Journal of Banking and Finance (journal-of-banking-and-finance)
Journal positioning
The Journal of Banking and Finance is an Elsevier journal and a broad, large-volume outlet for applied empirical work across banking and finance: bank risk and regulation, credit, markets, asset pricing, corporate finance, and international finance. It is a solid field journal rather than an elite-tier or top-3 venue, valued for breadth and a steady throughput of well-executed applied work. The readership is the wide applied finance community, including practitioners and policy-adjacent researchers.
This skill is a fit / venue-selection / re-framing tool. It does not replace the journal's current official submission guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live author instructions on the Elsevier / JBF site and the editorial submission system.
When to trigger
- The author names JBF (or a broad applied finance outlet) as the target venue.
- A solid applied empirical finance paper does not clear the elite-field bar but is well-executed and clearly scoped.
- A banking/risk/regulation paper needs a broad, credible home with reasonable review odds.
- The author needs JBF's desk-reject risks and a credible field / elite-field alternative list.
Scope & topic fit
- Banking: bank risk, performance, capital, regulation, supervision, lending, and credit risk.
- Markets and asset pricing: applied return and risk studies, portfolio and risk-management questions.
- Corporate finance, governance, and international finance with applied empirical designs.
- Broad applied finance across asset classes, institutions, and jurisdictions.
Method & evidence bar
- Competent, transparent empirics: appropriate samples, correct standard errors, and sensible robustness.
- Identification matters where causal claims are made; observed associations should be framed honestly rather than over-claimed.
- Asset-pricing and predictability work should respect current concerns (multiple testing, out-of-sample) at a level appropriate to a broad field journal.
- A clear, well-motivated question and a credible answer outweigh methodological novelty here.
Structure & house style
- The introduction states the question, the data, the design, and the headline result early, and explains the applied or policy relevance.
- Position the contribution against recent JBF and field work; avoid over-claiming relative to top-3 papers.
- JBF uses an unstructured abstract and JEL codes; an online appendix carries supplementary results.
- Exhibits report economic magnitudes (not only t-stats); the central result should be readable from one table.
Official-submission checklist
- Before giving submission-ready advice, read
../../resources/source-basis.md and ../../resources/official-source-map.md; start from the official source anchors for this journal family, then cite the current journal-specific page you checked.
- Search the live site for "Journal of Banking and Finance guide for authors" and follow the current Elsevier version.
- Re-check the submission fee, formatting, abstract/JEL, anonymization, and the disclosure policy (data sources, conflicts, prior circulation).
- Re-check the current data/code and online-appendix requirements.
- If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win.
Pre-submission self-check
Common desk-reject triggers
- An incremental "first to study X in jurisdiction Y" paper with no clear contribution beyond novelty of setting.
- Causal language attached to a plainly endogenous association.
- Weak data, mishandled inference, or unaddressed obvious confounders.
- A paper aimed above its weight (an elite-tier or top-3 contribution that should be submitted there instead, or a thin paper with nothing to say).
Re-routing decision
- Genuinely elite contribution →
journal-of-finance, journal-of-financial-economics, review-of-financial-studies, review-of-finance, journal-of-financial-and-quantitative-analysis.
- Specialist banking/intermediation mechanism →
journal-of-financial-intermediation; corporate-finance core → journal-of-corporate-finance; microstructure → journal-of-financial-markets.
- International finance →
journal-of-international-money-and-finance; empirical-methods focus → journal-of-empirical-finance; practitioner-relevant corporate finance → financial-management.
- Macro/monetary →
journal-of-money-credit-and-banking, journal-of-monetary-economics.
Output format
[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason)
[Target] Journal of Banking and Finance
[Topic tags] <2–3 closest topics>
[Method/evidence] <is the applied design sound and honestly framed for a broad field journal?>
[Top risk] <the single most likely reason for rejection>
[Official items to re-check] <submission system / fee / disclosure / online appendix / data>
[Re-route suggestion] <if not a fit, a better-matched venue>
Source: brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills → English-SocialScience-Journal-Skills/skills/journal-of-banking-and-finance/SKILL.md
1---2name: journal-of-banking-and-finance3description: Use when targeting Journal of Banking and Finance (JBF) or deciding whether an applied banking / finance manuscript fits this venue. Encodes the journal's fit, framing, method-and-evidence bar, house style, official-submission re-check, and desk-reject heuristics.4---5
6
7# Journal of Banking and Finance (journal-of-banking-and-finance)
8
9## Journal positioning
10
11The Journal of Banking and Finance is an Elsevier journal and a broad, large-volume outlet for applied empirical work across banking and finance: bank risk and regulation, credit, markets, asset pricing, corporate finance, and international finance. It is a solid field journal rather than an elite-tier or top-3 venue, valued for breadth and a steady throughput of well-executed applied work. The readership is the wide applied finance community, including practitioners and policy-adjacent researchers.
12
13This skill is a **fit / venue-selection / re-framing** tool. It does not replace the journal's current official submission guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live author instructions on the Elsevier / JBF site and the editorial submission system.
14
15## When to trigger
16
17- The author names JBF (or a broad applied finance outlet) as the target venue.
18- A solid applied empirical finance paper does not clear the elite-field bar but is well-executed and clearly scoped.
19- A banking/risk/regulation paper needs a broad, credible home with reasonable review odds.
20- The author needs JBF's desk-reject risks and a credible field / elite-field alternative list.
21
22## Scope & topic fit
23
24- Banking: bank risk, performance, capital, regulation, supervision, lending, and credit risk.
25- Markets and asset pricing: applied return and risk studies, portfolio and risk-management questions.
26- Corporate finance, governance, and international finance with applied empirical designs.
27- Broad applied finance across asset classes, institutions, and jurisdictions.
28
29## Method & evidence bar
30
31- Competent, transparent empirics: appropriate samples, correct standard errors, and sensible robustness.
32- Identification matters where causal claims are made; observed associations should be framed honestly rather than over-claimed.
33- Asset-pricing and predictability work should respect current concerns (multiple testing, out-of-sample) at a level appropriate to a broad field journal.
34- A clear, well-motivated question and a credible answer outweigh methodological novelty here.
35
36## Structure & house style
37
38- The introduction states the question, the data, the design, and the headline result early, and explains the applied or policy relevance.
39- Position the contribution against recent JBF and field work; avoid over-claiming relative to top-3 papers.
40- JBF uses an unstructured abstract and JEL codes; an online appendix carries supplementary results.
41- Exhibits report economic magnitudes (not only t-stats); the central result should be readable from one table.
42
43## Official-submission checklist
44
45- Before giving submission-ready advice, read `../../resources/source-basis.md` and `../../resources/official-source-map.md`; start from the official source anchors for this journal family, then cite the current journal-specific page you checked.
46- Search the live site for "Journal of Banking and Finance guide for authors" and follow the current Elsevier version.
47- Re-check the submission fee, formatting, abstract/JEL, anonymization, and the disclosure policy (data sources, conflicts, prior circulation).
48- Re-check the current data/code and online-appendix requirements.
49- If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win.
50
51## Pre-submission self-check
52
53- [ ] One sentence stating why this result matters to applied banking/finance readers.
54- [ ] The contribution is stated as a clear empirical finding with honest framing, not as a significant coefficient over-sold as causal.
55- [ ] The introduction positions the paper against recent JBF and field work.
56- [ ] Samples, standard errors, and robustness are sound for a broad field journal.
57- [ ] Disclosure, data sources, and the online appendix are ready.
58
59## Common desk-reject triggers
60
61- An incremental "first to study X in jurisdiction Y" paper with no clear contribution beyond novelty of setting.
62- Causal language attached to a plainly endogenous association.
63- Weak data, mishandled inference, or unaddressed obvious confounders.
64- A paper aimed above its weight (an elite-tier or top-3 contribution that should be submitted there instead, or a thin paper with nothing to say).
65
66## Re-routing decision
67
68- Genuinely elite contribution → `journal-of-finance`, `journal-of-financial-economics`, `review-of-financial-studies`, `review-of-finance`, `journal-of-financial-and-quantitative-analysis`.
69- Specialist banking/intermediation mechanism → `journal-of-financial-intermediation`; corporate-finance core → `journal-of-corporate-finance`; microstructure → `journal-of-financial-markets`.
70- International finance → `journal-of-international-money-and-finance`; empirical-methods focus → `journal-of-empirical-finance`; practitioner-relevant corporate finance → `financial-management`.
71- Macro/monetary → `journal-of-money-credit-and-banking`, `journal-of-monetary-economics`.
72
73## Output format
74
75```text
76[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason)
77[Target] Journal of Banking and Finance
78[Topic tags] <2–3 closest topics>
79[Method/evidence] <is the applied design sound and honestly framed for a broad field journal?>
80[Top risk] <the single most likely reason for rejection>
81[Official items to re-check] <submission system / fee / disclosure / online appendix / data>
82[Re-route suggestion] <if not a fit, a better-matched venue>
83```
84
85---
86
87**Source:** [`brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills`](https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills) → `English-SocialScience-Journal-Skills/skills/journal-of-banking-and-finance/SKILL.md`
thedixitjain