Rof workflow

Review of Finance Workflow Router (rof-workflow)

Overview

This is the router. It does not replace any specialized skill; it tells you which rof- skill to use at the current stage* of a manuscript aimed at the Review of Finance (RoF) — the official journal of the European Finance Association (EFA), published by Oxford University Press, covering general-interest empirical and theoretical finance at the level of the top-three finance journals. Operational tells: Editorial Express submission, a real fee (EUR 350 / EUR 300 EFA members) plus an optional Fast-Track (EUR 900, 14-day decision), double-blind review, a two-round decision philosophy, a hard 60-page cap (incl. appendices, bibliography, figures, tables), a 150-word abstract, Chicago citations, and a Code Sharing and Data Availability Policy. Re-verify volatile specifics on the official pages.

When to trigger

• The user asks "what should I do next?"
• The user hands over a draft and needs the current bottleneck diagnosed
• An RoF decision letter arrived and the user needs to switch into revision mode

Routing table

Current symptom	Next skill
Idea feels small / not obviously top-finance material	rof-topic-selection
"So what?" / contribution to finance is fuzzy or undersold	rof-contribution-framing
Placement against the finance frontier is unclear; citations thin	rof-literature-positioning
Causal claim (empirical) or assumptions/results (theory) are undefended	rof-identification-strategy
Estimation, sample, variable construction, or robustness is the weak link	rof-data-analysis
Tables are dense; exhibits blow the 60-page budget	rof-tables-figures
Prose buries the idea; abstract/intro do not land in 150 words	rof-writing-style
Need the replication package / Data Availability Statement	rof-replication-and-data-policy
Want to understand referee standards / two-round logic before submitting	rof-review-process
Ready to submit via Editorial Express; need a preflight + fee decision	rof-submission
Received an R&R; need a response-letter strategy	rof-rebuttal

Default order

1. rof-topic-selection → 2. rof-contribution-framing → 3. rof-literature-positioning → 4. rof-identification-strategy (causal design, or theory assumptions/results) → 5. rof-data-analysis (estimation/robustness, or numerical work) → 6. rof-tables-figures (within the 60-page cap) → 7. rof-writing-style (abstract ≤150 words, intro last) → 8. rof-replication-and-data-policy → 9. rof-review-process → 10. rof-submission (Editorial Express; regular vs. Fast-Track) → 11. rof-rebuttal (after the R&R).

rof-writing-style is a late-stage polish. Do not rewrite the intro before identification/results are settled.

Stage gates — exit criteria before advancing

Do not move down the default order until the current gate clears; the two-round philosophy makes pre-submission completeness the whole game.

Gate A  idea        question survives the top-three-interest test ... rof-topic-selection
Gate B  claim       one-sentence quantified contribution stands ..... rof-contribution-framing
Gate C  placement   3-6 closest papers named, delta stated for each . rof-literature-positioning
Gate D  credibility identification or theory spine survives attack .. rof-identification-strategy
Gate E  evidence    magnitudes economic; robustness mapped to files . rof-data-analysis
Gate F  package     <=60 pages incl. everything; abstract <=150 ..... rof-tables-figures / rof-writing-style
Gate G  compliance  DAS + code/pseudo-data + disclosures drafted .... rof-replication-and-data-policy / rof-submission
PAY THE FEE ONLY AFTER GATE G.

Sequencing around the EFA circuit and the fee

• RoF is the EFA's house journal: presenting at the EFA annual meeting (or a comparable European finance conference) before paying the fee is the cheapest way to surface the bucket-1 objections referees will raise.
• Choose Fast-Track (EUR 900, 14-day target) only for a finished paper under competitive pressure — e.g., several teams exploiting the same regulatory shock; a paper still failing Gate D or E burns the premium.
• Front-load the heavy robustness battery before first submission: under the two-round philosophy there is no "save it for the revision" reserve, because round two is for closing, not opening, issues.
• Build the replication package in parallel with Gate E rather than after acceptance — the Code Sharing and Data Availability Policy can delay publication until programs arrive, and proprietary-data exceptions must already be requested in the initial cover letter (Gate G).
• Re-verify fee, refund, and policy specifics against the journal's current author guidelines before paying anything.

Anti-patterns

• Do not skip rof-contribution-framing and jump to estimation — RoF judges the finance contribution first.
• Do not ignore the 60-page cap until the end — it includes appendices, bibliography, figures, and tables.
• Do not draft a rebuttal before the revised manuscript exists; the two-round philosophy makes round one decisive.