Pre-Submission Preflight (car-submission)

When to trigger

• "We're submitting this week" — the last check before Editorial Manager
• Unsure which files CAR's portal requires or what the submission fee is
• Need to confirm the manuscript is blind and the title page is separate
• Verifying length, abstract, and Data Integrity items before upload

Always re-verify current limits, fees, and required files on the official CAAA/CAR author-guideline pages and the CAR Style Guide before submitting — specifics change. As of 2026-06-01 the verified key specs are below.

Verified CAR specs (confirm current values)

• Submission system: Editorial Manager (EM) at editorialmanager.com/car.
• Submission fee: CA/US $250 for CAAA members, CA/US $600 for non-members (Canadian funds in Canada, US funds elsewhere), paid by Visa or Mastercard; upload the receipt. Reviewer-earned fee waivers are uploaded as proof of payment. Invited revisions pay no further fee. Desk-rejected manuscripts on/after Apr 1, 2021 get a 50% refund; otherwise non-refundable; no refund where a waiver was used.
• Length: 50 pages overall, with a 30-page main-text maximum (12-pt, double-spaced, 8.5"×11", 1-inch margins); the limit excludes title page, abstract, and references. Qualitative papers may modestly exceed the 30-page main-text guideline if the 50-page overall limit holds; overflow goes to an online-only supplementary appendix. Word or LaTeX; submit in Word or PDF.
• Abstract: ≤ 300 words on an abstract page beginning the manuscript (question/importance, predictions, method, findings, implications) + up to six keywords. (CAAA translates the abstract into French for publication.)
• Style: footnotes (not endnotes); references on a new page in author-date style; each exhibit on a new page; accepted papers conform to the CAR Style Guide.

Required Editorial Manager files

• Blind original manuscript — no author names, affiliations, or "our prior work" phrasing; file metadata and file name scrubbed of identifiers
• Separate title page — author names/affiliations, corresponding-author contact, acknowledgements, and the data availability statement (required if the paper uses data)
• Author declaration form — signed by all authors, including the overlap-disclosure of shared data/sites/materials/participants/modeling with any other paper
• Ethics-approval verification — for any human participants: institutional REB/IRB clearance, an REB-issued exemption, or a senior-administrator letter (a bare assertion is not accepted)
• Proof of payment (or fee-waiver document)
• Optional: cover letter, research instrument, related research article(s)

Data Integrity items collected at submission (in EM)

• (1) Description of how data were acquired/produced and their sources; full instrument attached for surveys/experiments
• (2) For proprietary organizational data: agreement to provide a credible verification means on editor request; any NDA restrictions disclosed
• (3) Disclosure of which authors had data access and ran the analyses
• Any exception request to the policy attached to this initial submission (EIC-approved only in exceptional cases)

Declarations & policy

• Generative-AI use declared and described in Methods (grammar/reference tools exempt)
• CAR Conference acknowledgement footnote added if the paper was presented there
• Conference/working-paper versions and any concurrent submission status disclosed
• Hypothesis labels, construct names, and table/figure numbers consistent throughout

Anti-patterns

• Uploading a manuscript with author identifiers or "in our 2021 study" intact.
• Forgetting the submission fee/receipt, or assuming non-members pay the member rate.
• Asserting ethics approval instead of uploading documented REB/IRB verification.
• Letting main text exceed 30 pages (or the paper exceed 50) instead of using the online appendix.

Output format

【System & fee】EM; $250 member / $600 non-member; receipt or waiver uploaded?
【Blind manuscript & title page】separate, scrubbed?
【Author declaration】signed; overlap disclosed?
【Ethics verification】REB/IRB clearance/exemption/letter uploaded?
【Data Integrity items 1-3】in EM; instrument attached?
【Length/abstract/style】30/50 pages; ≤300 words; footnotes; author-date refs ...
【Next step】await decision → car-review-process; on R&R → car-rebuttal

Resources

• ../../resources/external_tools.md — accounting-research data sources and analysis software
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — official CAAA/CAR URLs behind every verified fact (accessed 2026-06-01)