REVIEWER AND EDITOR DECISION-MAKING IN THE JOURNAL REVIEW PROCESS

Much research on the journal review process has found little consisten cy among reviewers' evaluations of manuscripts. We propose theoretical explanations for these differences related to gatekeeping and particu larism phenomena and generate hypotheses regarding influences on initi al editorial decisions. A sample of 823 original submissions to the Jo urnal of Applied Psychology were analyzed with respect to author and p aper characteristics, reviewer evaluations, and editor decisions. Supp ort was found for gatekeeping functions in that reviewers and editors appeared to pay particular attention to the adequacy of the research d esign, operationalization of constructs, and theoretical development. Evidence was found for variable gatekeeping in reviewer evaluations, a nd the impact of reviewer evaluations on editor decisions was moderate d by this variability across reviewers. Little evidence was found for social particularism (i.e., favoritism based on gender or affiliation) or content particularism (preference for or against particular resear ch settings or methodologies).