Submission Preflight (jep-submission)

When to trigger

• "Sending the proposal/manuscript tomorrow" — last check before emailing the editors
• Unsure what JEP expects in a proposal vs. a manuscript and how to send it
• Confirming the accessibility bar, front matter, and AEA disclosure are met
• Verifying the piece reads as JEP (synthesis) and not as research or JEL

Process facts (检索于 2026-06；以官网为准)

• JEP is the American Economic Association's open-access, non-technical synthesis journal (founded 1987; print ISSN 0895-3309, online ISSN 1944-7965; four issues/year), freely available at no charge.
• Largely invited / commissioned. Submit a 2–5 page proposal (preferred over a finished manuscript); about 10–15% of published articles originate as unsolicited proposals.
• Submission method: send the proposal (or paper) as a Word or PDF email attachment to jep@aeapubs.org — re-confirm the address on the official submissions page. There is no anonymous-referee portal; review is editor-driven.
• Accessibility bar: readable by 90 percent or more of the AEA membership; "scholarly without relying too heavily on mathematical notation"; explain via economic intuition.
• AEA policies apply: disclosure policy (interested-party financial support summing to ≥ US$10,000 over three years; funding sources stated); AI cannot be an author; data-and-code availability applies to any empirical/simulation/experimental content at conditional acceptance (AEA Data and Code Repository). Re-confirm exact JEP application of each on the official pages.
• House style: AEA house style is applied by the copyeditor at acceptance — the submitted document need not pre-conform; write for clarity.

Preflight checklist

Is it JEP-shaped?

• A synthesis for a broad audience, not a new research result (else: research journal)
• Not the long technical survey of record (else: JEL)
• Rigorous synthesis, not an op-ed/advocacy piece
• Readable by ~90% of AEA members; no equations/proofs/asterisks in the body

Proposal vs. manuscript

• If approaching cold: a 2–5 page proposal (not a full manuscript) is what to send
• If invited: the draft matches the agreed scope/angle/length (see jep-editor-strategy)
• Sent as Word or PDF by email to jep@aeapubs.org (re-confirmed)

Front matter & accessibility

• Plain-language, hook-forward abstract (no machinery); JEL codes and keywords per current AEA guidance
• First page conveys question + stakes + rough answer
• Exhibits self-explanatory; no significance asterisks or coefficient tables (jep-exhibits-for-general-readers)

Declarations (AEA)

• Disclosure statement (interested-party ≥ US$10,000 / 3 yrs; funding sources or "none")
• AI not listed as an author
• If any empirical/simulation/experimental content: aware data and code are required at conditional acceptance (AEA Data and Code Repository)

Anti-patterns

• Emailing a full unsolicited manuscript when JEP wants a 2–5 page proposal
• Sending a draft that still reads as a research paper or a JEL survey
• Equations, proofs, or significance asterisks left in the body
• Treating the open-access status as if there were an author-paid APC at submission
• Missing the AEA disclosure statement or listing AI as an author

Output format

【JEP-shaped】synthesis (not research / not JEL / not op-ed)? [Y/N]
【Proposal vs. manuscript】2–5pp proposal (cold) or invited draft on-scope? [Y/N]
【Accessibility】readable by ~90% AEA; no body math/asterisks? [Y/N]
【Front matter】plain abstract + JEL + keywords? [Y/N]
【Declarations】AEA disclosure + AI-not-author (+ data/code if empirical)? [Y/N]
【Send】Word/PDF email to jep@aeapubs.org (re-confirmed)? [Y/N]
【Next step】await editor response → jep-revision when the letter arrives

Supplementary resources

• templates/checklist.md — 8-section pre-submission self-check
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — official AEA/JEP URLs behind every fact