Identifying meaningful and significant topics for research and publication: a sharing of experiences and insights by ‘influential’ accounting authors

This paper aims to advance understanding of how to generate meaningful or significant topics for accounting research. This topic is important because significance of the research topic is a key determinant of publication success, yet the literature only provides very general guidance on the idea generation process. To permit in-depth exploration, phone interviews were conducted with 20 “influential” accounting researchers, as identified by Brown [Acc. Org. Soc. Oct/Nov (1996) 723] based on annual citation counts to authors' works. Each scholar was first asked to share his/her thoughts on what makes a research topic meaningful/significant. There was considerable consensus that the research should have a significant impact upon the literature and/or address a real world problem. The literature impact can come from filling a significant gap in theory, producing salient, novel/new or unexpected results, advancing understanding of hard-to-solve research issues, or introducing new procedures. The scholars then used specific publications to illustrate the processes that they had used to generate and develop meaningful/significant research topics. Detailed quotes are included to facilitate access to the richness of the scholars' responses. Applications to accounting education research also are discussed.