one of the frequent comments I hear from European faculty and doctoral students about American based journals  (and occasionally about CAR) is getting reviews that state something like this “why should we be interested in beligian or Dutch or Swedish companies/audit firms/auditors/management accountants . . . . . .”.??

 It is hard to believe that in this day and age of globalization there are still educated Americans who think the only thing that matters is US data!  Sure the U.S media makes it appear that the USA is all that matters in the news – whether it be politics, economic or entertainment and that cannot help but wear off on Americans who do not travel much outside their own state let alone there own country!  But really, among educated accounting faculty especially those considered competent enough to review for top journals!???

If we truly believe that theory matters and that generalization is based on theory, cannot all research that is competently done help in this respect?  Or are many American positivist are really just interpretivist in disguise believing that everything is local and its meaning subjectively interpreted and time bound!  

I urge journal editors to apologize to authors when they send out reviews with such comments in them to show that at least the American editors understand that without foundation with such statements are ignorant and maybe even provoke the reviewer who said it to do some reflection!