Submission Preflight (jle-submission)
When to trigger
- "Submitting tomorrow" — last check before pressing submit on JLE's Editorial Manager site
- Unsure which files, fee, and declarations the JLE submission expects
- Confirming the single-blind front matter (title page with author names) is right — not anonymized
- Confirming the paper is replication-policy-ready should it advance
Process facts (检索于 2026-06-22；以官网为准 — re-confirm on journals.uchicago.edu/journals/jle)
- JLE is published by the University of Chicago Press in association with the University of Chicago Law School; it is the founding journal of law and economics (since 1958). Submission is through the JLE Editorial Manager site.
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Single-blind review: authors' identities are visible to referees; referees are anonymous. Do not anonymize the manuscript. Include a title page with each author's name and contact information.
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Submission fee: US$100, required for all manuscripts beginning May 1, 2026; editorial review does not proceed until the fee is paid; the fee is non-refundable (re-verified 2026-06-22, ≥2 sources; 以官网为准).
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Editors (re-verified 2026-06-22): Elliott Ash, Matthew Backus, Dennis W. Carlton, Dhammika Dharmapala, Thomas J. Miles, Sam Peltzman (re-verify the masthead before submission).
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Citation style: Chicago author-date (University of Chicago Press house style).
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Data & replication: the JLE data policy requires data, programs, and computation details available for replication before publication; you need not deposit at submission, but the paper must be buildable into a replication package (
jle-replication-package).
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Length / abstract limits, exact format specifics: 待核实 — confirm current limits on the instructions-for-authors page before submitting.
Preflight checklist
Front matter (single-blind)
Format & style
Files, fee & policy readiness
Declarations
What JLE does NOT require (so you don't import a sibling's rules)
Authors coming from AEA or Econometric Society journals often over-prepare in the wrong direction. At JLE:
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No manuscript anonymization. Unlike AEJ (double-blind) or QE, JLE is single-blind — leave your name on the title page.
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No society-membership gate. Unlike Quantitative Economics (Econometric Society membership) you need not be a member to submit.
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No openICPSR pre-acceptance pipeline. Unlike AEA journals, JLE does not run a Data-Editor reproducibility verification through openICPSR; its requirement is documentation and availability for replication before publication — important, but a different process.
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No CC-BY open-access mandate by default. JLE is a subscription journal with an optional open-access route; do not assume an APC unless you opt in (检索于 2026-06；以官网为准).
Confirm each against the current instructions page rather than carrying a habit from another journal.
Anti-patterns
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Anonymizing the manuscript — JLE is single-blind; the title page must carry author names
- Submitting before paying the US$100 fee (editorial review will not begin)
- Assuming the fee is refundable, or assuming exact length/abstract limits from memory instead of re-confirming (待核实)
- Non-Chicago citation style, or exhibits missing standard errors / clustering level
- Treating the replication policy as irrelevant at submission, then scrambling before publication
Worked vignette (illustrative)
An author about to submit a tort-reform paper runs the preflight and catches three things a JLE desk would flag. First, the manuscript had been anonymized out of habit — wrong for single-blind JLE; the author restores the title page with names and contact. Second, references were in a numbered style; the author converts to Chicago author-date. Third, the US$100 fee (effective May 1, 2026) was not budgeted; the author confirms payment is ready, since editorial review will not begin until it is paid. The replication package is buildable and the data-availability statement drafted. The exact abstract word limit was not visible on the cached instructions page, so the author marks it 待核实 and re-checks the live page before pressing submit.
Output format
【Front matter】title page named (NOT anonymized) + abstract/keywords? [Y/N]
【Style】Chicago author-date; SEs + clustering in exhibits? [Y/N]
【Length/abstract limits】confirmed on instructions page? [Y/N — else 待核实]
【Fee】US$100 ready to pay (non-refundable)? [Y/N]
【Replication readiness】package buildable + DAS drafted? [Y/N]
【Declarations】disclosure done; not under review elsewhere; no AI author? [Y/N]
【Next step】submit via Editorial Manager → jle-rebuttal after the decision
Last-mile sanity pass
Right before pressing submit, confirm the four items most likely to trigger an avoidable delay: the title page is present and names every author (single-blind), the US$100 fee is queued (review will not start otherwise), the references are in Chicago author-date, and every exhibit reports SEs with the clustering level. Then re-open the live instructions page once more to re-verify anything marked 待核实 — limits and fee mechanics are the volatile fields.
Supplementary resources
