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Strange things happen to incoming editors. First a vague uneasiness about the state of our field. Then a suspicion that there might be something to the jibes about the navel-gazing nature of consumer research. We sometimes struggle to translate Journal of Consumer Research (JCR) findings to practitioners or to explain manuscript titles and abstracts that are esoteric to the point of academic parody. We see pressing problems in the world that have their root in consumption practices, and yet much of our work meanders through a burdensome review process without any urgency because, frankly, it's not clear how the research offers any novel insight or practical solution. There seems no reason to rush. And through an interminable review process, ironically, the takeaways become more simplistic-something that doesn't surprise anybody-while the vocabulary and diagrams become so complex that it's hard to see how they relate to any realworld situation. The mantle of editorship wraps us in these niggling doubts and, after a year on the job, we can't help but speak out.
Schmitt et al. (Wed,) studied this question.