Economic journal articles are a key source for professional economists who seek to stay abreast of current thinking. They are also important for general readers interested in economic issues.
We are particularly keen to publish papers that cut through the complexity of economic theory and provide a valuable contribution to knowledge in a way accessible to our readership.
Article length
The average length of an economic journal article has increased significantly over the last 40 years. In fact, the average length of published papers has tripled from 16 pages in 1970 to 50 pages today, according to a new paper by University of California, Berkeley economists Stefano DellaVigna and David Card.
The increase in length is likely due to two factors: the move toward empirical work and changes in computing technology. Empirical work typically requires that an economic research paper spend extra space discussing data and how it was collected.
Generally speaking, authors should submit their manuscripts with line spacing of 1.5 lines and font size of 12; papers should not exceed 35 pages including references, footnotes, tables and appendices (except those intended for online publication). A high contribution-to-length ratio is expected from published articles, so papers should be readable but not unnecessarily long.
Citations
When you’re writing a paper, it’s important to use references to your research and other sources. This ensures that your work is discoverable and also helps your reviewers judge your paper’s quality.
Citations should be arranged alphabetically with the first author’s surname or the institution responsible for the citation listed first. The date should be placed immediately after the author’s name.
If you cite any data, make sure to put that information in the reference list and include a link to the data on a database like Scopus. You can also include a brief description of the data, including the repository it was in and the version (where available) and year of release.
A number of articles from top journals are highly cited, and these citations are increasing with time. This is largely independent of changes in the publishing process documented by Ellison (2002), such as lower acceptance rates and longer delays.
Motivation
The motivation behind writing an economic journal article is to contribute to the advancement of knowledge. However, it is also important for the author to be aware of the implications of their work on the field.
The main reason for this is that the world of economics has become cluttered with competing theories and perspectives on the same topic. This can make it difficult for an economist to keep up with the latest developments in the field.
In order to be able to do this, a good economic journal article should provide a clear outline of its purpose and scope. It should not only include a review of existing literature but should also explain why the topic is important to an economist.
Results
Whether you are a new economics student, a seasoned researcher or an academic economist actively publishing, it pays to understand which journals are the most prestigious and well-known for specific topics. This will help you stay on top of the latest research, set your own publishing goals and get cited more often.
First, it is worth remembering that publications in the top economics journals have a significant influence on the direction of economics research, on career paths for young researchers and on the pay of academic economists (Conley et al. 2011).
Second, as shown in Figure 4, articles published in the top five journals have very high relative citations. This is due to their high frequency of publication, their high citations to other sources, the citation practices of their authors and other factors.
The Journal of Labor Economics is a scholarly international journal that publishes cutting edge research on issues affecting both social and private behavior, and the economy. It publishes theoretical and empirical papers in the broad area of labor economics, including employment and wages, unions, collective bargaining and the distribution of income.
