Submission Preflight (aejpol-submission)

When to trigger

• "Submitting tomorrow" — last check before pressing submit on the AEA system
• Unsure which files, declarations, and codes the AEA submission expects
• Confirming title/byline/front matter, JEL codes, and disclosure statements are in order
• Verifying the Data and Code Availability Statement and disclosures are in order

Process facts (official AEA pages checked 2026-06-20; editor C. Kirabo Jackson + fees re-verified 2026-06-22)

• AEJ: Policy is one of the American Economic Association's four American Economic Journals; it is quarterly and submitted through the AEA online submission system. Re-confirm volatile specifics on the official AEA / AEJ: Policy pages.
• Single-blind review: author identities are visible to referees; referee identities remain anonymous to authors. The submitted manuscript carries the title, byline, and author affiliations — do not anonymize it.
• JEL codes and keywords are required; supply them on the submission form / title information.
• Submission fee: AEA members — USD 200 (high-income), USD 100 (middle-income), USD 0 (low-income); nonmembers — USD 300 (high-income), USD 200 (middle-income), USD 0 (low-income). Papers rejected without review are refunded 50 percent.
• Publication fee: accepted papers first submitted on or after 1 February 2024 are assessed USD 15 per typeset page at proofs.
• Length: abstract of 100 or fewer words; recommended maximum equivalent to 40 pages at 11-point/1.5 spacing or 45 pages at 12-point/1.5 spacing.
• Data & code: a Data and Code Availability Statement is expected; the full deposit to the AEA Data and Code Repository (openICPSR) and the AEA Data Editor reproducibility check happen before publication (see aejpol-replication-package).
• Disclosure: the AEA Disclosure Policy applies — each author discloses interested-party funding and relevant financial relationships.
• Style: AEA house style; report standard errors (no significance asterisks); main text self-contained with an online appendix for long material.
• One paper under review at a time per AEA rules; AI cannot be listed as an author.

Preflight checklist

Front matter

• ] Title, byline, and author affiliations appear on the first page
• ] Acknowledgement footnote includes author emails, funding/grants, acknowledgments, IRB details, and pre-registration where applicable
• ] JEL codes assigned; keywords listed; abstract is 100 words or fewer

Format & style

• ] AEA-style manuscript; standard errors in parentheses, no significance asterisks/boldface
• ] Figures/tables self-contained (sample, units, estimator, clustering, N); readable in greyscale
• ] Online appendix carries proofs/extra results; the main text is self-contained
• ] Length within the AEJ: Policy recommendation or consciously justified
• ] References author–year, complete and consistent

Files & declarations for the AEA system

• ] Main manuscript (PDF) with front matter + online appendix uploaded as required
• ] Data and Code Availability Statement drafted (public vs. restricted; sources cited)
• ] Disclosure statement per AEA policy for every author (funding / interested parties)
• ] Submission fee ready for the submitting author's membership and country-income tier
• ] Publication-page-fee exposure understood if accepted
• ] Confirmed: not under review elsewhere; AI not listed as an author
• ] Experimental papers: pre-registration / pre-analysis plan and protocol referenced

Anti-patterns

• Hiding the title/byline/affiliations despite the single-blind rule
• Significance asterisks/boldface instead of standard errors
• Missing JEL codes or keywords on the form
• No Data and Code Availability Statement at submission
• Forgetting the AEA disclosure statement for a co-author
• Assuming the fee tier without checking AEA membership and country-income status

Output format

【Front matter】title/byline/affiliations + acknowledgement footnote + JEL + <=100-word abstract? [Y/N]
【Style】SEs not asterisks; exhibits self-contained; online appendix set? [Y/N]
【Data/code statement】availability statement drafted? [Y/N]
【Disclosure】AEA disclosure for every author? [Y/N]
【Fee】submission tier + publication-page-fee exposure understood? [Y/N]
【Next step】submit via AEA system → expect single-blind review (plan for an R&R)

Supplementary resources

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