---
name: jae-review-process
description: Use when anticipating or interpreting the Journal of Accounting and Economics (JAE) review process — the editor suitability screen and Article Transfer Service desk-reject culture, double-anonymized review by a minimum of two reviewers, the compact co-Editor (Core/deHaan/Guay) final-decision model, and the annual JAE Conference special-issue pipeline.
---

# Understanding JAE's Review Process (jae-review-process)

## When to trigger

- You want realistic expectations before submitting
- A decision letter arrived and you need to read it correctly
- You are weighing the regular pipeline against the JAE Conference route
- You are unsure who decides and how final the decision is

## How JAE review works

1. **Editor suitability screen.** Every submission is first assessed by an editor for suitability. Because JAE enforces a high **economics-relevance bar**, papers judged off-fit (normative, behavioral, practitioner-oriented, or thin on economic mechanism) can be **desk-rejected without review** or redirected to another journal via Elsevier's **Article Transfer Service**.
2. **Double-anonymized review.** Suitable papers go to a **minimum of two** independent expert reviewers; author and reviewer identities are concealed from each other.
3. **Editor decision.** The **Editor makes the final decision, and that decision is final.** JAE uses a **compact co-Editor model** — a small handful of hands-on co-Editors (J. Core, MIT; E. deHaan, Stanford; W.R. Guay, Penn/Wharton) make calls, supported by a large (~40-person) Associate Editor body, rather than INFORMS-style departmental area-editor routing or a single Editor-in-Chief. (Roster is 待核实 against the live editorial-board page.)

## What reviewers push on

JAE referees are economics-trained and will press hardest on **identification** (is the result causal or a correlated-omitted-variable artifact?), the **economic mechanism** (why would rational agents behave this way?), **sample and measurement** (proxy validity, sample selection), and **alternative explanations**. Expect demands for additional cross-sectional partitions, placebo tests, and robustness — not just clarifications.

## The JAE Conference pipeline

JAE runs an **invitation-only annual conference** (sponsored by The Wharton School, Charles River Associates, and Cambridge Business Publishers; 2025 hosted at the University of Pennsylvania). Selected papers are printed in a **dedicated special conference issue** the following year; non-selected papers may go to a regular issue. The conference carries the **same USD 650 submission fee** and a **USD 5,000 attendee-voted Best Paper award**. This is a structural feeder unique among accounting journals — consider it a route for strongly economics-based work.

## Reading a decision letter

- **Reject** (including desk-reject): the economics-fit or identification bar was not met; the decision is final at JAE — reposition for another venue.
- **Revise and resubmit (R&R)**: an invitation, not an acceptance; address every reviewer and editor point. First-round accepts are essentially unheard of.
- Distinguish **editor** priorities (the framing/contribution and identification that must hold) from **reviewer** requests (specific tests) — the editor's letter is the binding guide.

## Checklist

- [ ] Confirmed the paper clears the economics-relevance bar (desk-reject risk understood)
- [ ] Anticipated identification and mechanism challenges from economics referees
- [ ] Considered the JAE Conference route for strongly economics-based work
- [ ] Understood the decision is the Editor's and is final
- [ ] Separated editor priorities from individual reviewer requests in the letter

## Anti-patterns

- **Submitting off-fit work** and being surprised by a desk-reject.
- **Treating an R&R as an acceptance.**
- **Answering reviewers but ignoring the editor's framing concerns.**
- **Expecting area-editor routing** that JAE does not use.

## Output format

```
【Stage】desk screen / out for review / decision
【Decision type】desk-reject / reject / R&R
【Editor priorities】(binding) ...
【Reviewer requests】identification / mechanism / robustness ...
【Conference route?】consider JAE Conference special issue
【Next step】jae-rebuttal (if R&R) or reposition
```