Marketing Science Submission Guide

Source: Marketing Science submission guidelines, Clarivate 2026 JCR release, accessed 2026-10-10.

This is the Marketing Science-specific submission detail authors most often get wrong:

Per the Marketing Science guidelines: the guidelines do not require a contribution statement in the cover letter. Information Systems Research has required one since June 1, 2023. Marketing Science asks instead for an abstract of not more than 200 words, 3 to 6 keywords, and, if a data nondisclosure agreement applies, a note about it in the cover letter.

The strategic implication: a short statement of the modeling contribution in the cover letter can still help the editors, but it is optional for Marketing Science.

Marketing Science weights:

1. Modeling novelty. Structural, econometric, ML, or dynamic-model contribution should be novel.

1. Methodological sophistication. Identification, estimation, and inference must be top-tier.

1. Marketing centrality. The application must advance marketing knowledge, not just methodological knowledge.

Three operational signals govern editorial assessment:

1. Package compliance. The package needs an abstract of no more than 200 words, 3 to 6 keywords and the ethical certifications in ScholarOne, including the replication-policy and competing-interests confirmations. The fix is procedural.

2. Modeling novelty and rigor. Marketing Science focuses primarily on mathematical modeling, although its guidelines also welcome empirical papers that report significant findings without a specific modeling contribution. Manuscripts that competently apply existing models without genuine methodological advance face higher desk-rejection.

3. Marketing centrality. Pure-methods contributions without marketing application fit other INFORMS or methods venues.

Recent issues span:

• Structural models of consumer choice and demand

• Dynamic pricing and revenue management

• Platform competition and two-sided markets

• Recommender systems and personalization

• Advertising auctions and digital advertising

• Machine learning for causal inference in marketing

• Empirical IO applied to marketing

• AI agents and generative AI in marketing

For specific recent papers and DOIs, see Marketing Science on PubsOnLine.

• Decision times: INFORMS publishes no target decision time for Marketing Science; its journal metrics page reports average times to first and final decision for papers sent for external review

• Revision deadlines: nine months for a Minor Revision or Major Revision, 12 months for a Reject & Resubmit

• Frontiers papers: the review process is designed to be faster than for regular submissions

• After acceptance: authors are asked to upload final files within 14 days; INFORMS says author accepted manuscripts are typically published online in Just Accepted within approximately 2 business days of receipt of final files

Get the mechanics from the journal, then stress-test the package yourself. The review tells you whether your paper clears the Marketing Science fit check before upload, especially around a cover letter without a clear contribution statement, modeling contribution is incremental, and wrong marketing journal chosen. Paid Manusights reviews include a 60-day money-back guarantee, and we do not train models on submitted manuscripts.

Three patterns generate the most consistent rejections, and all three are visible before review begins. Two of them, the unclear contribution statement and the wrong-venue mismatch, are decisions you can fix without touching the data. The third, an incremental modeling contribution, is the one that needs honest assessment of whether the paper clears the journal's novelty bar. The sections below walk through each, with a readiness check that surfaces the gap before an editor does.

Cover letter without a clear contribution statement

Marketing Science's guidelines do not require a contribution statement, so the fix is editorial rather than procedural: if you include one, make it name the modeling contribution.

Check cover letter without a clear contribution statement before submitting to Marketing Science →

Modeling contribution is incremental

Marketing Science's modeling-novelty bar is high. Competent application of existing models without methodological advance faces desk-rejection. The fix is to articulate genuine modeling novelty, not boilerplate framing.

Check modeling contribution is incremental before submitting to Marketing Science →

Wrong marketing journal chosen

Marketing Science's quantitative-modeling focus differs from JM, JMR, and JAMS. The fix is honest routing based on contribution type. A Marketing Science manuscript readiness check can identify whether modeling novelty, contribution-statement quality, and marketing centrality align before submission.

Check wrong marketing journal chosen before submitting to Marketing Science →

Marketing Science requires these at first submission:

• main manuscript file (Word or PDF) submitted via ScholarOne

• cover letter entered in ScholarOne (a contribution statement is not required; note any data nondisclosure agreement)

• 200-word abstract maximum

• 3-6 keywords describing the paper's theoretical and methodological orientation

• author byline with full names, affiliations, and ORCID iDs for ALL authors (mandatory)

• author CRediT contribution statement

• competing-interests declaration

• ethical certifications in ScholarOne (prior submission, duplicate submission and copyright, ethical guidelines, replication policy, competing interests)

• data and estimation codes, submitted upon acceptance under the Data Disclosure and Replication Policy (if a nondisclosure agreement applies, say so in the cover letter at submission); Database submissions have separate submission guidelines

• 3 preferred reviewers and 2 preferred Associate Editors entered in ScholarOne, plus a preferred Senior Editor

• $3,150 (US) fee for the INFORMS Open Option, which authors choose only after acceptance (authors are not invoiced until after acceptance)

• responsibility for any generative AI use: authors are welcome to use generative AI tools but are responsible for the accuracy of all facts and references, and the editors may reject a paper with fake references

• for revised submissions, a clean revised manuscript and a detailed response to reviewer and editor comments (INFORMS Author Portal FAQ)

For Marketing Science submissions, the most common artifact-related issue is cover letters whose contribution statements (optional at this journal) describe what the paper does rather than what the field will know after reading it.

The successful contribution statement names the specific quantitative-modeling advance, identifies the existing literature being extended, and articulates what marketing researchers should now believe or do differently because of the paper.

Run a Marketing Science pre-submission readiness check before clicking submit to verify the package meets the journal's quantitative-modeling bar.

Marketing Science manuscripts move through a four-stage editorial timeline shaped by the Senior Editor's desk-screen and INFORMS's decentralized editorial structure. INFORMS publishes no stage-by-stage timeline for the journal, so the day and week ranges below are unofficial planning estimates, not INFORMS figures. The editorial triage pattern at INFORMS quantitative-marketing journals favors submissions where the cover letter names a failure pattern in current quantitative-marketing modeling that the manuscript addresses. Editors routinely reject competent-application submissions without methodological advance and consistently screen for cover letters that demonstrate awareness of the journal's recent editorial culture around modeling-novelty-as-the-bar.

• Day 0 to 5, ScholarOne intake and INFORMS editorial-office technical check: The platform and editorial office check format and declarations (ORCID iDs for all authors, abstract length, the 3 to 6 keywords, ethical certifications).

• Day 5 to 28, Senior Editor desk-screen: The Senior Editor reviews scope fit and whether the manuscript provides a significant original contribution on an important topic in marketing. Under the journal's Desk Rejection Policy, a paper can be desk rejected for its fit with the journal's mission or because it is unlikely to become acceptable within a number of rounds of review.

• Week 4 to 14, external peer review (double-anonymous): Manuscripts that pass the initial evaluation go to reviewers and an Associate Editor assigned by the Senior Editor, selected for both the marketing-science subfield and any computational or econometric methods used.

• Week 14 to 28, decision and revision rounds: The possible decisions are Accept, Conditional Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, Reject & Resubmit and Reject; revisions are due within nine months, and a Reject & Resubmit within 12 months. INFORMS reports average times to first and final decision on its journal metrics page.

• Is Marketing Science a good journal?

• Journal of Consumer Research Submission Guide

• Journal of Marketing Submission Guide

• Journal of Marketing Research Submission Guide

Before the reviewer-invitation stage, read the Marketing Science package against the same risks this guide flags in the Manusights section. Ask whether a reader could infer the target journal from the package alone.

• If the abstract still points toward a cover letter without a clear contribution statement, revise the central claim before upload.

• If the evidence package leaves modeling contribution is incremental, strengthen the methods, controls, figures, or supplementary material rather than expecting reviewers to infer it.

• If the cover letter cannot resolve wrong marketing journal chosen, compare the target journal against the adjacent venues named above before submitting.

Last verified: 2026-10-10 against Marketing Science editorial pages.