Editorial Policy Used By EMPGENS Editorial Board

EMPGENS exists to publish:

  • replication and extension research – regardless of if the results support or refute past research.
  • testing assumptions in marketing theory – ideas that have become ‘fact’ without critical empirical review
  • meta analyses with the purpose of building empirical generalisations and identifying gaps in previous research
  • commentaries on scientific development and philosophy of science

EMPGENS was developed to address a gap in the academic publishing market. It exists to encourage research designed to develop and test empirical generalisations and to integrate these generalisations into theories. In an ideal world, EMPGENS would not exist. However while there is still a bias against replication and extension research in favour of new discoveries I feel there is a need for this journal.

  • Whereas typically journals and referees have shown a reluctance to publish replication research, EMPGENS positively encourages such submissions
  • Whereas marketing journals are relatively devoid of critical examinations of previous research, EMPGENS positively encourages such submissions

I also encourage shorter research notes – that are not necessarily large exhaustive studies in themselves but might be single studies that add another jigsaw piece to our understanding of a specific topic. These will go through the same review process and will be judged on their technical merit (was the research done well) and how they build on existing knowledge. These are excellent opportunities for newer researchers to get a start in the publication process and open their research to critical review.

From The Founding Editor: Credit For The Origin Of Empgens

The credit for the original idea goes chiefly to a colleague in the School of Management, Chris Provis. Ex-philosophy lecturer, ex-unionist, now industrial relations lecturer, Chris and I teach together on a philosophy of science subject for honours students. While our research interests are in different disciplines we often discuss philosophy of science together. It was on one of these occasions that I (once again) bemoaned the lack of replication research in marketing and the reluctance of journals to encourage such research. Chris then suggested “Why not have a journal solely devoted to replication. It should be widely cited”.

EMPGENS was announced to the world on 21 September 1995 via the ELMAR emailing list.

The Journal of Empirical Generalisations in Marketing Science is not entirely true to Chris’ original idea. It is not solely devoted to publishing replications; another important part of its mission is to publish critical reviews of previous research, articles which question what we really know about marketing. I’m sure that Chris would agree with this. To my knowledge he has never published an “empirical” piece of research, his articles are conceptual, often thoughtful critical analyses of other authors’ works and positions. This is not uncommon in industrial relations but is relatively rare in marketing.

I would also like to thank all the members of the editorial board, especially Andrew Ehrenberg, for their advice and support of the EMPGENS venture, and likewise thanks are due to all the members of the Marketing Science Centre. Peter Palij and his ELMAR emailing list has been extremely supportive in publicising EMPGENS. Thanks are also due to Stuart Wilsdon for his advice and technical expertise in setting up the world wide web server which hosts EMPGENS (and also to Apple Computing and Adobe Software for the products which make EMPGENS easy to manage).

Professor Byron Sharp (Founding Editor)
Director of Research
Marketing Science Centre
December 1995