Submission Policies and Ethics

Participation and Attendance 

• All PDW participants listed on a submission must be available to participate from Friday through Sunday.
• All participants on Paper and Symposia submissions must be available to participate from Sunday through Tuesday.
• All authors on Poster submissions must be available to participate Friday through Tuesday.
• All participants on Caucus submissions must be available to participate from Sunday through Tuesday.
• All participants on TLC session submissions must be additionally registered for TLC to attend and be available to participate on Sunday.

The Rule of One for Papers

A paper can only be submitted to one division or interest group.

Scholarly Program Rule of Three

No one may submit or be associated with more than three scholarly submissions (papers and/or symposia) to an Academy Meeting. No one may appear on more than three sessions during the refereed scholarly program. Scholarly Program appearances include all roles that are listed on the scholarly program such as session moderators, organizers, special guests, discussants, speakers, presenters, authors, etc.

The Rule of One for Posters

A poster can only be submitted to one (1) Division or Interest Group (DIG).

The Rule of One for PDWs

PDW Proposals can be submitted to only ONE Division or Interest Group (DIG), or Affiliate. It is recommended that submitters contact the preferred sponsoring DIG or Affiliate to discuss the proposal prior to submitting. During the submission process the submitter will have the opportunity to suggest other DIGs or Affiliates that would also be interested in the proposal as a co-sponsor. Submissions cannot be transferred or recommended to different DIGs or Affiliates after the submission deadline.

The Rule of Three for PDWs

No one may submit or be associated with more than three PDW submissions to an Academy Meeting. No one may appear in more than 3 PDW sessions during the PDW program from Friday to Sunday, regardless of whether the sessions are held onsite or offsite.

The Rule of Three + Three

The Rule of Three + Three (no more than three scholarly submissions + three PDW submissions) serves to ensure broad participation of members. It reduces the likelihood of the program being dominated by a small handful of people, and it helps ensure that no one is committed to appear at more than one place at a time. When people make too many commitments to participate in the conference program, scheduling conflicts often arise. Consequently, participants may find it difficult to honor their commitments, and the program and the experiences of the attendees suffer. People who agree to participate in an all-day consortium, for example, are expected to participate for the entire day. They should not leave after an hour to attend another session. No presenter should have to arrive late to one session or leave early to present in another one. Organizers, other participants, and especially the attendees are all frustrated by such behavior. The Rule of Three + Three helps reduce these problems. Participants are better able to fully honor their commitments, and attendees can attend sessions knowing that the featured speakers will actually be there throughout.

Who is exempt from the Rule of Three + Three?

• Academy, Division or Interest Group (DIG), and Affiliate Officer Roles.
  NOTE: AOM Program Chairs may not be listed as an author for proposals submitted to the DIG in which they serve as Chair.
• Academy and Division General Sessions (Meetings, Social Events, Plenary Session)
• AOM publication editors (current and incoming editors-in-chief) when participating in sessions devoted exclusively to publishing and other AOM journal activities.
• Poster submission authors.
• Caucus organizers (maximum of two organizers per caucus are exempt).
• Presenters in a Teaching and Learning Conference (TLC) session

Clarifications for the Rule of Three + Three

• If a person appears in more than one role in a single session (e.g., moderator and speaker), it counts as one for purposes of the Rule of Three + Three.
• Submissions to the Teaching and Learning Conference (TLC) are exempt from the Rule of Three + Three.

How is the Rule of Three + Three enforced?

The online PDW and scholarly program submission systems will automatically block submissions that violate the rule. The system will inform the submitter of the rule violation and indicate which participant has already been associated with three other submissions. The submitter will have to revise the proposal by removing the violation. The proposal can be revised and resubmitted by the deadline without penalty. A person who agrees to be listed on more than three PDW proposals or three scholarly submissions puts all of those submissions at risk of being dropped from the program. Therefore, it is in the interest of submitters to ensure that everyone understands and follows the rule. Clearly, the implications of including a violator of the Rule of Three + Three on a submission are far-reaching.

NOTE: It is the responsibility of each participant to understand and follow the Rule of Three + Three. If you have committed to participate in three workshops and three scholarly submissions, you should decline further requests.

AOM Code of Ethics

Members should notify the appropriate Division, Interest Groups, or Affiliate Chairs regarding the practices or actions of members they believe may violate AOM policies, rules, or general standards of ethical conduct. Standards of conduct that are particularly relevant to participation in the Annual Meeting are summarized below. More information about the AOM's professional norms on conference presentations can also be found on the Ethics Video Series on AOM’s YouTube channel.

1. Participation. To encourage meaningful exchange, AOM members should foster a climate of free interchange and constructive criticism within AOM and be willing to share research findings and insights fully with other members.
2. Original Work and New Work. At the time of submission, submitted papers must not have been previously presented at an AOM Annual Meeting. Submitted papers must not have been published or accepted for publication by AOM or non-AOM publications. If a paper is under review, it must NOT appear in print or online at AOM or non-AOM publications before the AOM Annual Meeting.  
3. Attendance and Commitments. ALL program participants must be AOM members AND registered (separate costs) for the conference in order to attend. AOM is a voluntary association whose existence and operations are dependent on cooperation, involvement, and leadership from its members. Members should honor all professional commitments, including presentation of accepted papers and participation in scheduled roles, such as chair, discussant, or panelist. Program participants are highly encouraged to personally present their submissions. If absence from a scheduled meeting is unavoidable, members must contact appropriate individuals and pursue suitable alternative arrangements. Leaders have the same responsibilities and should perform their obligations and responsibilities in a timely, diligent, and sensitive manner, without regard to friendships or personal gain.
4. Rigorous Scholarship. It is the duty of AOM  members conducting research to design, implement, analyze, report, and present their findings rigorously. Research rigor includes careful design, execution, analysis, interpretation of results, and retention of data. Presentation of research should include treatment of the data that is honest and that reveals both strengths and weaknesses of findings.

Authorship and credit should be shared in correct proportion to the various parties' contributions. Whether published or not, ideas or concepts derived from others should be acknowledged, as should advice and assistance received. Authors should also guard against plagiarizing the work of others. Plagiarism is defined as:

The failure to give sufficient attribution to the words, ideas, or data of others that have been incorporated into a work, which an author submits for academic credit or other benefits. Attribution is sufficient if it adequately informs and, therefore, does not materially mislead a reasonable reader as to the source of the words, ideas, or data. Attribution (or the lack thereof) is materially misleading if it could cause a reasonable reader to be mistaken as to the source of the words, ideas, or data in a way that could benefit the author submitting the work. (Worthen, 2004: 444.)