Journal of Economic Insight Editorial Policies

Submissions to the Journal of Economic Insight are handled by one of two co-editors who have equal standing. Papers are submitted to the Journal either electronically or via mail.  A co-editor then directs the submission to an assistant editor to begin the refereeing process.  The assignment of the assistant editor is primarily based on field of expertise, though issues such as workload balance and conflict of interest are considered as well.  The assistant editor is responsible for finding referees and obtaining reports for the paper, and presenting a recommendation to the co-editor regarding whether the manuscript should be accepted, rejected, or revised-and-resubmitted.  The final decision on the manuscript resides with the co-editor.

Peer review,  Confidentiality, and Conflicts of Interest

To avoid a conflict of interest, a co-editor, assistant editor, and potential referee must recuse him/herself from editing or reviewing the manuscript if an author is from the same institution as the co-editor, a current or former student that the co-editor has advised, a co-author within the last two years, or a family member.  Co-editors, assistant editors, and referees must disclose any other personal or professional relationship that may also constitute a conflict.

The Journal of Economic Insight follows a double-blind editorial process.  The referees are anonymous to the author(s) while the author(s) are anonymous to the referees.  The co-editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts without review.  The submission fee will not be refunded for papers that have been rejected without review.

Comments and short papers submitted to the Journal of Economic Insight are refereed both by the author of the article being commented on and by other referees.  Replies to comments are sent both to the author of the original paper and to the other referees.  The reply may also be published if the author makes a substantive and salient point to the issue being commented upon.

Disclosure Policy

The Journal of Economic Insight has adopted a disclosure policy that follows the policy adopted by the American Economic Association on January 5, 2012.  Submissions to the Journal of Economic Insight must conform to the Journal’s disclosure policy, which states:

1. Every submitted article should state the sources of financial support for the particular research it describes.  If none, that fact must be stated.
2. Each author of a submitted article should identify each interested party from whom he or she has received significant financial support, summing to at least $10,000 in the past three years, in the form of consultant fees, retainers, grants, and providing access to data.  If the support in question comes with a non-disclosure obligation, that fact should be stated, along with as much information as the obligation permits.  If there are no sources of funds, that fact should be stated explicitly.  An “interested party” is any individual, group, or organization that has a financial, ideological, or political stake related to the article.
3. Each author should disclose any paid or unpaid positions as officer, director, or board member of relevant non-profit organizations or profit-making entities.  A “relevant organization” is one whose policy positions, goals, or financial interests relate to the article.
4. The disclosures required above apply to any close relative or partner of any author.
5. Each author must disclose if another party had the right to review the paper prior to its circulation.

When submitting a paper, the authors should prepare a separate paged entitled “Disclosure Statement” that will be submitted along with the paper.  If the authors have nothing to disclose, this should be explicitly stated.  The disclosure statement will be available to the referees, thus do not include any personal information on it.

For published articles, information on relevant potential conflicts of interest will be made available to the public under two forms:

1. If the disclosure statement is brief, it will be included in the “acknowledgments” footnote.
2. If the disclosure statement is longer, then disclosure will have two parts:  (i) a brief statement summarizing potential conflicts of interest that will be included in the “acknowledgments” footnote; (ii) a more detailed description of the activities and and relationships that are the source of the potential conflict of interest.  This more detailed account will be available to the public, but only electronically, on the Journal of Economic Insight’s The “acknowledgements” footnote will include a link to the detailed electronic version of the disclosure statement which will be archived on the Journal’s website.

For any paper involving the collection of data on human subjects, the author(s) must disclose whether they have obtained Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval; if no IRB approval was obtained, the reason should be stated.

 

Publication Ethics
Please note that submitted manuscripts to the Journal of Economic Insight may be subject to checks using the iThenticate service, in order to detect instances of overlapping and similar text.  The iThenticate software checks submissions against millions of published scholarly articles, books, and other relevant sources.  The potential consequences of plagiarism or misconduct are detailed below.

Authors are expected to:

1. Ensure that all researched work submitted is original, fully referenced and that all authors are represented accurately. The submission must be exclusive and not under consideration elsewhere.
2. Provide accurate contact details for a designated corresponding author, who shall be deemed by the publisher and editor as fully responsible for the authorship of the paper and all communications concerning the ethical status and originality of the paper. This includes any queries or investigations that may arise, pre- or post-publication.
3. Openly disclose the source of all data and third party material, including previously unpublished work by the authors themselves. Anything that could compromise the originality of the submission should be expressly avoided and/or discussed with the editorial office in the first instance.
4. Openly disclose any conflict of interest - for example, if publication were to benefit a company or services in which the author(s) has a vested interest.
5. Remain in good communication with the editor(s), the publisher and any co-authors.

 If ethical misconduct is suspected, the co-editors will conduct a fair and transparent investigation.  The co-editors will give the author(s) an opportunity to provide an explanation for the alleged ethics violation. If the co-editors determine that an ethical violation has occurred, the consequences depend on the severity of the violation.  Possible consequences of a violation of publication ethics include:

• A retraction of the article from the Journal of Economic Insight with an explanation published in the next issue of the Journal and on the Journal’s website.
• A ban on future submissions to the Journal by the author(s).
• Contacting the author(s) home institutions with information regarding the violation