Editorial Guidelines

With our multiple publication outlets – a magazine, a twice-monthly e-newsletter and our Research Industry Voices and Research Careers blogs – Quirk’s can accommodate articles of all sizes, from short-form opinion pieces to longer-form technique how-tos or case studies.

We view Quirk’s as a knowledge exchange, through which researchers share their insights and expertise with their peers and colleagues, with the aim of constantly improving the impact and stature of marketing research as a business discipline.

We welcome article submissions from client-side researchers as well as research vendors for all the editorial areas and formats shown below. Just about any topic related to marketing research is welcome, as long as the articles are as objective as possible. (Stories submitted by/for vendors of research products and services must avoid being self-serving.)

Our goal is to keep all of our audience members, no matter how they access our content, up to date on industry trends and show them the many ways marketing research can be used to meet critical business information needs by presenting case study examples of successful research projects and informative discussions of research techniques.

Whatever form your article takes and wherever it appears, it will be consumed by an active, engaged audience of client-side researchers and research product and service providers. Our website garners nearly 80,000 visits per month. Our magazine, in its print and various digital forms (including Android and Apple apps), is received by over 60,000 readers. And each issue of our e-newsletter reaches over 55,000 opt-in subscribers.

Once articles have been published, they live on in the Quirk’s online article archive, which currently houses 7,500+ stories in a fully searchable database. Authors also receive a Quirk’s author badge which they can place on their website to let peers and colleagues know they have been published in the industry’s leading media source.

In addition to establishing yourself as a thought leader by appearing in any of our outlets, you’ll gain even more recognition in the social media sphere, thanks to our practice of tweeting articles and posting links to them on several research-related LinkedIn groups.

Submitting an article for the e-newsletter

We accept case studies and technique/trend articles of the types described above and other shorter-form submissions (timely/topical survey results, op-ed-style entries, articles of 1,500 words or fewer, etc.) for our e-newsletter. Contact Digital Content Editor Emily Koenig Hapka at emilyk@quirks.com or at 651-379-6200 ext. 210 for more information about submitting material for consideration.

Submitting an article for the magazine

Please e-mail your manuscript as an attached file in Microsoft Word to Quirk’s Editor Joseph Rydholm at joe@quirks.com.

Manuscript review process. We have no formal review process, as such. We consider each manuscript on a case-by-case basis, seeking only to ensure that the article conforms to the editorial goal stated above. We reserve the right to edit any manuscript.

Manuscript formatting. Please keep the article layout and formatting as basic as possible. For production purposes, all stories are converted to 10-point Courier type, so drop-caps, multiple fonts and other appearance-enhancing touches in your manuscript end up being removed. Please include contact information for the author(s) such as job title, company affiliation, address, phone number and e-mail address.

Charts, graphs, etc. Please send charts/graphs as separate, editable files (PowerPoint preferred) rather than embedding them in the text file. And indicate in the text file where each graphic should appear in relation to the text (e.g., “Place Figure 1 here”). Resolution should be 300 DPI or greater. EPS is the preferred format (JPEG and TIF are also acceptable).

Intellectual property agreement. All authors are required to sign an intellectual property agreement, which merely grants to Quirk’s a fully paid-up, royalty-free, non-exclusive, non-cancellable, perpetual license to use the work. Please request a copy of the agreement to see a complete list of stipulations.

Reprints/author PDF. As a courtesy, authors are e-mailed a PDF of the article as it appeared in our publication (for all digital-only publications, the PDF is only provided upon request). This PDF is for electronic distribution via e-mail or posting on a website and may not be used to generate printed reprints. For information on purchasing printed reprints, contact Quirk’s Editor Joseph Rydholm at joe@quirks.com. Magazine article authors also receive three to five copies of the printed issue for their files, for showing off to coworkers and significant others or impressing higher-ups.

Submission limits. We generally limit research vendors to two or three published articles in the print magazine per calendar year. With our e-newsletter, vendor-written articles may appear quarterly. For the Research Industry Voices or Research Careers blogs, they may appear monthly.

Article categories

Case studies 

These stories take an in-depth look at a successful research project from start to finish through interviews with marketing researchers and the research vendors they worked with on the project. The participants explain why they chose certain methodologies, what information they wanted to obtain and how the research results were used. Article length guidelines: minimum 1,500 words; maximum 3,000 words.

Research techniques and trends 

In these articles, research industry practitioners offer advice/insight on a wide range of research-related methods. Past topics include: guidelines for conducting business-to-business focus     groups, how to improve tracking studies and the value of a good screener. Article length guidelines: minimum 1,500 words; maximum 3,000     words.

Qualitatively Speaking 

This column in the magazine is a forum for focus group moderators and other qualitative researchers to sound off on issues related to qualitative research, in 1,000 words or less. Strong opinions are welcome!

By The Numbers 

A companion to Qualitatively Speaking, By The Numbers is a place within the magazine for authors to explore issues related to quantitative research, in 1,000 words or less. Strong opinions are welcome here too!

Data Use 

This regular feature focuses on the statistical side of marketing research. Researchers with a background in statistics explain a specific technique or discuss ways to tackle data analysis tasks. Past installments include: a primer on conjoint analysis, how to weight survey data and how to use paired preference testing. Article length guidelines: minimum 1,500 words; maximum 3,000 words.

Submitting a post for the Research Industry Voices or Research Careers blog

Prospective authors can also consider submitting a post for our Research Industry Voices  or Research Careers blogs. For the Research Industry Voices blog, any topic related to marketing research is of potential interest. For the Research Careers blog, any topic related to working in the industry, managing a research staff or improving your position through training and education is of potential interest. In general, the posts should be around 750-1,500 words and be objective (no plugs for research vendors, etc.). Contact Digital Content Editor Emily Koenig Hapka at emilyk@quirks.com or at 651-379-6200 ext. 210 for more information about submitting material for consideration.

Submitting press releases

We welcome press releases on new marketing research products and services, personnel announcements, survey findings, financial results and other corporate transactions for inclusion in our Daily News Queue (our daily e-mail blast of MR-related news). Please send press releases to Quirk's Assistant News and Content Editor Marlen Ramirez at news@quirks.com.

We look forward to working with you!