface type using upper/lower case. Example:

Table 1
Job Involvement Items

Footnotes in tables and figures should be designated by superscript numbers that correspond to notes at the bottom of the table or figure (outside the box or line).

E. References
References within the text should include the author(s)' last name(s) and year of publication with no comma immediately preceding the date, enclosed in parentheses. Example: (Brown and Peterson 1993). If practical, place the citation just before a punctuation mark, preferably at the end of a sentence. If the author(s)' names are used within the text sentence, place the year of publication in parentheses. Example: "The results reported by Brown and Peterson (1993) provide evidence of…." If a particular page or section is cited, it should be placed within the parentheses. Example: (Brown and Peterson 1993, p. 73) or Brown and Peterson (p. 73) depending on the context. For multiple authorship articles use up to three names in the citation. With four or more authors, use the first author's name and et al. Example: (Cravens et al. 1993) or Cravens et al. (1993) depending on the context.

A listing of references in alphabetical order should appear at the end of the manuscript (starting on a separate page), listed by the first author (last name/first name/middle initial), all other authors (first name/middle initial/last name), and then year of publication. Complete names of each author are to be cited. Do not use initials-only unless that author typically writes under initials-only. Example: list Cravens, David W. not Cravens, D.W. Articles by the same author(s) with the same publication year should be distinguished by a lower-case letter after the date. Example: 1992a and 1992b. For authors cited more than once, substitute six hyphens (dashes) for each repeated name in the reference list. Generally, within a series of articles by the same first author you will list any single-author papers first (ascending date order) followed by any two-author papers (also in ascending date order), then papers by three-authors, four-authors, etc. Examples:

Churchill, Gilbert A., Jr. (1996), "Better Measurement Practices
     are Critical to Better Understanding of Sales Management
     Issues," Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management,
     12 (Spring), 73-80.
------, Neil M. Ford, Steven W. Hartley, and Orville C. Walker,
     Jr. (1985), "The Determinants of Salesperson Performance:
     A Meta-Analysis," Journal of Marketing Research, 22 (May),
     103-18.
Rackham, Neil and John DeVincintis (1999), Rethinking the Sales
     Force: Redefining Selling to Create and Capture Customer
     Value, 1st ed., New York: McGraw-Hill.
Walker, Orville C., Jr (1979), "Where Do We Go From Here?
     Selected Conceptual and Empirical Issues Concerning the
     Motivation and Performance of the Industrial Salesforce,"
     in Critical Issues in Sales Management: State-of-the-Art
     and Future Research Needs, Gerald Albaum and Gilbert A.
     Churchill, Jr, eds., Eugene, OR: College of Business
     Administration/University of Oregon, 10-75.

The second in a pair of page numbers should be elided as follows:
DO – 100-103, 125-37; 108-25; 150-59. DON'T – 100-3, 140-9.

Special Requirements: Methods

For empirical articles authors must systematically document information about the sample(s) utilized, as well as the relationships among variables. With regard to the sample(s), complete information should be provided (concisely in the text or a table) about the sampling procedure (type, selection method), method of contact, sponsorship (if applicable), incentives provided to participants, number in the sampling frame, response rate, industries from which the sample was drawn, company characteristics, geographic scope of the sampling frame, major activities/job responsibilities represented, as well as respondent characteristics including age, gender, length of service, experience level, and any other relevant characteristics. Authors with manuscripts based on research using student samples need to contact the Editor prior to submission to determine if their use of students is acceptable to JPSSM. It is expected that means, standard deviations, inter-correlations, and reliability/validity indices will be provided for measures in the study. Generally, all scale items not drawn from previously published literature should appear in a table or in an appendix (depending on how extensive the list).  

Review Procedure

Manuscripts are reviewed independently by members of the JPSSM Editorial Review Board and by ad hoc reviewers chosen by the Editor. Typically, three reviewers assess each manuscript. The evaluations and recommendations of the reviewers guide the Editor in his decision. The reviews are double blind -- neither authors nor reviewers know the identity of the others.

It is the policy of JPSSM that manuscripts submitted for review must not have been published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Manuscripts that are substantially similar in content to articles already published or accepted for publication in JPSSM or elsewhere are ineligible for publication in JPSSM. It is the responsibility of the author(s) to abide by these provisions when submitting a manuscript to JPSSM for review.

JPSSM strives for a review process that is thorough and constructive, so that regardless of the ultimate decision about publication in JPSSM the author(s) can benefit from the feedback obtained on their work.

It is possible for a manuscript submitted to JPSSM to be desk rejected by the Editor. Although several reasons might precipitate this action, common reasons are: (1) the topic or type of submission does not fit the editorial positioning of JPSSM, or (2) the manuscript is not submitted according to the guidelines provided in this document.

Submitting Revised Manuscripts and Accepted Manuscripts

It is the responsibility of the author(s) to complete invited manuscript revisions in a timely manner. The maximum time allowed for resubmission of an invited revision is six months from the date of the invitation to revise. The procedure for submitting revised manuscripts is posted on the JPSSM web site: http://www.jpssm.org/, as are instructions for preparing manuscripts that have been accepted for publication.

Call for Ad Hoc Reviewers

Individuals interested in serving as an ad hoc reviewer for JPSSM should contact the Editor at editor@jpssm.org.

Last updated: May 12, 2008