On what makes a significant contribution to the retailing literature

During the past 2 years, we have processed scores of submissions to the Journal of Retailing. Those that have not been published (or scheduled for publication) suffer from a variety of problems. Our experience indicates that the single most vexing difficulty with these papers is their level of contribution. In this editorial, we define what we mean by a significant contribution to the retailing literature. We discuss several general ways in which a manuscript can make a significant contribution to the literature—adding new knowledge, deepening our understanding of existing knowledge, surprising results, and addressing new problems that interest scholars and practitioners. We suggest an approach for organizing and articulating a paper's contribution. We conclude by offering a couple of sources of ideas for making significant contributions to the retailing literature.