Submission Preflight (rfs-submission)

When to trigger

• "We submit this week"
• Final check before clicking submit on the portal
• Unsure which files the portal expects (manuscript, IA, cover letter, code/data)

Portal & process

• RFS submits through the SFS Editorial Express portal (editorialexpress.com), reached from sfs.org/review-of-financial-studies/submit-a-paper — not ScholarOne or Editorial Manager. Create/verify your account.
• The handling structure is an Executive Editor (Tarun Ramadorai, LSE/Imperial, 2024–2027) → handling Editor → referees. An Editor desk-screens before sending out; many manuscripts never reach referees.
• Submission fee (tiered by World Bank income band and SFS membership; schedule effective 8 July 2024, re-verified 2026-06-22 on sfs.org): high-income economies $400 SFS member / $460 non-member; middle-income (all coauthors resident) $260 / $320; low-income waived. Desk-reject refund $200 (high-income) / $130 (middle-income); an appeal costs $860. SFS membership lets you submit to any SFS journal at the member rate, so joining is often cheaper than the non-member differential. The fee is waived for current-year SFS members on a conditionally accepted paper and for invited dual submissions (first round); re-verify the current figures on sfs.org/review-of-financial-studies/submit-a-paper before submitting.
• Two RFS-specific on-ramps JF/JFE lack: (1) Registered Reports — Stage 1 design-only review and in-principle acceptance (rfs-identification); (2) dual submission with the SFS Cavalcade — the conference reviews the paper and forwards it with reviews to RFS at no charge; do not also submit it to RFS directly while that is pending. For an invited Cavalcade dual submission, the first-round fee is waived.
• Code-release condition: RFS requires authors to publicly release all code underlying a published paper as a condition of publication; if you cannot, you must say so in the cover letter to the editor.

Pre-submission checklist

Manuscript format

• Anonymized for double-blind review: no author names, affiliations, or identifying self-citations in the main file
• Self-citations phrased neutrally ("X (2021) shows" not "in our earlier work")
• Acknowledgments, grant info, and thanks removed from the blinded file
• Title page with author info uploaded as a separate file (per portal instructions)
• Abstract ≤ 100 words (RFS returns manuscripts whose abstract exceeds 100 words), plus keywords and JEL codes
• Manuscript double-spaced, ≤ 28 lines per page, font size ≥ 11 (RFS returns non-conforming files)
• References in Chicago Manual of Style author-date format; every in-text cite is in the list and vice versa
• Internet Appendix included with author information removed
• Figures/tables in the format the portal requires (vector figures; high resolution)

Internet Appendix & data

• Internet Appendix prepared as a separate file, cross-referenced from the main text
• Code-release condition acknowledged: all code underlying the paper will be publicly released as a condition of publication, OR an exception is explained in the cover letter
• Data and code availability statement drafted; replication package staged

Cover letter

• States the question, the contribution, and why it fits RFS (novelty + rigor)
• Names the most related RFS/JF/JFE papers and the delta
• Notes any prior presentation / working-paper version / SFS Cavalcade submission
• Discloses related submissions and conflicts; no concurrent submission at another journal (distinct from the permitted RFS–Cavalcade dual submission)
• If code cannot be released, the reason is stated here (per RFS policy)
• Suggested and opposed referees prepared (see rfs-referee-strategy)

Administrative

• Submission fee handled; SFS-member rate used if applicable (high-income $400 member vs. $460 non-member; middle-income $260/$320; low-income waived); waiver checked (conditionally accepted / low-income economy / invited Cavalcade first round)
• All coauthors approve the submission
• Contact details current in the Editorial Express account
• File naming follows portal conventions

Anti-patterns

• Leaving an identifying self-citation or acknowledgment in the blinded file.
• Submitting without a plan to publicly release code — RFS treats code release as a condition of publication, not an afterthought.
• Paying the non-member fee when SFS membership would have been cheaper and renewable.
• Submitting the IA inside the main PDF instead of as the portal-specified file.
• A cover letter that summarizes the paper but never states the RFS-specific novelty.
• In-text citations that do not match the reference list.

Output format

【Blinding】pass / fixes: [...]
【Format】abstract ≤100 words? double-spaced ≤28 lines, font ≥11? yes/no
【Files staged】manuscript / title page / IA (de-identified) / cover letter / replication code
【Abstract+JEL+keywords】complete? yes/no
【Fee】SFS-member rate used (high-income $400/$460; mid $260/$320) / waiver applies? yes/no
【Code-release】public release planned, or exception stated in cover letter? yes/no
【Route】standard / Registered Report / SFS Cavalcade dual submission
【Cover letter】states RFS-specific novelty? yes/no
【Next step】rfs-referee-strategy → submit (Editorial Express) → await decision → rfs-rebuttal

Related resources

• templates/manuscript_template.md — RFS-style manuscript skeleton (abstract, sections, variable table, references)
• templates/checklist.md — 8-section pre-submission self-check
• ../../resources/external_tools.md — finance data sources (CRSP / Compustat / TAQ / WRDS, etc.) and Stata / R / Python packages