Submission Preflight (jfe-submission)

When to trigger

• "We are submitting this week"
• Final check before pressing submit in the editorial system
• Unsure which files and statements the system requires

The JFE-specific facts (verify on jfinec.com before relying)

ACCURACY NOTE (re-verified 2026-06-22 on jfinec.com): the US$850 fee and the masthead are current — Editor-in-Chief Toni M. Whited (U. Michigan); Co-Editors Dimitris Papanikolaou, Philipp Schnabl, Nikolai Roussanov. Re-verify before submission.

• Portal: submit through Editorial Manager at editorialmanager.com/finec (the JFE database code is finec, not the journal's old abbreviation).
• Submission fee: US$850 for an initial submission (re-verified 2026-06-22, unchanged), paid at submission and largely non-refundable. No fee for a revise-and-resubmit. Referees who report on time earn submission rights that cut the fee (roughly US$567 with one right, US$283 with two, $0 with three). Only US$400 is refunded on a desk reject (capped at four desk-reject refunds per author per calendar year), and the whole fee is refunded if a decision takes more than 120 days.
• Abstract: 100 words maximum. Include JEL codes and keywords.
• Format: double-spaced, 12-point-or-larger font, at least one-inch margins.
• References: JFE uses an author-date (name-year) in-text style with a reference list — not a numbered style.
• Internet/online appendix: JFE expects any online appendix attached to the end of the main manuscript file at submission (a JFE quirk — it is not always a wholly separate upload). Still number it as its own IA series.
• Code & data: for papers originally submitted on/after 1 July 2021, code and non-proprietary data are mandatory at acceptance, deposited to Mendeley Data (or a domain repository) and linked from ScienceDirect. Any exemption (e.g., for proprietary CRSP/Compustat data) must be requested in the cover letter of the initial submission to the editor-in-chief.

Pre-submission checklist

Manuscript & format

• Title page separate from the anonymized manuscript (verify the journal's current anonymity policy)
• Abstract <= 100 words, result-forward; JEL codes and keywords included
• Double-spaced, 12-pt+ font, >= 1-inch margins
• Sections, tables, and figures numbered consistently; every in-text reference resolves
• Equations numbered; notation consistent throughout
• Author-date reference style (name-year), per the JFE guide

Anonymity (verify current policy on jfinec.com)

• No author-identifying content in the manuscript body
• Self-citations phrased neutrally, not "in our prior work"
• Acknowledgments and funding moved off the anonymized file
• File metadata (document properties) scrubbed of author names

Exhibits & Internet Appendix

• Main-text exhibits triaged; the long tail is in the Internet Appendix
• Every "untabulated" / "see Internet Appendix" pointer resolves
• Internet Appendix numbered in its own IA series and appended to the end of the main file per JFE practice

Code & data deposit (JFE policy)

• Code + non-proprietary data prepared for Mendeley Data deposit (mandatory for post-2021 submissions)
• Proprietary-data exemption, if needed, stated in the cover letter
• A reader could in principle reproduce the headline tables from the deposit

References

• Every in-text citation appears in the reference list and vice versa
• Recent top-3 finance work on the topic is cited
• No broken DOIs / incomplete entries

Editorial system & fee

• Submit via editorialmanager.com/finec
• US$850 fee ready (or submission-rights code applied); know the desk-reject (US$400) and 120-day refund rules
• Cover letter states the contribution and fit briefly; any data/code exemption requested here; suggested/opposed referees as the system allows
• Conflict-of-interest and prior-presentation disclosures completed

Submission-system pointers

• Confirm the current fee, portal, file-size limits, and accepted formats on jfinec.com before uploading — these change.
• Have the anonymized manuscript (with the appended online appendix), title page, and code/data ready.
• Double-check that the version uploaded is the final one (not a tracked-changes draft).

Anti-patterns

• Submitting a manuscript whose metadata still names the authors
• "See Internet Appendix" pointers that go nowhere
• Assuming last year's fee — it is US$850 unless you hold submission rights
• Forgetting to request a data/code exemption in the cover letter when you rely on proprietary data
• Reference list in a numbered (not author-date) style
• Uploading a draft with visible tracked changes or comments

Output format

【Anonymity】pass / fix: [...]
【Format】abstract <=100w? double-spaced? author-date refs? yes/no
【Exhibits + IA】pointers resolve? IA appended? yes/no
【Code/data deposit】Mendeley-ready? exemption in cover letter? yes/no
【References】in-text == list? yes/no
【Fee & portal】US$850 (or rights code) ready; finec portal confirmed? yes/no
【Cover letter】contribution + fit stated? yes/no
【Next】await decision -> jfe-referee-strategy (pre-empt) / jfe-rebuttal (on R&R)

Resources

• templates/manuscript_template.md — JFE-style manuscript skeleton (abstract, variable-definition table, exhibit and reference conventions)
• templates/checklist.md — full pre-submission self-check across format, anonymity, exhibits, code/data, references, and system
• ../../resources/external_tools.md — finance data sources (CRSP / Compustat / TAQ / WRDS) and Stata / R / Python packages