En journal workflow

English econ / business journal workflow (en-journal-workflow)

Purpose

This is the routing skill. It does not replace a single-journal profile; it first classifies the manuscript by discipline, contribution type, method shape, and audience, then routes into the matching per-journal skill for fit and re-framing.

Resources to Load When Needed

• If the venue is unclear, read ../../resources/worked-examples/venue-routing.md before choosing a target.
• If two sibling fields look plausible, read ../../resources/exemplars/selection-patterns.md.
• Before submission-ready advice, use ../../resources/official-source-map.md to open the current official author instructions for the chosen journal.

Ask four things first

1. Contribution type: new identification / causal effect, new theory or model, new measurement or method, new fact/anomaly, or integrative review?
2. Method shape: reduced-form causal, structural, pure theory/proof, econometric method, lab/field experiment, survey/SEM, qualitative/inductive, optimization/analytics, or design-science?
3. Discipline audience: general economics, a specific econ field, finance, accounting, strategy/OB/management, marketing, operations, or information systems?
4. Submission goal: swing for a top-5 / top-3 / elite-list venue, or optimize topic–venue fit and review odds at a strong field journal?

Quick routing

Manuscript signature	Prefer skill
General-interest econ, top-5 ambition	american-economic-review / quarterly-journal-of-economics / journal-of-political-economy
Theorem / new estimator with proofs	econometrica / journal-of-economic-theory / econometric-theory
Strong applied micro, narrower than top-5	aej-applied-economics / review-of-economics-and-statistics / journal-of-human-resources
Macro / growth / dynamics	aej-macroeconomics / journal-of-monetary-economics / review-of-economic-dynamics / journal-of-economic-growth
Micro theory / mechanism / games	aej-microeconomics / journal-of-economic-theory / games-and-economic-behavior
Policy-facing applied economics	aej-economic-policy / journal-of-public-economics / economic-policy
Trade / open economy / development	journal-of-international-economics / journal-of-development-economics / world-development
Econometric methods / applied econometrics	journal-of-econometrics / journal-of-applied-econometrics / journal-of-business-and-economic-statistics / quantitative-economics
Field econ (labor/health/urban/enviro/law)	journal-of-labor-economics / journal-of-health-economics / journal-of-urban-economics / journal-of-environmental-economics-and-management / journal-of-law-and-economics
Finance, top-3 ambition	journal-of-finance / journal-of-financial-economics / review-of-financial-studies
Finance, elite field	review-of-finance / journal-of-financial-and-quantitative-analysis / journal-of-financial-intermediation / journal-of-corporate-finance
Banking / markets / international finance	journal-of-banking-and-finance / journal-of-financial-markets / journal-of-international-money-and-finance / journal-of-empirical-finance
Management theory (no data)	academy-of-management-review / academy-of-management-annals
Management empirics, theory-driven	academy-of-management-journal / journal-of-management-en / journal-of-management-studies
Strategy / firm performance	strategic-management-journal / organization-science
Org theory / sociology of orgs / qualitative	organization-studies / human-relations / administrative-science-quarterly
HRM / international business / innovation	human-resource-management / journal-of-international-business-studies / research-policy
Entrepreneurship	journal-of-business-venturing / entrepreneurship-theory-and-practice
Marketing modeling vs. behavior	marketing-science / journal-of-marketing-research vs journal-of-consumer-research / journal-of-consumer-psychology
Marketing strategy / broad	journal-of-marketing / journal-of-the-academy-of-marketing-science
Accounting (archival/analytical/markets)	the-accounting-review / journal-of-accounting-research / journal-of-accounting-and-economics / review-of-accounting-studies
Accounting (interpretive/critical)	accounting-organizations-and-society / contemporary-accounting-research
OM / OR / analytics	management-science / operations-research / manufacturing-and-service-operations-management / production-and-operations-management / journal-of-operations-management
Information systems	mis-quarterly / information-systems-research / journal-of-management-information-systems / journal-of-the-association-for-information-systems / informs-journal-on-computing

Sibling-Journal Disambiguation

Confusable targets	Decision rule
AER/QJE/JPE vs field journals	Use a top-5 only when the paper changes a broad economics conversation; strong identification alone is not enough.
JF/JFE/RFS vs finance field journals	Decide whether the contribution is asset pricing, corporate finance, intermediation, microstructure, or international finance before choosing prestige tier.
AMR vs AMJ vs ASQ	AMR is theory-only; AMJ is empirical theory-building; ASQ expects organization-theory depth and often sociological leverage.
JM vs JMR vs Marketing Science	JM is strategy/managerial broad contribution; JMR is empirical/methodological marketing research; Marketing Science expects modeling, optimization, or quantitative marketing depth.
MISQ/ISR vs CS venues	Use IS journals only when the information-systems theory or organizational technology contribution is central; route pure algorithms to CS/AI.

Decision rules

• Correlation without identification or mechanism: fix the contribution before swinging for a top-5/top-3 venue.
• "First to study X in context Y" is not a contribution at elite venues — name the conceptual or methodological advance, or route to a field journal.
• A new factor / anomaly without multiple-testing and out-of-sample discipline is not a finance top-3 paper.
• Management empirics with no theoretical contribution belong below AMJ/AMR, or need reframing.
• A modeling/optimization paper with no managerial-theory payoff routes to OM/OR/IS analytics venues, not to AMJ.
• Always enter the single-journal skill's official-submission checklist before submitting; never rely on a stale template.

Output format

[Top journal skill] <skill-name>
[Alt 1] <skill-name> (reason)
[Alt 2] <skill-name> (reason)
[Do not submit to] <journal> (one-line mismatch reason)
[Biggest current gap] topic / theory / identification / mechanism / formatting / official requirements
[Next step] invoke <skill-name> for single-venue fit and re-framing