Article Type

Manuscript Types & Scientific Article Requirements

Article Types

Mercatura : Journal of Marketing prioritizes original research that demonstrates clear scientific novelty, rigorous analysis, and a substantive contribution to marketing management, consumer behavior, digital marketing, branding, marketing strategy, services marketing, retailing, social media marketing, customer relationship management, market analytics, sustainable marketing, and related fields.

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PRIORITY NOVELTY REQUIRED NON-RESEARCH TYPES LIMITED

The journal gives priority to original research articles. Review articles, case studies, and short communications are accepted selectively when they are strongly aligned with the journal's Focus and Scope and provide clear theoretical, empirical, strategic, managerial, behavioral, technological, or market-related contributions.

Core Scientific Requirements

Regardless of manuscript type, articles should demonstrate the following core elements:

✓ Clear marketing or market-related problem and significance ✓ Adequate state of the art
✓ Explicit research gap / novelty justification ✓ Clearly stated research objective
✓ Appropriate quantitative, qualitative, experimental, behavioral, or analytical method ✓ Findings, analysis, and conclusion supported by evidence
Editorial Priority: Manuscripts without a clear state of the art, research gap or justification of novelty, explicit research objective, and appropriate empirical or analytical validation may receive lower editorial priority or be returned before peer review.
1 Original Research Article PRIMARY TYPE

Original Research Articles are the primary and preferred manuscript type. They must report original findings derived from a systematic research process and demonstrate a clear contribution to marketing theory, consumer behavior, marketing strategy, branding, digital marketing, services marketing, retailing, customer relationships, or market analytics.

Required characteristics:

  • Relevant marketing, consumer, organizational, digital, or market background and clearly defined research problem;
  • Adequate review of current scholarship, marketing practices, technologies, or state of the art;
  • Explicit identification of the research gap;
  • Clear justification of novelty or scientific contribution;
  • Explicit research objective(s), research question(s), or hypotheses where appropriate;
  • Appropriate and sufficiently described quantitative, qualitative, mixed-method, experimental, survey, behavioral, digital-analytics, econometric, or other relevant research method;
  • Clear description of respondents, consumers, firms, markets, sampling, constructs, measures, datasets, platforms, or analytical procedures where applicable;
  • Clear presentation of findings supported by appropriate statistical, behavioral, qualitative, transactional, digital, or market evidence;
  • Critical analysis and comparison with relevant marketing theories, models, and previous research; and
  • Conclusion that directly responds to the research objective and explains relevant theoretical, strategic, managerial, customer, or market implications.
Recommended Structure:
Introduction → Methods → Results → Discussion → Conclusion → Declarations → References
2 Review Article SELECTIVE

Review Articles are considered selectively and must provide a comprehensive, critical, and original synthesis of a clearly defined body of literature in marketing management, consumer behavior, branding, digital marketing, services marketing, retailing, customer relationship management, market analytics, sustainable marketing, or related fields.

A high-quality review article should:

  • Present a clearly defined review question or analytical objective;
  • Explain the literature-search and selection approach;
  • Use adequate, relevant, and sufficiently current references;
  • Critically compare previous marketing theories, consumer-behavior models, strategic approaches, digital practices, market technologies, and empirical findings;
  • Identify inconsistencies, methodological limitations, emerging consumer trends, technological shifts, market challenges, and research gaps;
  • Provide original analysis or synthesis by the authors; and
  • Develop a research agenda, conceptual framework, marketing model, strategic synthesis, or substantive conclusion.
Not Acceptable: A literature review that only summarizes previous marketing studies, consumer trends, strategies, campaigns, or publications without critical analysis, synthesis, or an original scholarly contribution.
3 Marketing Case Study LIMITED

Marketing Case Studies are considered when the case provides significant scientific, strategic, managerial, consumer, digital, branding, retail, or market relevance and offers transferable insights for marketing theory or practice.

A Marketing Case Study must include:

✓ Clear marketing research or strategic objective ✓ Case-selection justification
✓ Consumer, market, digital, or strategic analytical approach ✓ Findings and substantive evaluation
✓ Comparison with relevant marketing literature or benchmarks ✓ Clear theoretical, managerial, strategic, or market contribution
Not Acceptable: Purely descriptive brand profiles, company marketing stories, promotional campaigns, social-media activities, retail reports, or customer-service narratives without a clear research objective, systematic method, analytical evaluation, and scholarly contribution.
4 Short Communication LIMITED

A Short Communication presents concise but important original findings, emerging consumer trends, preliminary market evidence, digital-marketing developments, branding insights, customer-behavior findings, market-analytics results, or timely marketing phenomena relevant to the journal's scope.

Although shorter than a full Original Research Article, a Short Communication must still contain sufficient scientific substance and demonstrate a clear contribution to marketing knowledge or practice.

Minimum Scientific Elements:
Objective Method Results Marketing Analysis Conclusion

Manuscript Type Priority

Manuscript Type Journal Priority Main Requirement
Original Research Article HIGH Original findings + state of the art + research gap + novelty + marketing analysis
Review Article SELECTIVE Comprehensive review + current references + critical synthesis + original analysis
Marketing Case Study LIMITED Objective + case justification + marketing method + evaluation + scholarly contribution
Short Communication LIMITED Concise but complete evidence, marketing analysis, and managerial relevance

Manuscripts Not Considered

  • Purely descriptive marketing articles without substantive analysis;
  • Opinion articles without a clear scholarly method or evidence base;
  • Literature summaries without critical synthesis;
  • Company, brand, product, or market profiles without systematic research and analytical contribution;
  • Descriptions of advertising, promotional, social-media, or digital campaigns without appropriate evaluation and theoretical interpretation;
  • Consumer surveys that only report frequencies or percentages without adequate theoretical framing and inferential or substantive analysis;
  • Customer-satisfaction studies without clear constructs, validated measures, analytical methods, and managerial implications;
  • Digital-marketing or social-media studies that only report engagement metrics without a clear research framework and analytical interpretation;
  • Branding or marketing-strategy cases without explicit objectives, systematic evidence, comparison, and scholarly contribution;
  • Market or sales reports without a clear research question, methodology, and scientific analysis;
  • Conference abstracts submitted without substantial development;
  • Articles outside the journal's Focus and Scope;
  • Previously published manuscripts; and
  • Manuscripts simultaneously submitted to another publication.
Editorial Principle

The journal prioritizes original research that advances marketing theory, consumer understanding, strategic marketing practice, and market innovation. Non-original research formats are considered selectively and must demonstrate clear scientific objectives, methodological rigor, analytical depth, originality, meaningful theoretical or managerial implications, and strong relevance to the journal's Focus and Scope.