Getting published in international journals John Mangan, Australian Institute for Business and Economics (AIBE)

The importance of publishing in economics Academic journals are an important outlet for dissemination of academic research Other outlets are important too, and more so than in natural sciences However, printed refereed journals were seen as essential by 97% of the academics in the Social Sciences (Conley, Önder, Crucini and Driskill, 2011, ‘Publication lags and young economists’ research output’) Books are seen as more important than journals only in Arts and Humanities (Conley et. al 2011) 2

Journal selection – “top” and “decent” journals What constitutes a “top” journal? Or a “decent” journal? Numerous journal rating systems –show a close correlation of journal rankings Should I aim for the top 3 general? Top 5 general (but are they general)? What about specialized journals? Hierarchies in sub-fields: –Labour economics –Public economics –Monetary economics 3

LIFE IS TOUGH: acceptance rates of leading journals 4

Rising submission intensity: Quarterly Journal of Economics 5 QJE publishes articles per year 62% culled by editors; approximately 500 sent to reviewers Most papers rejected with referee reports are strong papers that end up being published in other leading journals

Publication policy: Quarterly Journal of Economics Most “revise and resubmit” are eventually accepted ‘The vast majority of papers we ask for revisions do end up being accepted. I know there is nothing more frustrating for authors than being asked to completely redo your paper in a major revision and then being rejected’(Larry Katz, editor of QJE, 2012) 6

How to succeed Research on topics that interest you… but keep the profession in mind – be aware of touchstone issues Think about how your research fits in specific literature 60-70% of articles in AER and EJ are co-authored, so look for some good people to work with Growing percentage of multi-disciplinary topics even in top journals Differentiate your product Summarize main points 7

Have an interesting title! “Stressed Out on Four Continents: Time Crunch or Yuppie, Kvetch,”, D. Hamermesh and J. Lee, REStat, 2007 “Love Thy Neighbour; How Much Bigotry is there in Western Countries”, V. Borooah & J. Mangan, Kyklos 60(3), 2007 “Home is Where the Hurt is: An Econometric Analysis of Spousal Abuse” V. Borooah and J. Mangan, Applied Economics, 2009 (voted one of the top 50 articles in Management and Economics for 2009) 8

Typical structure of a paper Introduction –NOT a literature review –state aim of paper and its place in the economic research –a statement of the problem, its background and importance Do not include a literature review –cited papers fit in to illustrate only Theory or theoretical basis Data description –stress uniqueness if possible Results Tests and/or implications of results Conclusions/implications 9

Views of Daniel S. Hamermesh Results shouldn’t be a “breathless romp through the data” Stress/discuss the original; spend no time on standard results Results must be linked to theoretical derivation—and vice-versa Tests and implications –various tests for robustness of results—but only major ones –minor checks go in footnotes Uses of the results –explicit applications to problems, e.g. simulating policy responses, analyzing implications for interesting phenomena 10

Learn from rejection Always resubmit if invited to Carefully consider reviewers’ comments even if you disagree Think of long-term goals, not next years’ promotion round Have a thick hide – the review process can be arbitrary and ad hoc 11

Questions? 12 Questions or comments? Thank you for your time!