Tables & Figures (aos-tables-figures)

When to trigger

• A field paper has long quotations but no exhibit showing the evidentiary base
• Experimental results lack a clean cell-means or contrast table
• A figure decorates rather than argues (or a needed process figure is missing)
• Formatting must be reconciled with Elsevier submission requirements

Exhibits by tradition — what AOS reviewers look for

Qualitative field / historical papers

• Data-inventory table: interviews (number, roles, duration, period), observations (events, hours), documents (types, spans) — the single exhibit that preempts "how much data is behind this?"
• Evidence table(s): conceptual claim or second-order theme in one column, representative field excerpts in the other, so the interpretive chain is inspectable without bloating the text.
• Coding-structure exhibit where the paper's method warrants it: first-order codes → second-order categories → aggregate concepts, showing movement from informant language to theory.
• Timeline or process figure for change studies: phases, key events, and where the accounting practice intervened.
• Anonymize consistently — pseudonyms and role labels in exhibits must match the text and betray no site identity.

Experimental / survey papers

• Cell-means table: means, SDs, n per condition; the predicted pattern visible at a glance.
• Contrast/ANOVA table plus process results (mediation with bootstrap CIs) as exhibits, not prose asides.
• An interaction figure with error bars when a moderation is the theory's signature; axis units interpretable, no truncated scales that exaggerate effects.
• Survey papers: construct table (items, sources, reliabilities) and a correlation matrix.

Archival-with-theory papers

• Descriptives, the main estimation table with clustering and fixed-effects structure stated in the notes, and magnitudes interpreted in institutional terms.

Self-containment and format

• Every exhibit readable alone: title stating what it shows, sample/period, definitions, and the meaning of any markers in the notes.
• Number tables and figures consecutively; place callouts in the text; Elsevier prefers editable source files for tables and high-resolution figure files at final stages — confirm current artwork specs in the AOS Guide for Authors before submission.
• Keep exhibits inside the double-anonymized envelope: no author names in captions, file names, or embedded metadata.
• Ration exhibits: each one must carry evidence or structure the argument; move genuinely supplementary material to an appendix or online supplement.

The one-sentence test

For every exhibit, write the sentence it proves ("Table 2 shows the interpretation rests on 74 interviews across four roles over 26 months"; "Figure 3 shows the effect reverses under high accountability"). If no sentence exists, cut the exhibit; if the sentence is central and no exhibit backs it, build one.

Checklist

• (Qualitative) data-inventory table present; evidence/coding exhibits trace claims to material
• (Experimental) cell means, contrasts, process tests, and the key interaction figure present
• Every exhibit passes the one-sentence test and is self-contained
• Pseudonyms/labels consistent across text and exhibits; anonymity preserved
• Numbering, callouts, and artwork specs match the current Guide for Authors
• No exhibit metadata or file name identifies the authors or the site

Anti-patterns

• Quote dumps in tables — excerpts without the conceptual column that gives them a job.
• Decorative frameworks: boxes-and-arrows figures that restate the table of contents.
• Cell-means tables missing n or SDs, or interaction plots without uncertainty.
• Exhibit inflation: ten tables where three would carry the argument.
• Anonymity leaks through logos, letterheads, or document scans reproduced in figures.

Output format

【Exhibit list】each with its one-sentence job ...
【Data inventory (qual)】interviews / observations / documents tabulated? ...
【Process exhibits (exp)】cell means, contrasts, mediation, interaction figure ...
【Self-containment】titles, notes, definitions complete? ...
【Anonymity & format】pseudonyms consistent; Elsevier artwork specs checked ...
【Next step】aos-writing-style