---
name: rfs-submission
description: Use when running the final pre-submission preflight for a The Review of Financial Studies (RFS) manuscript — the SFS Editorial Express portal, cover letter, formatting, Internet Appendix, submission fee, and SFS norms. Checks readiness; does NOT write the paper or the rebuttal.
---

# Submission Preflight (rfs-submission)

## When to trigger

- "We submit this week"
- Final check before clicking submit on the portal
- Unsure which files the portal expects (manuscript, IA, cover letter, code/data)

## Portal & process

- RFS submits through the **SFS Editorial Express portal** (editorialexpress.com), reached from sfs.org/review-of-financial-studies/submit-a-paper — **not** ScholarOne or Editorial Manager. Create/verify your account.
- The handling structure is an **Executive Editor (Tarun Ramadorai, LSE/Imperial, 2024–2027) → handling Editor → referees**. An Editor desk-screens before sending out; many manuscripts never reach referees.
- **Submission fee** is charged at submission and is **lower for SFS members ($260) than non-members ($320)**; SFS membership lets you submit to any SFS journal at the member rate, so joining is often cheaper than the non-member differential. The fee is **waived for current-year SFS members on a conditionally accepted paper** and for authors in low-income economies; **confirm the current figures on sfs.org/submission-fees before submitting**.
- **Two RFS-specific on-ramps JF/JFE lack:** (1) **Registered Reports** — Stage 1 design-only review and in-principle acceptance (`rfs-identification`); (2) **dual submission with the SFS Cavalcade** — the conference reviews the paper and forwards it with reviews to RFS *at no charge*; do not also submit it to RFS directly while that is pending. For an invited Cavalcade dual submission, the **first-round fee is waived**.
- **Code-release condition:** RFS requires authors to **publicly release all code** underlying a published paper as a condition of publication; if you cannot, you must say so in the cover letter to the editor.

## Pre-submission checklist

### Manuscript format
- [ ] Anonymized for double-blind review: no author names, affiliations, or identifying self-citations in the main file
- [ ] Self-citations phrased neutrally ("X (2021) shows" not "in our earlier work")
- [ ] Acknowledgments, grant info, and thanks removed from the blinded file
- [ ] Title page with author info uploaded as a **separate** file (per portal instructions)
- [ ] Abstract **≤ 100 words** (RFS returns manuscripts whose abstract exceeds 100 words), plus keywords and JEL codes
- [ ] Manuscript **double-spaced, ≤ 28 lines per page, font size ≥ 11** (RFS returns non-conforming files)
- [ ] References in **Chicago Manual of Style author-date** format; every in-text cite is in the list and vice versa
- [ ] Internet Appendix included with author information removed
- [ ] Figures/tables in the format the portal requires (vector figures; high resolution)

### Internet Appendix & data
- [ ] Internet Appendix prepared as a separate file, cross-referenced from the main text
- [ ] **Code-release condition** acknowledged: all code underlying the paper will be publicly released as a condition of publication, OR an exception is explained in the cover letter
- [ ] Data and code availability statement drafted; replication package staged

### Cover letter
- [ ] States the question, the contribution, and why it fits RFS (novelty + rigor)
- [ ] Names the most related RFS/JF/JFE papers and the delta
- [ ] Notes any prior presentation / working-paper version / SFS Cavalcade submission
- [ ] Discloses related submissions and conflicts; no concurrent submission at another journal (distinct from the *permitted* RFS–Cavalcade dual submission)
- [ ] If code cannot be released, the reason is stated here (per RFS policy)
- [ ] Suggested and opposed referees prepared (see `rfs-referee-strategy`)

### Administrative
- [ ] Submission fee handled; SFS-member rate ($260 vs. $320) used if applicable; waiver checked (conditionally accepted / low-income economy / invited Cavalcade first round)
- [ ] All coauthors approve the submission
- [ ] Contact details current in the Editorial Express account
- [ ] File naming follows portal conventions

## Anti-patterns

- Leaving an identifying self-citation or acknowledgment in the blinded file.
- Submitting without a plan to publicly release code — RFS treats code release as a condition of publication, not an afterthought.
- Paying the non-member fee when SFS membership would have been cheaper and renewable.
- Submitting the IA inside the main PDF instead of as the portal-specified file.
- A cover letter that summarizes the paper but never states the RFS-specific novelty.
- In-text citations that do not match the reference list.

## Output format

```
【Blinding】pass / fixes: [...]
【Format】abstract ≤100 words? double-spaced ≤28 lines, font ≥11? yes/no
【Files staged】manuscript / title page / IA (de-identified) / cover letter / replication code
【Abstract+JEL+keywords】complete? yes/no
【Fee】SFS-member rate ($260) used / waiver applies? yes/no
【Code-release】public release planned, or exception stated in cover letter? yes/no
【Route】standard / Registered Report / SFS Cavalcade dual submission
【Cover letter】states RFS-specific novelty? yes/no
【Next step】rfs-referee-strategy → submit (Editorial Express) → await decision → rfs-rebuttal
```

## Related resources

- [`templates/manuscript_template.md`](templates/manuscript_template.md) — RFS-style manuscript skeleton (abstract, sections, variable table, references)
- [`templates/checklist.md`](templates/checklist.md) — 8-section pre-submission self-check
- [`../../resources/external_tools.md`](../../resources/external_tools.md) — finance data sources (CRSP / Compustat / TAQ / WRDS, etc.) and Stata / R / Python packages