Wayne Thomas, University of Oklahoma

Alessandro Ghio, ESCP

Accounting Horizons aims to bridge accounting academics and non-academics (e.g., practitioners, standard setters, and regulators) by publishing rigorous academic research and thought-provoking perspectives that are pertinent to the accounting profession. Most accounting research in the past few decades uses archival, experimental, or analytical methods, rather than other research methods, such as literature reviews, surveys, interviews, and field studies. Accounting Horizons recognizes that these other research methods have an important role to play in bridging the gap between academic research and accounting practice.

Literature review articles can inform academics about what knowledge has been discovered and where gaps exist. These articles can be particularly useful to non-academics who are interested in the given topic and seek insights from research. Literature review articles in Accounting Horizons should focus on specific topics relevant to practice and be written for both academics and non-academics who are interested in the topic, using plain language and avoiding jargon.

Surveys, interviews, and field studies allow researchers to gather input from non-academics on important accounting issues. This research can inform academics about what research questions are relevant to practice and what phenomena urgently need in-depth investigation. This research can also inform non-academics by providing evidence on issues that they deal with in practice. The journal welcomes research using positivist, interpretive, or critical paradigmatic lenses.

To encourage research articles using these other research methods and reduce authors' uncertainty regarding the outcomes of their research efforts, this call uses a two-stage review process. In the first stage, authors should submit a two-page research proposal including the proposed title, planned research method(s), a summary of motivation, the execution plan, the expected impact on academic literature and accounting practice, and a reference list. For qualitative methods, the execution plan should include a brief discussion of the intended use of theory or an explanation of why a descriptive approach without theory is more appropriate. Authors are allowed to submit a proposal for a study for which data have already been collected. The proposal will be evaluated by an editor with domain expertise, resulting in either an encouragement to submit the completed article or a rejection.

In the second stage, authors will be given six months to submit a completed article, with additional time available for data collection. The submission may include up to 30 pages of text and 40 pages in total. The submission will typically be assigned to the editor who evaluated the proposal in the first stage. The goal is to conditionally accept the first revision of the completed article, but acceptance is not guaranteed due to poor execution or failure to follow reasonable recommendations of the review team. However, no manuscript will be rejected in the second stage because of lack of contribution or relevance to practice.

Potential topics

• Literature review articles on topics relevant to accounting practice
• Survey research on important accounting issues
• Interview-based research gathering input from practitioners and non-academics
• Field studies in accounting contexts
• Qualitative research using positivist, interpretive, or critical paradigmatic lenses
• Research methods beyond traditional archival, experimental, and analytical approaches

Timeline

• December 31, 2026: Deadline for submitting research proposals. This is an open call that will continue accepting submissions until this date.
• February 18, 2027: Deadline for submitting completed article following first-stage approval of research proposal.