Another important issue is the research orientation of the author and of the author’s
geographical region and university. The top ranking journals in North America are
skewed toward publishing positivist research, suggesting that North Americans are
more likely to publish in positivist journals, than a more qualitative journal (Be ´dard
and Gendron, 2003, p. 192). Indeed, according to Glover et al. (2006), p. 213), US
accounting professors eschew publishing in AOS prior to promotion to full professor
status. A different research culture is reflected in the journal rankings used in
Australia and the UK, where more journals publishing qualitative and
interdisciplinary research are included in the highly ranked categories (Guthrie and
Parker, 2006). In short, North American academics concentrate more on positivist
studies than their Australian and UK counterparts and these differing orientations lead
to different views on journal quality.
The pressure to publish appears to be widespread in the accounting academic
community. Therefore, academics are highly motivated to aim for a top journal
publication.