---
name: jie-review-process
description: Use to understand how editorial handling and refereeing work at the Journal of International Economics (JIE) — the regular/short/PRP submission types, the Prior Review Process expedite option that carries decision letters and referee reports from AER/Econometrica/JPE/QJE/REStud, desk-reject odds, and (Co-)Editor routing between trade and international macro/finance. Sets expectations; it does not draft content.
---

# Review Process (jie-review-process)

## When to trigger

- You want to know what happens after you press submit at JIE
- Deciding whether the Prior Review Process (PRP) expedite path applies to you
- Calibrating expectations on desk-reject odds and acceptance rates
- Understanding why suggesting the right (Co-)Editor matters

## How JIE handling works (verified 2026-06-01)

JIE is an Elsevier journal run by **Co-Editors-in-Chief Martin Uribe (Columbia) and Costas Arkolakis (Yale)**, with a board including Jonathan Eaton, Charles Engel, Andres Rodriguez-Clare, and Robert W. Staiger. The board is deliberately split across the field's two halves — **international trade** and **international macroeconomics/finance** — so a handling editor whose profile matches your paper is assigned; you are advised to **suggest a fitting (Co-)Editor at submission**. Per Co-Editor Arkolakis's own page, **regular-submission acceptance has historically run ~10-15%, with desk rejects around 25%**. A clean, scope-matched submission with credible identification or a disciplined structural model clears the first screen; a paper that is not original in its motivation or modelling structure does not.

Three submission types exist: **regular**, **short**, and **Prior Review Process (PRP)**.

## The Prior Review Process (PRP) expedite option

PRP is JIE's distinctive accelerator. If your paper was **rejected at AER, Econometrica, JPE, QJE, or Review of Economic Studies**, you may attach that journal's **editorial decision letter and the referee reports** and select **'PRP' from the Article Type menu**. JIE editors use the prior reports to speed up the decision. Key facts:

- It carries **no extra fee** versus a regular submission (the standard fee still applies).
- It is for papers that already cleared substantial refereeing at a top general-interest journal — it does not bypass JIE's own judgment, it informs it.
- Be transparent: include the full letter and all reports, not a curated subset.

## What to expect at each stage

- **Desk screen**: scope fit (trade or international macro/finance), originality of motivation/modelling, and basic execution. ~25% desk-rejected.
- **Referee round(s)**: international-trade or open-economy-macro referees probe identification, the gravity/structural specification, or the model's discipline against data.
- **Decision**: reject, R&R, or (rarely) accept. On R&R, go to jie-rebuttal.

## Anti-patterns

- Using PRP without a qualifying letter from one of the five named journals
- Sending a trade paper without suggesting a trade editor (risking a macro-editor mismatch)
- Attaching only the favorable parts of a prior referee report under PRP
- Expecting general-interest-journal acceptance odds at a field journal

## What survives the desk screen — a referee's-eye checklist

The desk screen runs on three questions before a paper reaches referees. Pass all three or expect a desk-reject (confirm current rates against the editors' pages).

- [ ] **Scope half is unambiguous**: the paper is clearly trade *or* international macro/finance, and a (Co-)Editor in that half is suggested. A mis-routed trade paper landing with a macro editor reads as a poorer fit than it is.
- [ ] **Originality axis is nameable in one line**: new motivation (data/fact) *or* new modelling structure — not "important" or "policy-relevant."
- [ ] **Core method is field-credible on its face**: gravity is PPML with multilateral-resistance fixed effects; a structural claim is disciplined against moments; a policy effect has a credible-identification sketch in the intro.

## PRP routing worked example (illustrative)

A trade paper is rejected at QJE after two referee rounds; the reports praise the firm-level customs data but split on the structural counterfactual. Under PRP the author selects 'PRP' from the Article Type menu and attaches the full QJE decision letter and *both* referee reports — favorable and critical — not a curated subset. The cover note suggests a trade (Co-)Editor and flags that the structural concern is the live issue, so the JIE editor can target a referee on exactly that. PRP carries no extra fee beyond the standard submission fee and does not bypass JIE's own judgment; it informs it. Confirm the qualifying-journal list (AER, Econometrica, JPE, QJE, REStud) and any procedural detail against the current author guidelines before relying on it.

## Output format

```
【Submission type】regular / short / PRP
【PRP eligible】prior reject at AER/EMA/JPE/QJE/REStud with letter+reports? [Y/N]
【Editor fit】suggested (Co-)Editor matched to trade / macro-finance? [Y/N]
【Stage】desk screen / referee round / decision
【Odds context】~10-15% accept, ~25% desk-reject (historical)
【Next step】jie-submission (preflight) or jie-rebuttal (on R&R)
```

## Supplementary resources

- [`../../resources/official-source-map.md`](../../resources/official-source-map.md) — PRP announcement, RePEc editor roster, and Arkolakis activity-page sources
- [`../../resources/external_tools.md`](../../resources/external_tools.md) — field data and toolkits referees will expect you to have used