"We're submitting this week" — the last pass before Editorial Manager
Unsure which files AOS's portal expects or how anonymization is enforced
Deciding on the open-access option and its cost
Declarations (competing interests, funding, AI, ethics) still unassembled
Volatile facts below were checked on 2026-07-16 against the official ScienceDirect/Elsevier AOS pages. Portals, editors, and policies change — re-open the current Guide for Authors (sciencedirect.com/journal/accounting-organizations-and-society/publish/guide-for-authors) before uploading.
Verified AOS specs (re-check current values)
Publisher / identity: Elsevier; ISSN 0361-3682; founded by Anthony Hopwood (launched 1976).
Submission portal: Editorial Manager at editorialmanager.com/AOS — fully online; the system builds the review PDF from your uploaded source files.
Review model:double-anonymized — the manuscript file must contain no author-identifying information; identity lives on the separate title page.
Editors-in-Chief (verified 2026-07-16): Marcia Annisette, Martin Messner, Hun-Tong Tan — confirm the masthead on the journal homepage before writing any editor-specific cover letter.
Length: no fixed word cap published in the Guide for Authors as of the check date; long interpretive papers are normal. Re-check on the official site rather than assuming.
Fees: no submission fee is charged by Elsevier journals of this type as of the check date (re-check); publishing is free under the subscription route. Open access is optional (hybrid): the APC is journal-specific and personalized at submission — confirm the current amount in the OA options page / submission system before electing gold OA.
Special calls: the journal runs conference and special-issue tracks in Editorial Manager (e.g., the 50th-anniversary conference used a dedicated "Conference submission" article type) — select the correct article type deliberately.
Editorial Manager file set
Anonymized manuscript — no names, affiliations, acknowledgments, or self-identifying citations; file name and document metadata scrubbed
Separate title page — title, all authors and affiliations, corresponding-author contact, acknowledgments, funding sources
Declaration of competing interests (Elsevier declaration tool / statement) — completed even if "none"
Tables and figures per current artwork instructions (editable tables; figure files at required resolution)
Highlights / abstract elements if the current guide requests them — verify, do not assume
Optional but wise: cover letter stating fit with AOS's interdisciplinary mission in two or three sentences
Supplementary material (instruments, appendices, online-only exhibits) as separate files
Policy declarations (Elsevier-wide, enforced at AOS)
Ethics: human-participant work (interviews, experiments, surveys) reports institutional approval and informed consent in the manuscript; documentation retained for editor request
Generative AI: any use in writing declared in a statement per Elsevier policy; AI is never an author
Originality: not under review elsewhere; overlapping working papers/conference versions disclosed in the cover letter
Authorship: all authors approved the submission; CRediT-style contribution info ready if requested
Data statement: what can and cannot be shared (field data usually restricted by consent/anonymity — say so plainly rather than silently omitting)
Final coherence pass
Abstract, introduction, and discussion state the same conceptual claim in the same vocabulary
Site pseudonyms and condition labels consistent across text, exhibits, and supplements
References complete and in the journal's author–date format
Article type, keywords, and suggested/opposed reviewers (if used) entered thoughtfully in EM
Anti-patterns
Uploading a manuscript whose acknowledgments, metadata, or "our prior fieldwork at this site" phrasing defeats double-anonymization.
Electing open access without confirming the personalized APC — the figure is journal- and author-specific.
Submitting under the default article type when a special-issue or conference track was intended.
Treating the ethics statement as boilerplate when the fieldwork's consent terms restrict what the paper may quote.
Output format
【Portal & type】editorialmanager.com/AOS; article type chosen ...
【Anonymization】manuscript, files, metadata clean? title page separate?
【Declarations】competing interests / funding / AI / ethics / data statement ...
【OA decision】subscription vs gold OA; APC confirmed if OA ...
【Coherence】claim, labels, references consistent ...
【Next step】await decision → aos-review-process; on R&R → aos-rebuttal
