Jimf Topic Selection

Topic Selection (jimf-topic-selection)

When to trigger

• A finance/macro question is forming and you must decide whether JIMF is the right outlet vs. JIE, JME, JMCB, or JFE
• The paper has a result but the international/open-economy margin is implicit or decorative
• A referee or coauthor says "this is interesting, but is it international money and finance?"
• You need a domestic result repackaged for an international audience — and want to know if that repackaging is real or cosmetic

The JIMF "does it belong here?" test

JIMF publishes work where the international or cross-border dimension is load-bearing, not a robustness footnote. The litmus test: if you removed the open-economy element (the exchange rate, the cross-border flow, the foreign monetary shock, the sovereign external position), would the paper collapse or merely lose a section? If it merely loses a section, you have a domestic paper with international garnish — route it to JME/JMCB/JFE instead. JIMF's core objects are exchange-rate dynamics and pass-through, capital-flow drivers (push vs. pull) and the global financial cycle, cross-border banking and the international transmission of monetary policy, sovereign risk and external debt, currency crises, FX intervention and capital controls, and international asset pricing (UIP, carry, term premia).

Where this sits in the workflow

Topic selection is the first gate, and it is the cheapest place to prevent the most expensive failure: a fully executed paper that is desk-rejected on scope. If the international margin is not load-bearing, no amount of later identification or robustness work makes the paper a JIMF paper — it makes it a well-identified paper at the wrong journal. Settle fit here, then hand a paper whose international contribution is unmistakable to jimf-literature-positioning to stake it against the frontier. Do not skip this gate because the result is exciting; excitement about a domestic result is exactly what produces a misrouted submission.

How to frame the question for JIMF

1. Name the international mechanism in the title or first sentence — pass-through, spillover, push/pull, leakage, trilemma, dominant currency. The mechanism, not the data source, signals fit.
2. State the unit of identifying variation that is international: a foreign monetary surprise, a cross-country regime difference, a capital-control change, an exchange-rate regime switch.
3. Decide the audience segment: a central-bank/IMF/BIS policy reader (wants external validity and policy relevance) vs. an international-finance academic (wants the asset-pricing or identification innovation). JIMF serves both; say which you lead with.
4. Pre-empt the desk-reject: editors triage papers whose international content is thin or whose contribution is a marginal extension of a known cross-country regression. Make the new object explicit.

Reframing a domestic result for JIMF (when it is honest)

A domestic finding can become a JIMF paper if the international margin is added as the question, not a robustness column. Three honest reframings: (a) cross-border transmission — does the domestic mechanism spill across borders, and through which channel (trade, bank, portfolio)? (b) cross-country comparison — does the mechanism's strength vary with an international institution (exchange-rate regime, capital-account openness, currency-denomination of debt)? (c) external-shock response — does the domestic object respond to a foreign shock (a Fed surprise, a global risk shift, a terms-of-trade move)? If none of these is the paper's actual question, the reframing is cosmetic and the paper belongs elsewhere.

Sizing the contribution

JIMF publishes solid, well-identified field contributions, not only paradigm shifts — but a marginal extension of a famous cross-country regression will be triaged out. Calibrate: a new mechanism, a cleaner identification of a known effect, a new measurement that overturns an aggregate result, or credible external validity for a result that was estimated in one country/region all clear the bar. "First study of X for country Y," a longer sample of an existing regression, or a re-label of a domestic result do not.

Worked vignette (illustrative)

A team has a clean result that domestic bank lending falls after a domestic policy tightening — a solid but domestic finding. Is there a JIMF paper in it? Apply the load-bearing test through the three reframings. (a) Transmission: does the lending contraction spill abroad through these banks' foreign branches or cross-border claims? If the foreign-claims response is the new result, that is a JIMF paper on the international bank-lending channel. (b) Comparison: does the contraction differ for banks more reliant on foreign (dollar) funding? That is a JIMF paper on the global-funding margin. (c) External shock: do these banks contract lending after a foreign (US) tightening, not just the domestic one? That is a JIMF spillover paper. If none of these is the actual question and the paper stays about the domestic rate, route it to JME/JMCB — the international content would be cosmetic.

Referee pushback mapped to the topic fix

• "This is interesting but not international finance." → Make the international mechanism the question (transmission / comparison / external-shock), not a section.
• "This is a JME/JMCB paper." → If the binding variation is domestic monetary policy, accept the reroute; if it is cross-border, foreground that margin.
• "The contribution is incremental." → Identify a new object (mechanism, measure, design) or hold the paper until there is one.
• "This is really a real-trade / real-exchange-rate paper." → If there is no monetary or financial channel, it is a JIE paper; add the financial margin or reroute.

Checklist

• Removing the international margin would collapse the paper, not just trim it
• The international mechanism is named (pass-through / spillover / push-pull / trilemma / dominant currency / sovereign external risk)
• The identifying variation is itself international (foreign shock, cross-country contrast, regime/control change)
• The paper is distinguished from JIE (real trade/macro), JME/JMCB (domestic money), and JFE (no international margin)
• The contribution is a new object or design, not a marginal control added to a known regression
• If reframed from a domestic result, the reframing is the question (transmission/comparison/external-shock), not cosmetic
• The lead audience (policy vs. academic) is chosen and the framing serves it
• Fit is settled here before executing the paper — the cheapest place to avoid a scope desk-reject
• The new object (mechanism, measure, or design) is statable in one sentence
• Process facts (editor, APC, blinding) cited from resources/official-source-map.md or marked 待核实

Anti-patterns

• A domestic study with one "we also add a foreign variable" robustness column dressed as international finance
• Pitching the data ("we have new FX tick data") instead of the question (what international mechanism it identifies)
• Confusing JIMF with JIE: a real-trade or real-exchange-rate-fundamentals paper with no monetary/financial channel belongs at JIE
• Re-running a textbook cross-country growth/credit regression with one more year of data and calling it a contribution
• Inventing exemplar JIMF papers or editor names to justify fit instead of marking uncertainty

Output format

【Journal】Journal of International Money and Finance
【Skill】jimf-topic-selection
【Verdict】fit / reframe / reroute (JIE / JME / JMCB / JFE)
【International mechanism】<pass-through / spillover / push-pull / trilemma / sovereign / dominant currency>
【Load-bearing test】does removing the international margin collapse the paper? [Y/N]
【Lead audience】policy (CB/IMF/BIS) or academic international-finance
【Source status】verified URL / 待核实
【Next skill】jimf-literature-positioning

Source: brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills → Journal-of-International-Money-and-Finance-Skills/skills/jimf-topic-selection/SKILL.md