Writing Style (jcr-writing-style)

When to trigger

• The argument is buried under jargon or a long literature wind-up
• A reviewer from another discipline says the paper is hard to follow
• You are finalizing the abstract, headings, and references before submission
• You need to confirm Chicago house style and complete anonymization

Write for an interdisciplinary consumer-research reader

JCR's audience spans psychology, anthropology, sociology, economics, marketing, statistics, and communication, and the journal is governed by a Policy Board of ~11 sponsoring societies. Your prose must be legible to readers outside your own subfield: define field-specific terms, lead with the consumption phenomenon and the insight rather than the method, and avoid in-group shorthand that excludes half the readership. An experimentalist should follow a CCT paper's argument and vice versa.

Front-load the contribution. The opening should make the consumer-behavior question, the conceptual stakes, and the "what we learn" vivid before the reader reaches the studies. Carry one explicit contribution sentence into the introduction and discussion (see jcr-contribution-framing).

House style: Chicago, Word, and the abstract

• JCR follows its style guide, and for anything not covered, the Chicago Manual of Style — including title capitalization and author-date referencing (note: Chicago, not APA, which is unusual among behavioral/marketing journals). Configure your reference manager to a Chicago author-date style and reconcile against the JCR style guide.
• The manuscript is prepared in Microsoft Word; the final accepted version must also be supplied in Word.
• The abstract is ≤200 words — separate from the ≤300-word Consumer Relevance and Contribution Statement. Keep the abstract a tight summary of question, approach, and contribution.

Anonymization in the prose (double-anonymized review)

JCR uses double-anonymized review, so the writing itself must not leak identity:

• Remove affiliations, author notes, acknowledgments, and identifying URLs from the manuscript.
• Use generic phrasing such as "a large public university" instead of naming your institution or field site.
• Phrase self-citations neutrally (third person); self-citation is allowed only if the cited work is publicly available.

Paragraph-level polish pass

Run every major paragraph through four tests:

1. Consumer phenomenon first. The first sentence should name the consumption behavior, marketplace setting, or cultural practice before naming the method.
2. Theory move second. The paragraph must say whether it advances, deepens, challenges, or integrates an existing consumer-research conversation.
3. Evidence bridge third. Transition sentences should tell readers why the next study, ethnographic episode, archival test, or model is needed.
4. Boundary last. When the inference is narrow, name the boundary plainly instead of smuggling it into a footnote.

For the abstract, use a four-sentence skeleton: consumer problem; theoretical gap; empirical or interpretive approach; contribution and boundary. If the abstract spends more space on methods than on the insight, rewrite it before line editing.

Checklist

• Contribution front-loaded; consumer insight precedes method
• Prose legible across disciplines; field jargon defined
• Chicago title capitalization and author-date references; reconciled with the JCR style guide
• Abstract ≤200 words; distinct from the ≤300-word Consumer Relevance Statement
• Manuscript in Word
• Anonymization complete: no affiliations, acknowledgments, identifying URLs; generic site phrasing
• Self-citations neutral and anonymization-safe
• Paragraph polish pass completed: phenomenon, theory move, evidence bridge, boundary

Anti-patterns

• A long literature wind-up before the reader learns the point.
• Subfield jargon that excludes half of JCR's interdisciplinary readership.
• APA-style references left in a Chicago journal.
• Naming your institution or field site in the anonymized manuscript.
• Treating polish as a substitute for a real contribution to consumer theory.
• Abstracts that summarize procedures but never state what consumer-research readers learn.

Output format

【Front-loading】insight before method? yes/fix
【Interdisciplinary legibility】jargon defined? pass/fix
【House style】Chicago title-case + author-date; Word; abstract ≤200 words
【Anonymization】affiliations/acknowledgments/URLs removed; generic site phrasing
【Next step】jcr-submission