The Econometric SocietyEdited by: Guido W. Imbens • Print ISSN: 0012-9682 • Online ISSN: 1468-0262
To submit to Econometrica you must be a member of the Econometric Society.
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This page describes the instructions for submitting papers to Econometrica.
View the instructions for preparing papers for publication in Econometrica.
View the current editorial procedures and policies of Econometrica.
Key Instructions: Papers should be submitted in PDF format. They should be easily readable and should be under 45 pages. Authors should report in a cover note any relevant relationships between their submission and other work by the same author currently under review at other journals or reviewed earlier at Econometrica. Cover notes are otherwise ordinarily discouraged. Submission implies that the work is original, unpublished and not under review elsewhere. Authors are required to supply data sets, programs and other material necessary to replicate results reported in the submission. At least one author must be a member of the Econometric Society. Further submission instructions are below.
Papers should submitted electronically in PDF format, preferably without a cover letter.
It is recommended, though not required, that authors use the LaTex template, available from the journal's support page for LaTex at https://www.e-publications.org/es/support/ . In exceptional cases, those who are unable to submit electronic files in PDF format can submit one copy of a paper prepared according to these guidelines by mail addressed to our Editor’s office (including, if possible, media containing an electronic version of the paper).
A letter of submission need not be included unless there is information pertinent to the review process. If the author has submitted related work elsewhere, or does so during the term in which Econometrica is considering the manuscript, then it is the author's responsibility to provide Econometrica with details.
Authors may suggest the names of two (co-)editors who are most appropriate for handling the paper and are asked to list coeditors who may have a conflict of interest with one or more of the authors of the paper.
Papers should be formatted to be easily readable and should be under 45 pages.
Submitted manuscripts should be formatted for paper of standard size with (i) no more than 45 pages including title page, references and appendices, (ii) margins of at least 1.25 inch on all sides, (iii) 1-1/2 spaced text in 12 point font, (iv) no more than 32 lines per page, (v) no more than 17,000 words. Material should be organized to maximize readability, for example footnotes, figures, etc., should not be placed at the end. The 12pt font and spacing apply to the entire manuscript, including references, appendices.
Authors may include into the submission an appendix intended for online publication only. Such an appendix should be clearly labeled (``Online Appendix’’). Such an online appendix should not exceed 25 pages. Online appendices are for additional results and robustness analyses that are not central to the main paper. They are not for proofs of the key results. It is important that the main paper should be self-contained.
Although we understand some papers must be longer, if a paper is longer than the aforementioned length the authors should get permission from the editor by email prior to submission.
Pages should be numbered, and an abstract (of no more than 150 words), as well as keywords and complete author affiliations, should be included in the paper in the title page. (JEL numbers are optional.)
A letter of submission should not be included unless it contains information pertinent to the review process. If the author has submitted related work elsewhere, or does so during the term in which Econometrica is considering the manuscript, then it is the author's responsibility to provide Econometrica with details. If the submission is on a topic related to earlier rejected submission to Econometrica, the author should describe the relation and explain why he/she believes it is sufficiently distinct to merit independent review.
If an author has submitted or published related work elsewhere, or does so during the term in which Econometrica is considering the manuscript, then it is the author's responsibility to provide Econometrica with details. This notification must include appearances in Proceedings volumes (such as AER P&P, JEEA P&P, IEEE Proceedings and so on.) The determination of what constitutes previous publication is difficult and takes into account many features, such as whether it is available in a format likely to be held in perpetuity by libraries, whether the previous format is paper or electronic, and sold or freely available, whether the format is considered by colleagues as publication for review purposes, the extent of peer review, the extent of overlap, and so on. Obviously each criterion is arguable, and in any case this will be decided on a case-by-case basis. But authors must note all cases of publication other than in working paper series or on personal or university websites. In all cases, work that is submitted to Econometrica will be evaluated based on its contribution relative to the existing published literature, which includes any instances that are determined to constitute previous publication as described previously and all work under consideration for publication elsewhere (as we cannot know what will be accepted, the presumption will be that work simultaneously submitted elsewhere is published.)
Econometrica has the policy that all empirical, experimental and simulation results must be replicable. Therefore, authors of accepted papers must submit data sets, programs, and information on empirical analysis, experiments and simulations that are needed for replication and some limited sensitivity analysis. (Authors of experimental papers can consult the more detailed posted information regarding submission of Experimental papers.)
This material will be made available through the Econometrica supplementary material web-page. Submitting this material indicates that you license users to download, copy, and modify it; when doing so such users must acknowledge all authors as the original creators and Econometrica as the original publishers.
At the same time the editors understand that there may be some practical difficulties, such as in the case of proprietary datasets with limited access as well as public use data sets that require consent forms to be signed before use. In these cases detailed data description and the programs used to generate the estimation data sets must be provided, as well as information of the source of the data so that researchers who do obtain access may be able to replicate the results. This exemption is offered on the understanding that the authors made reasonable effort to obtain permission to make available the final data used in estimation, but were not granted permission. We also understand that in some particularly complicated cases programs may have value in themselves and the authors may not make them public. Similarly, there may be compelling reasons to restrict usage, and if we agree we will post a notice on the web site regarding such restrictions.
Requests for an exemption from providing the materials described here, or for restricting their usage, should be stated clearly when the paper is first submitted for review. It will be at the editors’ discretion whether the paper can then be reviewed. Exceptions will not be considered later in the review and publication process.
Information about experimental procedures is relevant to the decision of whether or not to publish a paper reporting results from laboratory and field experiments and researcher conducted surveys. Detailed information of this type is also valuable to scholars who subsequently do related work or attempt to replicate results. Therefore, author(s) of such manuscripts should include with their submission sufficient material on the procedures to enable review. If accepted, additional material to facilitate replication and follow up analysis will be expected, and will be made available through the Econometrica supplementary materials website. During the submission process, all this material will be password protected and available only to the editor and referees evaluating the manuscript with the understanding that the material will be used for the sole purpose of evaluating the submitted paper (and not, e.g., for research purposes). Examples of material to be included upon submission and upon acceptance are described below. Any impediments to providing such material at the acceptance stage should be indicated upon the initial submission. For manuscripts that are rejected, supplementary material will be removed if the author requests it.
Important procedural aspects should be explained at the submission stage (either in the body of the paper or an appendix as is appropriate for the particular paper and aspects). We leave the decision on what details to initially include to the author. If during the review process the editor or referees feel additional information is needed, requests for that material will be made, and may naturally cause delay in processing, hence we encourage as complete a submission as feasible.
If any accompanying materials, such as experimental instructions, are not written in English, then a translation should be provided.
Suggested information to provide for the review process:
Additional information for publication on the supplementary website
A detailed appendix is required to facilitate replications and data analysis and should consist of whatever can be provided for these purposes. This will include further detail on the items above, and provision of original materials. The following are items that are desirable and typically expected, but further detail about what is needed in each case can be obtained from the coeditor handling the paper.
Reasonable judgment should be used. For example, if instructions for different sessions differ only slightly, then one sample of the instructions suffices, with the differences noted in a short accompanying document. These rules should be understood also to apply to surveys conducted by the authors. When the authors are not the primary source of the data, we require only the data, a statement of where it came from and the programs used to process it – detailed documentation of the procedures used by the original data providers about how it was collected is not required.
We understand that there may be a need for exceptions to the policy for confidentiality or other reasons. When this is the case, it must be clearly stated at the time of submission that certain data or other appendix materials cannot or will not be made available, and an explanation provided. Such exceptions require prior approval by the editors.
In addition to regularly published material in the journal, Econometrica also provides a website of supplementary material. It includes material to enable replication of empirical, experimental and simulation results as well as extensions of more narrow interest and other material related to papers that appear in the journal.
Supplementary material is handled as a regular part of the editorial process and should not exceed 25 pages. As described in our Replication Policy, providing supplementary material to enable replication of empirical and experimental work is mandatory. In some other cases, as part of the process of publication, the Editor may also require that certain additional material be published on the supplementary website. If you wish to have part of your submission appear as supplementary material, you should make this known to the Editor handling your manuscript, who has final discretion over whether the material will be included on the supplementary material website.
Supplementary files can be submitted with the main paper via the on-line submission form (or via e-mail to the Editor’s office). Large files should be compressed to .zip format. Currently the on-line submission facility only enables two attachments, so if more than two files are being submitted they would have to be submitted in a single .zip file containing a directory with all submitted files. (This is not necessary when sending files by e-mail to the main office.)
Licensing: Programs, data and experimental instructions are licensed by authors and by Econometrica to be available to users to download, copy, and modify. In doing so they must acknowledge all authors as the original creators, and Econometrica as the original publisher. If you have a compelling reason we may post restrictions regarding such usage.
To submit a paper, at least one of the authors of the paper has to be a member of the Econometric Society. If none of the authors is a member of the Econometric Society, please join at http://www.econometricsociety.org/users/register
Starting September 1, 2020, a submission fee of $50 applies to all new submissions. Only membership is required of invited resubmissions as well as papers previously reviewed by Econometrica and submitted for transfer to either Quantitative Economics or Theoretical Economics with their Econometrica decision letter and reports. Submission fees must be paid by credit card at the time of submission.
Individuals residing in countries classified as low-income by the World Bank are exempt from the submission fee. The list of those countries can be found here under the heading LOW-INCOME ECONOMIES.
Papers rejected without review will not be refunded their submission fee.
A publication fee is currently set at $10 per page.
Specifically, accepted papers will incur a fixed per page fee for any typeset material, including any approved supplemental appendices. The publication fee will be collected after final proofs but before publication and invoiced at the then-prevailing rate. Any paper submitted before September 1, 2020, will be exempt from the publication fee.
Authors of accepted papers residing in countries classified as either low-income or lower-middle income by the World Bank may request an exemption from the publication fee. The list of those countries can be found here under the headings LOW-INCOME ECONOMIES and LOWER-MIDDLE INCOME ECONOMIES
If you have any questions, please contact the Editorial Office at [email protected]
Submissions must be publicly available: Authors must post their submission on a publicly available website. (Editors may grant exceptions to this policy.)
Similarity Check: In an effort to prevent plagiarism, the Econometric Society subscribes to Similarity Check to screen its submissions. Similarity Check has a "database of current and archival scholarly literature" and uses the iThenticate tool to "compare authored work against the content in the database and highlight matching or similar text for further editorial review." Submission to ES journals implies permission of the Society to check the submission electronically for plagiarism, using the Similarity Check system.
Registry for Randomized Controlled Trials: The American Economic Association operates a Registry for Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs). The journal encourages authors of papers that use RCTs to register their experiments. Registration of RCTs is not mandatory. Registration is free. If you choose to register, please acknowledge registration in the acknowledgement footnote, including the registration number.
Certified Random Order: Econometric Society journals do not permit the use of \textcircled{r} to indicate that authors have been selected according to certified random order. Authors are free to indicate their relative contributions and the methods that they used to determine author order in a footnote. Citations to articles in the text and references will strive to respect the designation of authors and author order used by those articles.
Copyright: As described in our Copyright Transfer Form, it is a condition of publication in Econometrica that copyright of any published articles be transferred to the Econometric Society. Therefore, submission of a paper will be taken to imply that the author agrees that copyright of the material will be transferred to the Econometric Society if and when the article is accepted for publication, and that the contents of the paper represent original and unpublished work that has not been submitted for publication elsewhere. Authors may post accepted work on their personal or institutional websites. There is no payment made to the authors. Authors of accepted papers do have the choice to pay an Article Publication Charge (APC) and retain copyright to their published work. This option is offered to authors during the collection of their Copyright Transfer Form through Wiley Author Services. More details may be found here.
Submitting a comment on an article which has appeared in Econometrica, requires including correspondence with the author only if the comment indicates an error in the original paper. However, we recommend such correspondence in any case. (If an author does not respond after a reasonable amount of time, indicate this when submitting). Authors will be invited to submit for consideration a reply to any accepted comment.
Revisions: Balancing our reputation for careful evaluation of papers with the need to provide authors with faster turnaround is a continuing priority. An offer to revise a paper is normally valid for 12 months after a decision is issued. Extensions can be granted to authors at the discretion of the handling editor but must be requested within the 12 months.
General writing advice: Avoid definitions in the first paragraphs or pages; try to avoid formulae and specialized terminology in the introduction. Write crisply but clearly. Avoiding grammatical and notational errors, though important, is only the first step. Good writing, especially good mathematical writing, calls for something more: the extra effort involved in revising and reworking the manuscript until it will be clear to most if not all of our readers. For a good test of the "readability" of a paper, the comments of a colleague in another specialty should alert you to problems in comprehension which our readers might face. Please do not use asterisks or bold face to denote statistical significance. We encourage authors to report standard errors and coverage sets or confidence intervals.
