The Review Process
Robert Ferber Award Information

The Review Process
We attempt to ensure consistently thorough, constructive, and fair reviews of all manuscripts.

The general review process for JCR:

• Manuscript is received, assigned a number, and author is informed of this number.
• Editor assigns Associate Editor; Editor select Reviewers.
• Manuscript is sent to Reviewers, who have 25 days to return their reviews.
• Reviews are sent to the Associate Editor, who prepares a report.
• Editor prepares a letter for the author based on the Associate Editor's report and the reviews.
• Editor's letter is emailed to the corresponding author. The other materials are available in the system.

For further information about the review process please contact Mary-Ann Twist (jcr@bus.wisc.edu).

It is expected that by following this procedure, we will be able to make sound decisions on all manuscripts and provide thorough and constructive comments to the authors. We seek to provide authors with an understanding of the perceived strengths and weaknesses of their manuscript, the basis for the decision, and advice on how to proceed.

Robert Ferber Award Guidelines

If you are the author of a doctoral dissertation and your article based on this dissertation has already been published in JCR, you are eligible for the annual Robert Ferber Award.

All published articles based on dissertations (first submission of manuscript must be within three years of receipt of degree) are eligible and considered for the Ferber Award. There is no need to state that you wish to be considered for the Ferber Award when submitting your paper for review. Each eligible author will be contacted for further information prior to publication.

The award is given to the author of the best article based on a dissertation that is published in the most recent volume of JCR (presented at the awards luncheon at ACR). The winner receives $2500. Honorable mention awards may also be given ($1000). The last issue of each JCR volume is published in April, and Ferber Award judging is usually completed by July 1.

Your manuscript must address an interdisciplinary aspect of consumer behavior, and may be coauthored by your advisor, as long as you are the senior (first) author. The paper will undergo the same review process used to evaluate regular JCR submissions and, if it is published, will also be evaluated by three distinguished consumer researchers representing a variety of disciplinary persuasions. The panel will judge candidate articles on interdisciplinary orientation, contribution to knowledge, organization and conciseness, and readability by researchers in various disciplines.

Additional considerations
There may be only one Ferber-eligible paper per dissertation. If you have already been considered one time for the Ferber award, you will not be considered again.

The Ferber Award is intended for manuscripts that are truly the dissertation article. The Ferber Award is not intended for future research where some of the data collected for the dissertation are used, or where other authors have provided equal input writing the paper. The dissertation author must clearly be the primary/senior author. All authors must agree that the first author did most of the work on the paper (that is, they did not each contribute equally). Only the author of the dissertation receives the award (not the co-authors). Please state in your author note that the paper is based on the first author's dissertation.