July 24, 2006Jean Kinsey

Professor, Dept. of Applied EconomicsCo-Director, The Food Industry Center

University of Minnesota

AAEA Graduate Student Section

Guidelines on Writing and Submitting a Journal Article

Experiences and Advice on Choosing and Preparing a Publishable Topic

Experiences and Advice on Choosingand Preparing a Publishable Topic

Motivation - Choose a topic about which you are really curious.

See if any of your colleagues care.

Gather all the information about the issue that you can.

Design a thorough research approach-ask all the questions.

Experiences and Advice on Choosingand Preparing a Publishable Topic

Execute the research and analysis thoroughly.

*Compare to other data/studies.* Triangulate the information.* What do the numbers mean? * One more twist in a model is

not enough! * What is the STORY?

Objective of publication: Diffusion of knowledge.

Experiences and Advice on Choosingand Preparing a Publishable Topic

Decide why you are writing - to build your professional reputation or to inform a wider audience?

For professional colleagues?

For educated lay people/general public?

For policy makers and influential leaders in society?

Experiences and Advice on Choosingand Preparing a Publishable Topic

Write up the results systematically.

Have two other people read it andtell you what they think you said.

-What did they not understand?

Rewrite until you make the points clearly.

Experiences and Advice on Choosingand Preparing a Publishable Topic

(Rewrite – edit – rewrite – edit)2

After selecting the journal, put the manuscript in their format.

Know when to quite and submit!

Experiences and Advice on Choosingand Preparing a Publishable Topic

Selecting the right journal?

Prestige? (Promotion/tenure)

Right audience?

Right journal for your topic?

Experiences and Advice on Choosingand Preparing a Publishable Topic

1179 economics journals (EconLit Index) Related topic journals i.e.

Food distributionLogistics and ManagementConsumer behavior/affairsScience/NatureEnvironmentalPolicy/political economy

Popular Press – current issues welcome

Experiences and Advice on Choosingand Preparing a Publishable Topic

Journal Prestige- does it count? YES but…..numbers count too!

How is journal quality measured?

Impact Factor - # times an article from the past 2 yr. in the journal has been cited in J. Citation Report.

Experiences and Advice on Choosingand Preparing a Publishable Topic

Top 10 Journals – 2005 - JCRQJE, JEL, JEGeog, J Health Econ,

J Econ Persp., Econometrica, J Econ Growth, J Fian. Econ., J Polit. Econ., Brookings Paper Eco Ac.,

AJAE: 49th on impact

Ranking stable 1980-2000 except QJE and Econometrica improved.

Experiences and Advice on Choosingand Preparing a Publishable Topic

Receiving reviewers commentsStare at the envelop or email

for a week – then open.

Read carefully – put away for a week –read again very, very carefully.

If not outright rejected……Don’t wait! Respond as suggested,

one point at a time! Thank reviewers for their help.

Experiences and Advice on Choosingand Preparing a Publishable Topic

Responding to reviewers comments

If rejected: run, don’t walk to another journal.

Revise as suggested by the first reviewers if it makes sense for the next journal.

Remember: a misinterpreted sentence is the fault of the writer, not the reader!

Experiences and Advice on Choosingand Preparing a Publishable Topic

General Advice: Keep the pipeline full.

Select topics that are timely.Water issues are coming to the fore.Consumer behavior models are hot. Energy production and conservation is hot.Healthy food, healthy people are a concern.

Use joint authorship whenever you can.

Write every day!

Experiences and Advice on Choosingand Preparing a Publishable Topic

References:http://www.econlit.org/journal_list.html

http://jcr1.isiknowledge.com/JCR/JCR?RQ=LIST_Marked

Barrett, C.B., A. Olia and D Von Bailey. 2000. “Subdiscipline-specific journal rankings” whither Applied Economics,” Applied Economics, 32, pp. 239-252.

Liner G.H. and M. Amin. 2004. “Methods of Ranking EconomicsJournals,” Atlantic Economic Journal, 32, pp 140-149.

P.C.C.Vieira. 2006. “Statistical variability of top rankingeconomics journals impact,” Applied Economics Letters,11, pp. 945-948