Special Sessions
Submission Information
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Special Sessions provide an opportunity to highlight topics of broad interest to consumer researchers. A special session includes four research presentations (or three presentations and a discussant), organized around a coherent topic.
Evaluation
Special Sessions are evaluated by the Program Committee. Final decisions are made by the Conference Co-Chairs. Reviewing is not blind, and submissions will be evaluated on a) importance, b) quality, c) readability, d) completeness, and e) predicted interest from ACR members, f) cohesion across the session papers, and g) fit with the conference theme (“Elevation”).
Presentation
Special Session papers will be presented in person. The session organizer is expected to introduce the session and the speakers. The designated author for each paper is expected to present the paper, answer questions following their talk and be available to discuss the talk with members of the ACR community.
Submission Requirements
- Session Title. Title for the special session.
- Special Session Abstract (NEW; 150-word max). This abstract will be published in the conference program and should briefly describe the topic, its importance, and how the presentations fit together around this topic. Note that this 150-word special session abstract replaces the longer 500-word session overview used in prior years. The longer session overview is not requested and will not be considered in the review process, if included.
- Session Chair(s): Provide official name, email, and affiliation for each chair/organiser/discussant. You will not include the authors in this section.
- Topics. Please select a maximum of six topics with a minimum of one each from Conceptual, Substantive, and Methods categories
- Titles of Each Presentation. Please ensure this is listed in the order they will be presented.
- NEW this year, panel organisers will be provided with a special link to share with the authors of the papers in the session. Authors will be required to use the link to submit their short and extended abstracts, author listing, references, and more listed below.
- Author(s) of Each Presentation. Provide official name, email, and affiliation for each author. Please indicate the author order and which author(s) will serve as corresponding author, presenter, or both. At least one author must agree to present the paper in person, if the paper is accepted.
- Short Abstracts for Each Presentation (50-word max). A short abstract for each presentation will be published in the conference program and should concentrate on the big picture contribution(s) of the paper.
- Extended Abstracts for Each Presentation (1000-word max; excluding references, figures, or tables; single-spaced). Please provide an extended abstract for each presentation to be evaluated by the reviewers. The extended abstract should provide a summary of the research, including the conceptual framework, relevant prior literature, description of the method, data, results, and conclusions.
- References, if applicable. References do not count toward the word limit. References should follow the JCR citation style.
- Figures and/or Tables. Tables and figures are encouraged and should be properly labeled and included after References. Figures and Tables do not count toward the word limit.
Other Important Formatting and Submission Information
- If applicable, a submission should include a detailed description of the methodology, data, and results of each study (providing basic descriptive and inferential statistics) to aid in proper reviewer evaluation. Note that if the reviewers cannot understand what was done and what the studies found or concluded, then a submission will likely be rejected. We encourage authors to summarize their results in a table and use figures when appropriate.
- Submissions should follow the current style sheet of the Journal of Consumer Research, except that the entire text should be single-spaced. Subheadings should be bolded or italicized and capitalized (no hard return necessary).
- Please adhere to high standards of spelling and grammar and consider having a copyeditor or peer review the abstract prior to submission.
- Submissions that do not adhere to the word and page limits will be rejected on that basis.
Submission on the Portal
Specific step-by-step submission guidelines are available on the submission portal. Please note, NEW this year, Special Sessions are to be submitted as Panels.
Publishing of Accepted Special Sessions:
Authors of accepted proposals agree to revise their session based on reviewers’ comments and upload their final 150-word Special Session Abstract and each presentation’s 50-word Short Abstract (MS Word file) in July 2026. The most recent version submitted by the July due date will be published “as is” in the ACR Proceedings.
