Policies and Procedures Manual

Journals

Six Section journals are currently published—Auditing: A Journal of Practice Theory (Auditing Section); Behavioral Research in Accounting (Accounting, Behavior and Organizations Section); Journal of Management Accounting Research (Management Accounting Section); Journal of the American Taxation Association (American Taxation Association); Journal of Information Systems (Information Systems Section); and Accounting in the Public Interest (Public Interest Section).

Three more Section journals have been approved and are currently accepting papers for publishing: Journal of International Accounting Research (International Accounting Section), Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting (Strategic and Emerging Technologies), and The ATA Journal of Legal Tax Research (American Taxation Association Section).

Establishment of Section journals requires the approval of the Executive Committee.

In August 1997, the Executive Committee discussed a proposal from the Publications Committee that would have charged Section and association-wide journals a journal preparation rate set at 20 percent less than the market rate. Of the quotes provided by qualified contractors (converted to a comprehensive per-page rate), most were in the range of $46 per page—so a 20 percent discount would have set a per-page price of about $37.

To avoid such a dramatic single-year shift in prices charged to AAA and Section journals, an alternative pricing system has been developed which will phase in increases in publications charges to journals and monographs. The 2002–03 per-page price for journals and monographs is $37. This new pricing system was adopted by Council in March 1998.

The fee structure will limit increases to no more than 10 percent for each year as pricing rates gradually approach a 20 percent discount below 1997–98 market rates:

Before the end of this phased pricing increase period, market rates will again be examined to ensure that future rates do not exceed the desired 80 percent of (20 percent discount below) market rates.

These rates cover copy editing, page layout (typesetting), proofreading, production oversight, administrative processing, and conversion to alternate electronic formats (e.g., CD-ROM, Web, etc.) if desired. Printing, mailing, and other external costs will remain directly billed to journals, in addition to the single per-page fee.

a. Guidelines for Editors on Manuscript Preparation

1. Manuscript
   1. The complete manuscript for each issue (together with its table of contents and a copy on disk of each manuscript) should be submitted as a single unit rather than piecemeal. Make sure that authors of accepted manuscripts receive a copy of the Association’s style sheet and have an opportunity to review their manuscript (and disk) accordingly.
2. Schedule
   1. To make sure that your publication is out on time, keep to scheduled deadlines.
3. Disk Preparation
   1. Make sure authors revise their manuscripts on the disk to be the same as the paper manuscript; if they differ, the publications staff may not spot the differences but if they do, they will assume that the paper manuscript submitted by the editor is correct.
   3. All disk files for an issue should be submitted by the editor along with the manuscript. (If you wish to use only electronic files for transmission of materials, please arrange this with Assistant Director for Publications Diane Hazard.)
   5. Please check authors’ disks to make sure they can be read. If they cannot be read, please return them to the author to be redone.
   7. The preferred text software package for authors to use is Microsoft Word.
4. Page Proofs
   1. Please answer all queries marked on the page proofs that are sent to you.
5. Artwork
   1. The key to camera-ready artwork is clean, clear, dark copy. Color graphics should be avoided or discussed with Assistant Director for Publications Diane Hazard before submission.

b. Guidelines for Reporting Journal Activity

1. Form 15 is designed to assist the editors, staff, leadership and membership of the Association to improve their understanding of manuscript workloads and acceptance rate profiles for each of the association-sponsored publications. Given the unique editorial timetables and workloads of each publication, this document has limitations as a "one size fits all" template. Therefore Form 15 will be reviewed periodically and revised based on feedback from the constituent committees, editors, and staff. Please direct all commentaries to Diane Hazard of the AAA Sarasota staff, with copies to the Vice President of Publications. [See contact and deadline information below.]
3. The reporting timetable is designed to provide a basis for discussion at the meeting of the Publications Committee and Editors during the Association's Annual Meeting in August. Completed forms should be sent to Diane Hazard at AAA Offices in Sarasota by June 30.
5. Composition of Form 15//2000
   1. Part 1: Annual Summary of Manuscript Service
   2. Part 2: Acceptance Rates
   3. Part 3: Page Count and Table of Content Analysis*
   4. Part 4: Other: Data on processing time; Data on production cycle*
   6. *May be completed by AAA Staff when Editor so indicates
7. One of the most compelling arguments developed by editors during the revision process for this form involved the need to consider paying for a revision of the Editor's Assistant software to enable it to produce these numbers without further duplicating effort or burdening the editors. Your comments regarding this suggestion are welcomed and should be sent directly to the Executive Director or to the Vice President of Publications.
9. Administrative Assistance:
   1. Diane Hazard
      Assistant Director for Publications
      American Accounting Association
      5717 Bessie Drive
      Sarasota, FL 34233-2399
      Voice: (941) 921-7747 ext. 307
      Fax: (941) 923-4093
      Email: diane@aaahq.org
11. Submission Deadline: June 30 annually

c. Electronic Option

1. All Sections that publish journals participate in the online Electronic Option program, which offers, on a restricted password-protected basis, searchable full-text journals on the World Wide Web.
3. Section members may access their respective Section's online journal for an annual fee of $5 to be paid to the General Fund to support the Electronic Option program. A Section may elect to pay this amount directly to the General Fund on behalf of its members.

Back