In their review of an earlier version of this essay, the editors of this issue pushed me to reflect on how gender as a concept
might be used to shift our understandings of the ‘good academic accountant.’’ In responding to this request, I decided to shift
from the neutral academic voice (gendered as masculine) and move toward a more personal voice (gendered as feminine).
Currently, the ‘‘good academic accountant’’ strives to produce ‘‘original’’ research contributions. Within the academy greater
value is placed upon such contributions than upon literature reviews. (The association of original research contributions with the
masculine is perhaps best illustrated by noting the use of ‘‘seminal’’ to describe sufficiently original and impactful research
contributions). This value hierarchy downplays the contribution of other academic work such as literature reviews. These
reviews can serve an important nurturing function (and are thereby associated with the feminine). In summarizing the diverse
theoreticalperspectives brought tobear on a set of related research questions or summarizing the research findings andabsences
within a particular topical area, literature reviews provide interested ‘‘outsiders’’ with an entre´e into unfamiliar research areas.
These reviews help others to join a research community and thereby potentially expand the numbers participating in it. For these
reasons, we should consider giving more space to literature reviews within interdisciplinary journals.
The qualitative research papers published in journals are usually adequately theorized, contain sufficient empirical
support and are well-written. The mess and chaos that was overcome to bring a research project to this polished state are
well-hidden from view. While other researchers may have different experiences, the initial drafts of my papers that were
published (after much additional work) are often, well, dreadful. They do not make sense; they assume too much; they
assume too little; they fail to state the research issue clearly (and perhaps are even a bit unsure what the research issue is);
they are disorganized; they are under-theorized; they draw upon a theory that just does not work, etc. (Happily, all these
problems have not occurred within the same draft. However, there’s always the next draft in which they might.) In other
words, if a reader saw only these initial drafts, she would likely conclude that I am not a particularly competent academic