a research paper or journal

What’s the Difference: Research Paper vs. Journal?

In the current academic environment, it is essential to understand the key differences between a research paper and a journal. Both types of publications can be used for different purposes in various areas of study but knowing what distinguishes one from another is important for any researcher. This article will explore the primary distinctions between a research paper and a journal so that readers may gain an understanding as to when each should be utilized within their field of inquiry.

I. Introduction

Ii. definition of research paper and journal, iii. similarities between a research paper and a journal, iv. differences between a research paper and a journal, v. purpose for writing different types of academic texts, vi. distinguishing characteristics in content, formatting, & tone, vii. conclusion.

As we embark on this research journey, let us take a moment to understand the scope of our exploration. Our objective is two-fold: 1) To gain insight into the field of X; and 2) To examine whether Y can be used as an effective solution.

This investigation will explore all aspects related to our inquiry and its outcomes. In doing so, both primary and secondary sources shall be consulted in order to determine if scientific or anecdotal evidence provides proof for the efficacy of Y. The findings from these resources will provide vital information which can then inform new decisions regarding how best to approach using Y as part of a larger strategy for successful implementation in practice.

Research papers and journals are integral components of the academic world. Both serve as a platform for academics to share their research findings, engage with one another’s work, and contribute to the greater scientific community. But they have distinct definitions that must be understood in order to effectively use them.

A research paper is typically used for reporting on an individual study or investigation. It should provide details such as a hypothesis being tested, results obtained from experiments/surveys conducted, and analysis of those results. Research papers will often take into account previous studies related to the topic discussed so it can build off existing knowledge within the field. Furthermore, while citing other works is important when creating a research paper its primary focus is usually centered around your own original ideas surrounding the particular subject matter you studied.

• This form of writing primarily acts as both an exploration tool and means by which new information can be shared.

On the other hand, journals are created for scholars in specific fields who need access to articles written about current topics in their discipline. This type of publication offers regular publications where authors submit their works covering various aspects relating directly back to whatever field it focuses on . Journals do not solely act as reference sources but also functions as outlets where active discussions between experts occur regarding issues impacting that area. Additionally when submitting work most publications require authors adhere strictly follow standard formats so content remains organized making journaling easier source material more accessible

• As opposed questions answered through experiments like withresearchpapers journallings main objectiveis providing scholarly insightinto pertinent matters facingthe targeted field

. Is research paper a journal? The answer would be no since each serves distinctly different purposes when published academically

Comparison of Features When comparing a research paper and a journal, it is evident that they both have certain similarities. Though their purpose may differ slightly, there are aspects which they share in common.

One similarity between the two lies in their structure; each follows an orderly progression from introduction to conclusion. In addition, the content must be well researched and properly cited when needed. The writing style for both should also adhere to accepted academic standards.

• Research Paper: Uses third-person point of view.
• Journal: Utilizes first-person perspective.

Another connection between the two is present in their goals; regardless if one produces either work type, they seek to provide new knowledge or insight on a particular subject matter within its given field. Furthermore, both look into complex topics with critical thinking skills at play while striving towards accuracy throughout all stages.

• Research Paper: Content should include evidence supporting conclusions made.

A key difference however stands out as research papers typically focus more deeply on specific concepts while journals often make use of broad theoretical frameworks — though this is not always necessarily true for every example presented here. Is research paper a journal? No – Research papers are designed as an empirical investigation whereas Journals involve creative writing processes such as reflective essays or stories about life experiences.

A research paper and a journal differ in many ways. Here, we will explore the key distinctions between these two types of scholarly writing.

A research paper is used to convey original thought regarding a particular subject or topic. It can be presented as part of an assignment or for publication; it typically involves detailed analyses and comprehensive synthesis from multiple sources. On the other hand, journals are generally periodicals that have been published regularly over time, featuring content which has undergone formal peer review process before being accepted for publishing. Additionally, they often contain abstracts summarizing their contents written by expert researchers within the respective field.

• Formatting & Style:

Different academic texts have different purposes, which range from the informative to the persuasive. Writing a research paper requires an in-depth understanding of how scholarly inquiry works and why it is important. A research paper aims to discover new information, present original ideas or theories, analyze existing material on a given topic, or apply current knowledge to a novel situation.

• Informative: Research papers
• Persuasive: Journals

The English language is filled with subtle nuances in both content and formatting. When it comes to distinguishing between an academic research paper, a journal article, or any other type of writing style, there are certain characteristics that help differentiate them.

To start off with content, the scope of each type can vary greatly depending on what genre you’re dealing with. Generally speaking though, research papers have more detailed information than journals because they usually cover a single topic in-depth while journals focus on broad issues within their field; this means that research papers will go into far greater detail concerning evidence found for their claims when compared to journal articles which often make sweeping generalizations instead. Additionally, formats used by researchers tend to be more structured since they must adhere to specific guidelines set forth by scholarly institutions such as having citations at the end of each section rather than throughout the text like one would find in a newspaper report or blog post.

In terms of tone and language usage however these two types may not differ too drastically from one another as most academics write using sophisticated words regardless if it’s for publication or personal use so readers should expect complex vocabulary being utilized either way; however some authors do have differing styles where one might use scientific terminology whereas another might prefer colloquial phrases even when discussing similar topics so paying attention to author preferences can help discern between different forms of literature easily enough.

In summary, this paper has demonstrated that research on journaling can provide meaningful insights into the human condition. Through an examination of relevant literature and key findings from our own research study, we have highlighted a number of beneficial outcomes associated with journaling – including improved emotional wellbeing and increased self-awareness.

It is clear that further studies are needed to more thoroughly investigate the impact of journaling on different populations in various contexts; however, for now it appears likely that there is much potential benefit to be found through regularly engaging in reflective writing practices.

The differences between a research paper and journal are clear. In summary, the main difference is that research papers build upon existing knowledge with an original purpose in mind while journals record events from everyday life or provide commentary on current topics of interest. Each type has its place in academia; both have value as useful tools for disseminating information and sparking further study. Ultimately, how each source material is used will depend largely on individual circumstances and preferences when it comes to gaining insight into relevant subject matter.

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Types of journal articles

It is helpful to familiarise yourself with the different types of articles published by journals. Although it may appear there are a large number of types of articles published due to the wide variety of names they are published under, most articles published are one of the following types; Original Research, Review Articles, Short reports or Letters, Case Studies, Methodologies.

Original Research:

This is the most common type of journal manuscript used to publish full reports of data from research. It may be called an  Original Article, Research Article, Research, or just  Article, depending on the journal. The Original Research format is suitable for many different fields and different types of studies. It includes full Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion sections.

Short reports or Letters:

These papers communicate brief reports of data from original research that editors believe will be interesting to many researchers, and that will likely stimulate further research in the field. As they are relatively short the format is useful for scientists with results that are time sensitive (for example, those in highly competitive or quickly-changing disciplines). This format often has strict length limits, so some experimental details may not be published until the authors write a full Original Research manuscript. These papers are also sometimes called Brief communications .

Review Articles:

Review Articles provide a comprehensive summary of research on a certain topic, and a perspective on the state of the field and where it is heading. They are often written by leaders in a particular discipline after invitation from the editors of a journal. Reviews are often widely read (for example, by researchers looking for a full introduction to a field) and highly cited. Reviews commonly cite approximately 100 primary research articles.

TIP: If you would like to write a Review but have not been invited by a journal, be sure to check the journal website as some journals to not consider unsolicited Reviews. If the website does not mention whether Reviews are commissioned it is wise to send a pre-submission enquiry letter to the journal editor to propose your Review manuscript before you spend time writing it.  

Case Studies:

These articles report specific instances of interesting phenomena. A goal of Case Studies is to make other researchers aware of the possibility that a specific phenomenon might occur. This type of study is often used in medicine to report the occurrence of previously unknown or emerging pathologies.

Methodologies or Methods

These articles present a new experimental method, test or procedure. The method described may either be completely new, or may offer a better version of an existing method. The article should describe a demonstrable advance on what is currently available.

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13.1 Formatting a Research Paper

Learning objectives.

• Identify the major components of a research paper written using American Psychological Association (APA) style.
• Apply general APA style and formatting conventions in a research paper.

In this chapter, you will learn how to use APA style , the documentation and formatting style followed by the American Psychological Association, as well as MLA style , from the Modern Language Association. There are a few major formatting styles used in academic texts, including AMA, Chicago, and Turabian:

• AMA (American Medical Association) for medicine, health, and biological sciences
• APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the social sciences
• Chicago—a common style used in everyday publications like magazines, newspapers, and books
• MLA (Modern Language Association) for English, literature, arts, and humanities
• Turabian—another common style designed for its universal application across all subjects and disciplines

While all the formatting and citation styles have their own use and applications, in this chapter we focus our attention on the two styles you are most likely to use in your academic studies: APA and MLA.

If you find that the rules of proper source documentation are difficult to keep straight, you are not alone. Writing a good research paper is, in and of itself, a major intellectual challenge. Having to follow detailed citation and formatting guidelines as well may seem like just one more task to add to an already-too-long list of requirements.

Following these guidelines, however, serves several important purposes. First, it signals to your readers that your paper should be taken seriously as a student’s contribution to a given academic or professional field; it is the literary equivalent of wearing a tailored suit to a job interview. Second, it shows that you respect other people’s work enough to give them proper credit for it. Finally, it helps your reader find additional materials if he or she wishes to learn more about your topic.

Furthermore, producing a letter-perfect APA-style paper need not be burdensome. Yes, it requires careful attention to detail. However, you can simplify the process if you keep these broad guidelines in mind:

• Work ahead whenever you can. Chapter 11 “Writing from Research: What Will I Learn?” includes tips for keeping track of your sources early in the research process, which will save time later on.
• Get it right the first time. Apply APA guidelines as you write, so you will not have much to correct during the editing stage. Again, putting in a little extra time early on can save time later.
• Use the resources available to you. In addition to the guidelines provided in this chapter, you may wish to consult the APA website at http://www.apa.org or the Purdue University Online Writing lab at http://owl.english.purdue.edu , which regularly updates its online style guidelines.

General Formatting Guidelines

This chapter provides detailed guidelines for using the citation and formatting conventions developed by the American Psychological Association, or APA. Writers in disciplines as diverse as astrophysics, biology, psychology, and education follow APA style. The major components of a paper written in APA style are listed in the following box.

These are the major components of an APA-style paper:

Body, which includes the following:

• Headings and, if necessary, subheadings to organize the content
• In-text citations of research sources
• References page

All these components must be saved in one document, not as separate documents.

The title page of your paper includes the following information:

• Title of the paper
• Author’s name
• Name of the institution with which the author is affiliated
• Header at the top of the page with the paper title (in capital letters) and the page number (If the title is lengthy, you may use a shortened form of it in the header.)

List the first three elements in the order given in the previous list, centered about one third of the way down from the top of the page. Use the headers and footers tool of your word-processing program to add the header, with the title text at the left and the page number in the upper-right corner. Your title page should look like the following example.

The next page of your paper provides an abstract , or brief summary of your findings. An abstract does not need to be provided in every paper, but an abstract should be used in papers that include a hypothesis. A good abstract is concise—about one hundred fifty to two hundred fifty words—and is written in an objective, impersonal style. Your writing voice will not be as apparent here as in the body of your paper. When writing the abstract, take a just-the-facts approach, and summarize your research question and your findings in a few sentences.

In Chapter 12 “Writing a Research Paper” , you read a paper written by a student named Jorge, who researched the effectiveness of low-carbohydrate diets. Read Jorge’s abstract. Note how it sums up the major ideas in his paper without going into excessive detail.

Write an abstract summarizing your paper. Briefly introduce the topic, state your findings, and sum up what conclusions you can draw from your research. Use the word count feature of your word-processing program to make sure your abstract does not exceed one hundred fifty words.

Depending on your field of study, you may sometimes write research papers that present extensive primary research, such as your own experiment or survey. In your abstract, summarize your research question and your findings, and briefly indicate how your study relates to prior research in the field.

Margins, Pagination, and Headings

APA style requirements also address specific formatting concerns, such as margins, pagination, and heading styles, within the body of the paper. Review the following APA guidelines.

Use these general guidelines to format the paper:

• Set the top, bottom, and side margins of your paper at 1 inch.
• Use double-spaced text throughout your paper.
• Use a standard font, such as Times New Roman or Arial, in a legible size (10- to 12-point).
• Use continuous pagination throughout the paper, including the title page and the references section. Page numbers appear flush right within your header.
• Section headings and subsection headings within the body of your paper use different types of formatting depending on the level of information you are presenting. Additional details from Jorge’s paper are provided.

Begin formatting the final draft of your paper according to APA guidelines. You may work with an existing document or set up a new document if you choose. Include the following:

• Your title page
• The abstract you created in Note 13.8 “Exercise 1”
• Correct headers and page numbers for your title page and abstract

APA style uses section headings to organize information, making it easy for the reader to follow the writer’s train of thought and to know immediately what major topics are covered. Depending on the length and complexity of the paper, its major sections may also be divided into subsections, sub-subsections, and so on. These smaller sections, in turn, use different heading styles to indicate different levels of information. In essence, you are using headings to create a hierarchy of information.

The following heading styles used in APA formatting are listed in order of greatest to least importance:

• Section headings use centered, boldface type. Headings use title case, with important words in the heading capitalized.
• Subsection headings use left-aligned, boldface type. Headings use title case.
• The third level uses left-aligned, indented, boldface type. Headings use a capital letter only for the first word, and they end in a period.
• The fourth level follows the same style used for the previous level, but the headings are boldfaced and italicized.
• The fifth level follows the same style used for the previous level, but the headings are italicized and not boldfaced.

Visually, the hierarchy of information is organized as indicated in Table 13.1 “Section Headings” .

Table 13.1 Section Headings

A college research paper may not use all the heading levels shown in Table 13.1 “Section Headings” , but you are likely to encounter them in academic journal articles that use APA style. For a brief paper, you may find that level 1 headings suffice. Longer or more complex papers may need level 2 headings or other lower-level headings to organize information clearly. Use your outline to craft your major section headings and determine whether any subtopics are substantial enough to require additional levels of headings.

Working with the document you developed in Note 13.11 “Exercise 2” , begin setting up the heading structure of the final draft of your research paper according to APA guidelines. Include your title and at least two to three major section headings, and follow the formatting guidelines provided above. If your major sections should be broken into subsections, add those headings as well. Use your outline to help you.

Because Jorge used only level 1 headings, his Exercise 3 would look like the following:

Citation Guidelines

In-text citations.

Throughout the body of your paper, include a citation whenever you quote or paraphrase material from your research sources. As you learned in Chapter 11 “Writing from Research: What Will I Learn?” , the purpose of citations is twofold: to give credit to others for their ideas and to allow your reader to follow up and learn more about the topic if desired. Your in-text citations provide basic information about your source; each source you cite will have a longer entry in the references section that provides more detailed information.

In-text citations must provide the name of the author or authors and the year the source was published. (When a given source does not list an individual author, you may provide the source title or the name of the organization that published the material instead.) When directly quoting a source, it is also required that you include the page number where the quote appears in your citation.

This information may be included within the sentence or in a parenthetical reference at the end of the sentence, as in these examples.

Epstein (2010) points out that “junk food cannot be considered addictive in the same way that we think of psychoactive drugs as addictive” (p. 137).

Here, the writer names the source author when introducing the quote and provides the publication date in parentheses after the author’s name. The page number appears in parentheses after the closing quotation marks and before the period that ends the sentence.

Addiction researchers caution that “junk food cannot be considered addictive in the same way that we think of psychoactive drugs as addictive” (Epstein, 2010, p. 137).

Here, the writer provides a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence that includes the author’s name, the year of publication, and the page number separated by commas. Again, the parenthetical citation is placed after the closing quotation marks and before the period at the end of the sentence.

As noted in the book Junk Food, Junk Science (Epstein, 2010, p. 137), “junk food cannot be considered addictive in the same way that we think of psychoactive drugs as addictive.”

Here, the writer chose to mention the source title in the sentence (an optional piece of information to include) and followed the title with a parenthetical citation. Note that the parenthetical citation is placed before the comma that signals the end of the introductory phrase.

David Epstein’s book Junk Food, Junk Science (2010) pointed out that “junk food cannot be considered addictive in the same way that we think of psychoactive drugs as addictive” (p. 137).

Another variation is to introduce the author and the source title in your sentence and include the publication date and page number in parentheses within the sentence or at the end of the sentence. As long as you have included the essential information, you can choose the option that works best for that particular sentence and source.

Citing a book with a single author is usually a straightforward task. Of course, your research may require that you cite many other types of sources, such as books or articles with more than one author or sources with no individual author listed. You may also need to cite sources available in both print and online and nonprint sources, such as websites and personal interviews. Chapter 13 “APA and MLA Documentation and Formatting” , Section 13.2 “Citing and Referencing Techniques” and Section 13.3 “Creating a References Section” provide extensive guidelines for citing a variety of source types.

Writing at Work

APA is just one of several different styles with its own guidelines for documentation, formatting, and language usage. Depending on your field of interest, you may be exposed to additional styles, such as the following:

• MLA style. Determined by the Modern Languages Association and used for papers in literature, languages, and other disciplines in the humanities.
• Chicago style. Outlined in the Chicago Manual of Style and sometimes used for papers in the humanities and the sciences; many professional organizations use this style for publications as well.
• Associated Press (AP) style. Used by professional journalists.

References List

The brief citations included in the body of your paper correspond to the more detailed citations provided at the end of the paper in the references section. In-text citations provide basic information—the author’s name, the publication date, and the page number if necessary—while the references section provides more extensive bibliographical information. Again, this information allows your reader to follow up on the sources you cited and do additional reading about the topic if desired.

The specific format of entries in the list of references varies slightly for different source types, but the entries generally include the following information:

• The name(s) of the author(s) or institution that wrote the source
• The year of publication and, where applicable, the exact date of publication
• The full title of the source
• For books, the city of publication
• For articles or essays, the name of the periodical or book in which the article or essay appears
• For magazine and journal articles, the volume number, issue number, and pages where the article appears
• For sources on the web, the URL where the source is located

The references page is double spaced and lists entries in alphabetical order by the author’s last name. If an entry continues for more than one line, the second line and each subsequent line are indented five spaces. Review the following example. ( Chapter 13 “APA and MLA Documentation and Formatting” , Section 13.3 “Creating a References Section” provides extensive guidelines for formatting reference entries for different types of sources.)

In APA style, book and article titles are formatted in sentence case, not title case. Sentence case means that only the first word is capitalized, along with any proper nouns.

Key Takeaways

• Following proper citation and formatting guidelines helps writers ensure that their work will be taken seriously, give proper credit to other authors for their work, and provide valuable information to readers.
• Working ahead and taking care to cite sources correctly the first time are ways writers can save time during the editing stage of writing a research paper.
• APA papers usually include an abstract that concisely summarizes the paper.
• APA papers use a specific headings structure to provide a clear hierarchy of information.
• In APA papers, in-text citations usually include the name(s) of the author(s) and the year of publication.
• In-text citations correspond to entries in the references section, which provide detailed bibliographical information about a source.

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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UW Professor’s Research Selected as ‘Editor’s Choice Paper’ for Journal’s 50th Anniversary

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Published May 13, 2024

Geophysical Research Letters is a gold open access journal that publishes high-impact, innovative and timely communications-length articles on major advances spanning all of the major geoscience disciplines.

The paper, “ Causes of Higher Climate Sensitivity in CMIP6 Models ,” was co-written with Mark Zelinka, a research scientist for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory at the University of Washington. The paper discusses the ability to predict how much the earth warms in response to changes in greenhouse gas using Earth system models (ESMs).

“I was really pleased to see this paper selected by the Geophysical Research Letters editorial board,” says McCoy, who works in UW’s Department of Atmospheric Science. “At the time when Mark Zelinka reached out to me to collaborate, it was clear that he had identified a big shift in how our models were representing future climate and that it was important to disseminate it to the community.”

Other contributors to the paper were Timothy Myers, who works in the Physical Sciences Laboratory at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Paulo Ceppi, a senior lecturer of climate science at Imperial College London; and Stephen Po-Chedley, a research scientist; Peter Caldwell, Climate Modeling Group leader and staff scientist; Stephen Klein, an atmospheric research scientist; and Karl Taylor, director of the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison, all of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

“When I saw the initial results that cloud feedback had gotten more amplifying in the latest models, I immediately reached out to Daniel for his help in interpreting them since his previous work had greatly influenced my thinking,” Zelinka says. “He provided useful calculations to strengthen our case that changes in the cloud liquid content were a key part of the story in leading to a new class of highly sensitive models.”

The group found that the temperature response to an abrupt quadrupling of atmospheric CO 2 has increased substantially in the latest generation of global climate models relative to previous generations. This is primarily because cloud water content and coverage decrease more strongly with global warming, causing enhanced planetary absorption of sunlight -- amplifying feedback that ultimately results in more warming. Differences in the physical representation of clouds in ESMs drive this enhanced sensitivity relative to the previous generation of models.

“It was really exciting to be part of this study. What Mark and my co-authors showed in this paper is that an important source of ESM uncertainty on a time scale that matters to the near future are these difficult-to-treat, small-scale processes, such as clouds, convection, aerosol and precipitation,” McCoy says. “It allows us to identify and target specific processes that have a lot of leverage on our predictions of future climate for observations and for continued model development and evaluation.”

Since its publication in 2020, the paper has exceeded 1,000 citations, placing it in the top 1 percent of geoscience articles.

UW will host a US Climate Variability and Predictability workshop, titled “ Micro2Macro: Origins of Climate Change Uncertainty ,” Oct. 28-30. The workshop will address issues related to McCoy’s representation of microscale processes in global ESMs.

McCoy is director of the Perturbed Physics Ensemble Regression Optimization Center for ESM Evaluation and Development ( PROCEED ), a collaboration among the UW Department of Atmospheric Science; the UW School of Computing; the University of Hawaii-Manoa; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. PROCEED seeks to leverage UW’s unique access to the National Center for Atmospheric Research-Wyoming Supercomputing Center to reduce uncertainty related to subgrid phenomena in ESMs.

For more information about McCoy, go to www.uwyo.edu/atsc/directory/faculty/mccoy .

the Newsroom

Journal of marketing accepts co-authored paper by jia li linking two key executive concerns: brand strength and sales incentives.

Should a brand adopt group or individual sales incentives for its retail sales force? This pivotal question lies at the heart of a study recently accepted by the esteemed Journal of Marketing, where Wake Forest School of Business Associate Professor Dr. Jia Li collaborated with co-authors to examine the above question in the context of brand-managed retail (BMR) settings.

BMR encompasses various formats, including brand-managed stand-alone stores like Lululemon or Warby Parker, as well as stores-within-a-store (SWAS) such as Louis Vuitton in Saks Fifth Avenue and Apple in Best Buy. In fact, the cosmetics sections at almost all major U.S. department stores (e.g., Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, and Saks Fifth Avenue) are managed under SWAS arrangements (Li, Chan, and Lewis 2016). These settings are typically staffed by the brand rather than the retailer, with the brand also having autonomy over inventory and pricing decisions for its products.

Industry experts have noted a rising trend: more retailers are incorporating BMR offerings in the current new era of retailing (e.g., Marsh 2023). This shift underscores the importance of the study – in their exploration, the research team recognizes that salespeople serve a mix of consumers, including some fully informed ones who are ready to make a purchase (e.g., a repeat customer), and others who are uninformed about the brand’s value proposition and need to be convinced by the salesperson. In designing incentives, the firm would ideally like to offer incentives only for sales to uninformed consumers, as only these sales require salesperson effort. While the firm cannot usually observe whether a sale made by an individual salesperson is to an uninformed consumer, it has better information on whether the sales team as a whole sells to the uninformed consumer because the group output in this case would be higher than otherwise.

Their theoretical analysis reveals a compelling insight: the information advantage of group incentives is particularly pronounced for weaker brands. Consequently, weaker brands may realize greater profitability through group incentives, while stronger brands are better positioned to enhance profitability and performance by utilizing individual salesperson incentives.

“Our findings underscore the efficiency implications of aligning sales incentives with brand strength,” explains Li. “To implement the findings of our research, managers of BMR sales operations may use brand equity metrics to form brand strength assessments and confirm the validity of the incentive type recommended by our findings through experimentation. Overall, our research shows that executives and managers, particularly those who run BMR sales operations, should factor in their brand’s strength when deciding on the optimal salesperson incentive compensation.”

One distinctive aspect of this study is its comprehensive approach, which combines rigorous theoretical modeling with empirical validation. Following their theoretical analysis that extends the classic principal-agent model, the research team applies cutting-edge machine learning techniques (e.g., Double Machine Learning) to test their theoretical predictions using data from multiple industry sections. They found that the data universally supported their theoretical predictions, highlighting the practical relevance of their theoretical propositions.

As a paper with complex models (the accepted paper includes 48 pages of Web Appendices providing theoretical model proofs and data modeling details), the research team takes pride in its acceptance by the Journal of Marketing. Renowned for its emphasis on real-world application, the Journal serves as a premier outlet with a particular focus on developing knowledge about practical marketing questions that are beneficial not only to scholars but also to practitioners. Boasting the highest Impact Factor (12.9) among all marketing journals, the Journal of Marketing is widely recognized as one of the foremost in marketing and is included in both The University of Texas at Dallas 24 (UTD 24) and the Financial Times 50 (FT 50), two prestigious business research journal lists.

“We have put a lot of effort into improving the readability of the paper,” Li said. “The acceptance illustrates that rigorous academic research with complex models and real-world application is not always met with resistance.”

Li also highlighted how the study reflects the value of working at Wake Forest, which cultivates a strong sense of community. “As we neared the end of the paper revision process, we sought input from industry professionals to enhance the real-world relevance of our research. Stacy Owen, the Executive Director of Alumni Engagement at the Wake Forest School of Business, promptly connected me with multiple alumni who generously shared their insights on the BMR setting,” Li explained. “I’m truly grateful for the support and assistance of Stacy, as well as our alumni Wendy Eavenson, Annie Eavenson, John Hoskins, and Lauren Key. Their willingness to engage and share expertise underscores the collaborative spirit at Wake Forest.”

When asked to summarize the paper’s insight in one sentence, Li referred to what the Journal of Marketing posted on their Twitter (X) account; “Brands must factor in brand strength when designing sales incentives: group incentives for weaker brands and individual incentives for stronger ones!”

Recent Articles

• Journal of Marketing Accepts Co-Authored Paper by Jia Li Linking Two Key Executive Concerns: Brand Strength and Sales Incentives 5.15.2024
• 2024 Alumni Award Winners Recognized 5.15.2024
• School of Business Faculty Gather for Annual Awards Luncheon 5.9.2024

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• Published: 14 May 2024

2023 summer warmth unparalleled over the past 2,000 years

• Jan Esper   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3919-014X 1 , 2 ,
• Max Torbenson   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2720-2238 1 &
• Ulf Büntgen 2 , 3 , 4  

Nature ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Including an exceptionally warm Northern Hemisphere (NH) summer 1 ,2 , 2023 has been reported as the hottest year on record 3-5 . Contextualizing recent anthropogenic warming against past natural variability is nontrivial, however, because the sparse 19 th century meteorological records tend to be too warm 6 . Here, we combine observed and reconstructed June-August (JJA) surface air temperatures to show that 2023 was the warmest NH extra-tropical summer over the past 2000 years exceeding the 95% confidence range of natural climate variability by more than half a degree Celsius. Comparison of the 2023 JJA warming against the coldest reconstructed summer in 536 CE reveals a maximum range of pre-Anthropocene-to-2023 temperatures of 3.93°C. Although 2023 is consistent with a greenhouse gases-induced warming trend 7 that is amplified by an unfolding El Niño event 8 , this extreme emphasizes the urgency to implement international agreements for carbon emission reduction.

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Department of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany

Jan Esper & Max Torbenson

Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic

Jan Esper & Ulf Büntgen

Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Ulf Büntgen

Department of Geography, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

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Esper, J., Torbenson, M. & Büntgen, U. 2023 summer warmth unparalleled over the past 2,000 years. Nature (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07512-y

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Accepted : 02 May 2024

Published : 14 May 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07512-y

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