Methodological Insights Jumping through hoops: publishing interview-based management accounting research

PurposeThis reflection is aimed primarily at doctoral students, early career researchers and more experienced accounting researchers seeking to undertake interview-based academic accounting research. It is specifically designed to identify and confront some common obstacles to publishing interview-based management accounting research.Design/methodology/approachThis reflection is autoethnographic in the sense that it is based primarily on my publication experience, observations and reflections as an author/co-author and also as a reviewer and editor/editorial board member in submitting, reviewing and evaluating interview-based management accounting research. It therefore adopts a form of participant observation in approach in which the author seeks to provide to readers a sense of “being there” insofar as addressing the barriers to publishing interview-based management accounting research.FindingsWhilst the insights that interview-based accounting research can offer are well established, there remain practical obstacles in publishing this form of research. These obstacles – portrayed in this paper as “hoops” through which authors must jump – largely reduce to challenges in convincing the reader of the credibility and authenticity of their approach and demonstrating the trustworthiness and dependability of the findings and conclusions reached.Research limitations/implicationsThe academic and practical issues raised in this commentary will assist emerging scholars in anticipating and dealing with the challenges they face in submitting these types of studies to academic accounting journals.Originality/valueThis paper is a critical analysis and reflection of the process of publishing interview-based accounting research. Rather than attempting to replicate the many excellent commentaries on this topic, it is designed to be of practical use to emerging scholars in the design, delivery and presentation of qualitative interview-based accounting research with a particular aim of navigating the submission and review process.