Academic research on marketing in Central and Eastern Europe : a comparative analysis of scholarly papers published in Polish versus international journals

Abstract

PURPOSE: Poland, as one of the largest countries in Central and Eastern Europe, is still in its early stages when it comes to scholarly development, particularly in the field of marketing. Even though Polish marketing scholars have been improving their research accomplishments for years now, they are still learning how to publish their work in highly ranked journals and how to make their work attractive to international audiences. This study was therefore designed to gain insights into scholarly practice of preparing manuscripts in Poland and to compare them with publications in highly ranked international journals.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: A content analysis was conducted on a sample of 93 papers taken from two distinctive publishers (i.e., 48 papers published in a Polish journal versus 45 manuscripts drawn from an international journal with a moderate impact factor).

FINDINGS: Our content analysis allowed to assess the methodology behind academic papers published in both outlets. The results reveal systematic differences between the papers, and they show how the manuscripts vary on many levels (including research design, data analysis and conceptual backgrounds).

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: This study could be potentially helpful for Polish scholars, as well as scholars from other emerging European markets, in increasing their chances to get their work published in good journals.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This is the first empirical attempt to investigate the quality of research in one of the largest countries from Central and Eastern Europe (Poland), and to make comparisons with more advanced scholarly markets. Prior studies on scientific excellence and research evaluation referred mostly to bibliometrics. Little has been done, however, to examine qualitative aspects of research practices in various countries.