Signaling effects of scholarly profiles-the editorial teams of North American accounting association journals: A personal perspective

The article by Endenich and Trapp entitled “Signaling Effects of Scholarly Profiles - The Editorial Teams of North American Accounting Association Journals” provides valuable evidence about why most top tier North American accounting journals, despite rhetoric to the contrary, publish a narrow range of research. Furthermore, the paper provides evidence as to one approach that might result in a substantive increase in diversity. At the same time the paper points out, once again some would say, that in part there is a strong element of social construction in determining what is considered top tier accounting research worthy of publication. As Editor (in-chief) of one of the focal journals in the key period under study in this article, I bring a personal perspective to assessing and interpreting the research. I opine on what I see as the greatest strengths and the weaknesses of the paper as well as how the evidence included in this paper may be put to good use by those supporting a more diverse set of research being published in top tier accounting journals.