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name: jcp-topic-selection description: Use when deciding whether a consumer phenomenon belongs at the Journal of Consumer Psychology (JCP) versus a sibling, and which JCP manuscript type fits, before theory and studies are locked. Sets scope and outlet fit; it does not build the mechanism (jcp-theory-development).

Topic Selection (jcp-topic-selection)

When to trigger

• You have a consumer phenomenon and are unsure it is psychological-process enough for JCP
• The finding feels real but you cannot say what about the mind of the consumer is new
• You are choosing between JCP, JCR, JMR, Marketing Science, or Psychological Science
• The result is small and clean and might be a Research Report rather than a full article
• A coauthor wants to add field data / strategy framing that may push the paper out of JCP's lane

What JCP actually wants

JCP publishes theory-driven research on the psychology of consumers — how people form judgments, make decisions, feel, get motivated, construct identity, and respond to persuasion in consumption contexts. The decisive question at topic-selection is not "is this about consumers?" but "is the contribution a psychological process that operates in a consumption setting?" A topic fits JCP when (a) there is a consumer-relevant outcome, (b) there is a plausible mental mechanism behind it, and (c) the mechanism is testable with controlled (mostly experimental) methods. Topics that fail (a) are general psychology; topics that fail (b) are effect-hunting; topics that fail (c) belong in a modeling or interpretive outlet.

Outlet fit: which sibling, and why not

If the core contribution is…	Aim at	Why not JCP
A consumer psychological process, tested experimentally	JCP	—
Broad consumer theory incl. interpretive / CCT meaning-making	JCR	JCP has no interpretive tradition; it is experimental-process
A marketing-strategy / firm-decision question	Journal of Marketing	JCP is about the consumer's mind, not managerial action
A new measure / method / model for marketing data	JMR / Marketing Science	JCP rewards process insight, not methodological tooling
A general psychological effect with no consumption stake	Psychological Science / JPSP / JEP	JCP needs a consumer phenomenon and audience

The JCP–JCR boundary is the one teams get wrong most. Both run behavioral experiments; the tell is that JCR also embraces interpretive/CCT work and frames contributions as advancing broad theory of consumption, while JCP is tightly psychological-mechanism in its center of gravity. If your paper's contribution sentence is "we identify the mental process by which X shapes consumer Y," it is a JCP paper.

Choosing the manuscript type (检索于 2026-06；以官网为准)

• Research Article — full multi-study package; ≤50 double-spaced pages including abstract, references, tables, and figures.
• Research Report — a tight, important finding; <4,000 words excluding abstract, references, tables, and figures. Use when one mechanism is cleanly demonstrated and a 50-page treatment would pad it.
• Conceptual Review — integrative review building new theory; ≤50 pages.
• Research Dialogue — exchange/commentary format. Pick the type before writing: a Research Report cannot carry four studies and a Research Article should not be one study stretched thin.

Checklist

• The contribution is a psychological process, not just a new effect or a new context
• There is a consumer-relevant outcome AND a plausible mental mechanism AND a way to test it experimentally
• You can say in one sentence why this is JCP and not JCR / JMR / Psych Science
• The manuscript type (Article / Report / Review / Dialogue) matches the size of the contribution
• The phenomenon is theoretically interesting, not only practically useful
• You are not importing strategy or interpretive framing that pulls the paper out of JCP's lane

Anti-patterns

• Context-as-contribution: "we study this effect in a new product category" with no new process
• General-psych smuggling: a cognition/emotion effect with a thin consumer veneer
• Wrong-type sizing: a one-study finding submitted as a 50-page article, or four studies crammed into a Research Report
• Strategy drift: framing the paper around what the firm should do rather than what the consumer's mind does
• Sibling blur: pitching to JCP a paper whose real contribution is interpretive (JCR) or methodological (JMR)

Output format

【Phenomenon】one-line consumer phenomenon
【Process candidate】the mental mechanism that would be the contribution
【Outlet verdict】JCP / reroute to JCR / JM / JMR / Psych Science (+ reason)
【Manuscript type】Research Article / Research Report / Conceptual Review / Research Dialogue
【Why not the closest sibling】one sentence
【Next skill】jcp-theory-development