Topic Selection & Fit (eer-topic-selection)
When to trigger
- You are unsure whether the paper is "EER-shaped" or belongs in a field outlet
- A reviewer/colleague said the question is "too narrow" or "of interest only to specialists"
- You are choosing among EER, JEEA, The Economic Journal, or an Elsevier field journal
- The contribution reads as an incremental field increment, not a broad-interest result
The EER fit bar
EER is Elsevier's general-interest European economics journal (founded 1969), publishing all fields, theory and empirical. The defining test is breadth of interest: would an economist outside your subfield find the question, the answer, or the method worth knowing? EER is not Europe-restricted in topic (the name is institutional), and it is not a methods-first journal — it wants a substantive economic result that travels. Calibrate against the desk-reject filter: editors screen out-of-scope or low-novelty work before review (and the submission fee is non-refundable), so the breadth case must be visible on page one.
Fit decision table
| Signal |
Reading |
Move |
| Result changes how non-specialists think about a first-order question |
Strong EER fit |
proceed to eer-literature-positioning |
| Solid identification but narrow policy/sector relevance |
Borderline — reframe for breadth or consider a field journal |
reframe, then eer-literature-positioning |
| Incremental extension of one literature, specialists only |
Weak EER fit |
broaden the question or target a field outlet |
| Pure theory with a clean, general result |
EER fits (theory is in scope) |
eer-theory-model |
| About Europe but of only local interest |
Topic ≠ scope problem |
recast around the general economic mechanism |
EER vs. its siblings (where does this paper go?)
| Outlet |
Identity |
Pick it when |
| EER |
Elsevier general-interest, all fields, long-standing |
broad-interest result, theory or empirical, no society gate |
| JEEA |
The EEA's own flagship (Oxford UP) |
you want the EEA society flagship; comparably broad, more selective slot |
| The Economic Journal |
RES flagship (Oxford UP) |
RES-oriented general-interest home |
| Elsevier field journal (e.g., JME, Labour Economics, JPubE) |
field-specialist depth |
the contribution is deep but field-internal |
EER and JEEA overlap heavily in scope; the practical difference is the EEA society identity of JEEA and slot scarcity, not topic. Position on contribution and fit, not prestige labels.
Reframing a narrow question for EER breadth
- Name the general mechanism, not the local application ("how search frictions blunt pass-through," not "prices in one retail chain").
- State the first-order quantity or theoretical object a generalist cares about.
- Show portability — one sentence on what the result implies beyond your setting.
- Lead with the answer, not the dataset or estimator.
Checklist
Anti-patterns
- Pitching a clean-but-narrow field increment as if breadth were obvious
- Leading with the data source or the estimator instead of the economic question
- Assuming EER means "European topics only" and over-localizing the framing
- Choosing EER purely on impact factor rather than fit and breadth
- Ignoring the desk-reject + non-refundable-fee filter when scope is marginal
Output format
【EER fit】strong / borderline / weak
【General-interest question】one sentence (non-specialist-legible)
【Contribution type】empirical answer / mechanism / theory result
【Breadth case】why a non-specialist cares + portability sentence
【Sibling decision】EER vs JEEA / EJ / field journal — and why
【Next step】eer-literature-positioning (or eer-theory-model if pure theory)
1---2name: eer-topic-selection3description: Use when deciding whether a question is a fit for the European Economic Review (EER) — general-interest across all of economics — rather than a field journal, JEEA, or The Economic Journal. Diagnoses fit and reframes for breadth; it does not build the identification or the model.4---56# Topic Selection & Fit (eer-topic-selection)78## When to trigger910- You are unsure whether the paper is "EER-shaped" or belongs in a field outlet11- A reviewer/colleague said the question is "too narrow" or "of interest only to specialists"12- You are choosing among EER, JEEA, The Economic Journal, or an Elsevier field journal13- The contribution reads as an incremental field increment, not a broad-interest result1415## The EER fit bar1617EER is **Elsevier's general-interest European economics journal** (founded 1969), publishing **all fields, theory and empirical**. The defining test is **breadth of interest**: would an economist *outside* your subfield find the question, the answer, or the method worth knowing? EER is not Europe-restricted in topic (the name is institutional), and it is not a methods-first journal — it wants a substantive economic result that travels. Calibrate against the desk-reject filter: editors screen out-of-scope or low-novelty work **before review** (and the submission fee is non-refundable), so the breadth case must be visible on page one.1819## Fit decision table2021| Signal | Reading | Move |22|--------|---------|------|23| Result changes how non-specialists think about a first-order question | Strong EER fit | proceed to `eer-literature-positioning` |24| Solid identification but narrow policy/sector relevance | Borderline — reframe for breadth or consider a field journal | reframe, then `eer-literature-positioning` |25| Incremental extension of one literature, specialists only | Weak EER fit | broaden the question or target a field outlet |26| Pure theory with a clean, general result | EER fits (theory is in scope) | `eer-theory-model` |27| About Europe but of only local interest | Topic ≠ scope problem | recast around the general economic mechanism |2829## EER vs. its siblings (where does this paper go?)3031| Outlet | Identity | Pick it when |32|--------|----------|--------------|33| **EER** | Elsevier general-interest, all fields, long-standing | broad-interest result, theory or empirical, no society gate |34| **JEEA** | The EEA's own flagship (Oxford UP) | you want the EEA society flagship; comparably broad, more selective slot |35| **The Economic Journal** | RES flagship (Oxford UP) | RES-oriented general-interest home |36| **Elsevier field journal** (e.g., JME, Labour Economics, JPubE) | field-specialist depth | the contribution is deep but field-internal |3738> EER and JEEA overlap heavily in scope; the practical difference is the EEA society identity of JEEA and slot scarcity, not topic. Position on contribution and fit, not prestige labels.3940## Reframing a narrow question for EER breadth41421. **Name the general mechanism**, not the local application ("how search frictions blunt pass-through," not "prices in one retail chain").432. **State the first-order quantity or theoretical object** a generalist cares about.443. **Show portability** — one sentence on what the result implies beyond your setting.454. **Lead with the answer**, not the dataset or estimator.4647## Checklist4849- [ ] One sentence states a question a non-specialist economist would care about50- [ ] The contribution is an *answer/mechanism*, not a dataset or a method tweak51- [ ] Breadth is visible in the first paragraph (survives the desk-reject screen)52- [ ] Sibling check done: EER vs. JEEA / EJ / field journal, decided on fit not prestige53- [ ] If theory, the result is general (not a single worked example)54- [ ] "European" framing, if any, is recast as a general economic mechanism5556## Anti-patterns5758- Pitching a clean-but-narrow field increment as if breadth were obvious59- Leading with the data source or the estimator instead of the economic question60- Assuming EER means "European topics only" and over-localizing the framing61- Choosing EER purely on impact factor rather than fit and breadth62- Ignoring the desk-reject + non-refundable-fee filter when scope is marginal6364## Output format6566```67【EER fit】strong / borderline / weak68【General-interest question】one sentence (non-specialist-legible)69【Contribution type】empirical answer / mechanism / theory result70【Breadth case】why a non-specialist cares + portability sentence71【Sibling decision】EER vs JEEA / EJ / field journal — and why72【Next step】eer-literature-positioning (or eer-theory-model if pure theory)73```
brycewang-stanford