brycewang-stanford Submission Preflight (jep-submission)
When to trigger
- "Sending the proposal/manuscript tomorrow" — last check before emailing the editors
- Unsure what JEP expects in a proposal vs. a manuscript and how to send it
- Confirming the accessibility bar, front matter, and AEA disclosure are met
- Verifying the piece reads as JEP (synthesis) and not as research or JEL
Process facts (检索于 2026-06；以官网为准)
- JEP is the American Economic Association's open-access, non-technical synthesis journal (founded 1987; print ISSN 0895-3309, online ISSN 1944-7965; four issues/year), freely available at no charge.
- Largely invited / commissioned. Submit a 2–5 page proposal (preferred over a finished manuscript); about 10–15% of published articles originate as unsolicited proposals.
- Submission method: send the proposal (or paper) as a Word or PDF email attachment to jep@aeapubs.org — re-confirm the address on the official submissions page. There is no anonymous-referee portal; review is editor-driven.
- Accessibility bar: readable by 90 percent or more of the AEA membership; "scholarly without relying too heavily on mathematical notation"; explain via economic intuition.
- AEA policies apply: disclosure policy (interested-party financial support summing to ≥ US$10,000 over three years; funding sources stated); AI cannot be an author; data-and-code availability applies to any empirical/simulation/experimental content at conditional acceptance (AEA Data and Code Repository). Re-confirm exact JEP application of each on the official pages.
- House style: AEA house style is applied by the copyeditor at acceptance — the submitted document need not pre-conform; write for clarity.
Preflight checklist
Is it JEP-shaped?
- A synthesis for a broad audience, not a new research result (else: research journal)
- Not the long technical survey of record (else: JEL)
- Rigorous synthesis, not an op-ed/advocacy piece
- Readable by ~90% of AEA members; no equations/proofs/asterisks in the body
Proposal vs. manuscript
- If approaching cold: a 2–5 page proposal (not a full manuscript) is what to send
- If invited: the draft matches the agreed scope/angle/length (see
jep-editor-strategy) - Sent as Word or PDF by email to jep@aeapubs.org (re-confirmed)
Front matter & accessibility
- Plain-language, hook-forward abstract (no machinery); JEL codes and keywords per current AEA guidance
- First page conveys question + stakes + rough answer
- Exhibits self-explanatory; no significance asterisks or coefficient tables (
jep-exhibits-for-general-readers)
Declarations (AEA)
- Disclosure statement (interested-party ≥ US$10,000 / 3 yrs; funding sources or "none")
- AI not listed as an author
- If any empirical/simulation/experimental content: aware data and code are required at conditional acceptance (AEA Data and Code Repository)
Anti-patterns
- Emailing a full unsolicited manuscript when JEP wants a 2–5 page proposal
- Sending a draft that still reads as a research paper or a JEL survey
- Equations, proofs, or significance asterisks left in the body
- Treating the open-access status as if there were an author-paid APC at submission
- Missing the AEA disclosure statement or listing AI as an author
Output format
【JEP-shaped】synthesis (not research / not JEL / not op-ed)? [Y/N]
【Proposal vs. manuscript】2–5pp proposal (cold) or invited draft on-scope? [Y/N]
【Accessibility】readable by ~90% AEA; no body math/asterisks? [Y/N]
【Front matter】plain abstract + JEL + keywords? [Y/N]
【Declarations】AEA disclosure + AI-not-author (+ data/code if empirical)? [Y/N]
【Send】Word/PDF email to jep@aeapubs.org (re-confirmed)? [Y/N]
【Next step】await editor response → jep-revision when the letter arrives
Supplementary resources
templates/checklist.md— 8-section pre-submission self-check../../resources/official-source-map.md— official AEA/JEP URLs behind every fact