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jcr-topic-selection

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Use when shaping or stress-testing a research question for the Journal of Consumer Research (JCR) — confirming it is a genuine consumer-behavior question with a conceptual contribution, and that JCR (not JCP, JMR, or JM) is the right venue.

Journal-of-Consumer-Research-Skills/skills/jcr-topic-selection/SKILL.md

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# Topic Selection & JCR Fit (jcr-topic-selection)

## When to trigger

- You have an interesting consumer effect but are unsure it rises to a JCR question
- You are choosing between JCR and a neighboring venue (JCP, JMR, JM, Marketing Science)
- A coauthor asks "is this conceptual enough for JCR?"
- You want to test whether the work advances, deepens, or repudiates consumer theory

## The JCR bar: a conceptual contribution about consumption

JCR's overriding publication criterion is **advancing understanding of consumer behavior or the conduct of consumer research**. A finding alone — even a robust, surprising one — is not enough. The question must promise to **advance, deepen, or repudiate existing theory** about how people acquire, use, dispose of, and derive meaning from products, services, and experiences. Ask early: *what do we understand about consumers after this paper that we did not before, and which theoretical conversation does it change?*

JCR is explicitly **multi-disciplinary**. A fit-worthy question draws substantively on at least one base discipline — psychology (judgment, motivation, emotion, identity), anthropology/sociology (culture, ritual, meaning, social structure), or economics (preferences, choice, welfare) — and is not merely an applied marketing tactic. The journal's identity is institutionalized by a Policy Board of ~11 sponsoring professional societies, so genuinely interdisciplinary framing is expected, not decorative.
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