thedixitjain Submission Preflight (expecon-submission)
When to trigger
- "Submitting tomorrow" — the last check before uploading to Editorial Manager
- Unsure which files the ExpEcon submission expects (manuscript, instructions, package)
- Confirming the manuscript is anonymized for double-blind review
- Verifying the no-deception and incentive statements are in the paper before it goes out
Process facts (检索于 2026-06；以官网为准)
- Experimental Economics is the official journal of the Economic Science Association (ESA); as of January 2025 (Vol. 28) it is published by Cambridge University Press and is fully open access (CC BY) — it moved from Springer (verified 2026-06-22). Re-confirm the current platform and any APC/waiver before submitting.
- Editors (verified 2026-06-22): David Huffman (Cornell), Friederike Mengel (Essex), Andreas Ortmann (UNSW), Arno Riedl (Maastricht), and Marta Serra-Garcia (UC San Diego) — co-editors rather than a single EiC. Re-verify on the Cambridge editorial-board page before naming one.
- Submission portal: Editorial Manager (editorialmanager.com/eec). Review is anonymous (double-blind); accepted papers require the approval of two editors.
- Hard gates: the journal only considers studies that do not deceive participants and in which participants are incentivized. These are entry conditions, not preferences.
- Instructions at submission: the instructions participants received must be supplied at the time of submission (reviewers check them for deception and comprehension). Methodology and replication papers are explicitly in scope.
- Data appendices: authors submit separate data appendices attached to the article page on publication, consistent with the ESA Data and Replication Policy (trusted-repository deposit). Exact length/abstract limits and APC/waiver terms are 待核实 — confirm on the current Cambridge journal page.
Preflight checklist
The two gates (verify first)
- No deception anywhere in the design; the paper states this explicitly
- Salient real incentives for every elicited object; ECU→money conversion and realized average payment reported
Manuscript & anonymization
- Manuscript anonymized for double-blind review (no author names, no identifying repository/IRB links in the blind copy; self-cites neutralized)
- Abstract states the treatment contrast and the numeric headline effect
- Design/Procedures section is reproducible from the text; names z-Tree/oTree
- Predictions are signed and treatment-indexed; primary vs. exploratory results labeled
- Effect sizes reported with CIs at the session/matching-group level (not stars only)
Files for Editorial Manager
- Main manuscript (anonymized)
- Participant instructions for every treatment (required at submission)
- Data appendix / replication materials per ESA policy; experiment software (z-Tree
.ztt/ oTree app) ready - Pre-registration / PAP link (or Stage-1 Registered Report protocol) and timestamp
- Cover letter framing the methods contribution and (if relevant) replication/RR status
Declarations
- IRB/ethics approval and consent procedure stated; explicit no-deception statement
- Funding and competing-interest disclosures; confirmation paper is not under review elsewhere
- Open-access/CC-BY and any APC/waiver terms checked on the current Cambridge page (待核实)
Right journal, right ESA outlet
Before you submit, confirm the paper is a full design paper, not a short-format piece. The ESA runs two journals: Experimental Economics (the method flagship, full papers) and the Journal of the Economic Science Association (JESA) — its shorter-format outlet for replications, null results, software notes, comments, and minor extensions. A brief replication or a z-Tree/oTree tool note is usually a JESA submission, not an Experimental Economics one. Submitting a short note to the flagship invites a transfer suggestion and lost time.
Cover letter essentials
- One paragraph framing the methods contribution (the design/elicitation advance), not the topic.
- Explicit statement that the study used no deception and real salient incentives.
- Pre-registration / Registered Report status with the registry link and timestamp.
- If a replication: what is replicated, the added power, and why it belongs in the flagship rather than JESA.
- Suggested non-conflicted referees (optional but useful given double-blind review).
Anti-patterns
- Uploading without the participant instructions — a structural incompleteness here
- Any deceptive procedure, or hypothetical/token "incentives" — a desk reject
- A non-anonymized manuscript breaking double-blind review
- Stars-only significance with no effect sizes/CIs at the group unit
- Treating the new CC-BY open-access model as a submission-time fee without checking current terms
- Sending a short replication/software note to the flagship instead of JESA
The anonymization pass (double-blind, done last)
Because review is anonymous, the blind manuscript needs a dedicated scrub that authors routinely botch:
- Remove author names, affiliations, and acknowledgments from the blind copy.
- Neutralize self-citations ("Smith (2022) showed" → "prior work showed [ref]") so they do not reveal authorship.
- Strip identifying links — your lab's repository, an OSF page tied to your name, a university IRB number — from the blind copy; provide them separately for the editor.
- Scrub document metadata (PDF author field, file properties) and any "Track Changes" author tags.
- Keep the instructions and data-appendix references in a way that lets referees read them without de-anonymizing you.
A manuscript that names its authors through a repository link defeats the blind review the journal runs; do this pass last, after all content is final.
Output format
【Journal】Experimental Economics (ESA flagship; Cambridge UP, OA, 检索于 2026-06)
【Skill】expecon-submission
【Gates】no deception? salient incentives? both stated in paper? [Y/N]
【Anonymized】double-blind copy clean? [Y/N]
【Instructions】all treatments attached at submission? [Y/N]
【Package】data appendix + z-Tree/oTree + PAP/RR link ready? [Y/N]
【Declarations】IRB / disclosures / OA terms checked (待核实 where unverified)
【Next step】submit via Editorial Manager (editorialmanager.com/eec) → expecon-rebuttal after decision
Supplementary resources
templates/checklist.md— submission self-checktemplates/manuscript_template.md— lightweight manuscript scaffold../../resources/official-source-map.md— official URLs and volatile facts
Source: brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills → Experimental-Economics-Skills/skills/expecon-submission/SKILL.md