Maximizing the Maximizing the Probability of Probability of

Journal Article Journal Article AcceptanceAcceptance

By

Ron C. Mittelhammer

Minimize Probability of Rejection

• Easy, definitive and unique solution to:

Zmin P Article is Rejected

Z no submissions

Maximize Probability of Acceptance

• Much more difficult problem to solve.

• No unique global solution … it is conditional on a number of factors.

Some factors you can controlSome factors you cannot control

The Factors•Controllable Factors: X Which journal? Research topic Quality/Rigor of the analysis, in terms of:

• Economic Theory• Econometric/Statistical/Methodological technique

Relevance of the research Advances the literature? Organization and clarity of exposition

The Factors

•Uncontrollable Factors: The Editor/Associate Editor overseeing the

review The Reviewers of your work The time spent by reviewers reading and

evaluating your work Overall timing and length of review Whether you are allowed to revise and

resubmit

Production of Acceptance Probability• The Production function

• The Optimization problem

P Xf

Xmax f X

Some Properties of

Fit of article to journal +Popularity and novelty

of research topic+

Quality/Rigor of the analysis

+

Relevance of research to real world or peers

+

Advances the literature +Clarity of exposition

and organization+

iXf iX

( )f X

Some CharacteristicsEditor actively and carefully examines reviews and paper

Reviewers are properly matched to paper topic

Time spent by reviewers when reviewing your work

Long review time

Length of review comments

No revise or resubmit

Neutral

Game Over

Recommendations

"It is easier to do a job right than "It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't." to explain why you didn't."

- Martin Van Buren (1782-1862, 8th U.S. President).

Recommendations• Identify “appropriate” scope of topic areas for each

journal, and submit your articles accordingly.

Supply Chain Management in the PNW

Fruit Industry

Empirical Likelihood Combinations of Estimators

of Structural Models

Recommendations

• Choose a novel or “hot” topic area for your paper. Avoid “shop-worn” topics.

Recommendations

• Develop a rigorous, logically defensible, and relevant conceptual context, followed by a tightly linked empirical analysis.

Recommendations

• Choose a research focus that: many professional peers care about has real world relevance and significance

Recommendations• Where does the article fit into the literature?

Thorough literature review that identifies where your contribution fits historically

Be explicit in pointing out in what ways your paper advances the literature.

Recommendations• The 3-R’s: Rewrite, Rewrite, and Rewrite until:

presentation of ideas and results are clearly organized spelling and use of language are impeccable theoretical and empirical stories are understandable to

others, besides you and your co-authors theoretical, methodological, and institutional logic is

interconnected and internally consistent. there are many more words than equations conclusions actually follow from YOUR research

Structural Shifts and Breaks in the Process

• Don’t flood the journals with submissions that aren’t your best work…your reputation matters.

• Be respectful and polite in all communications with Journal Editors.

• Challenge unfavorable reviews when there is a question of fact, and you are sure you are right.

Concluding Comments• The acceptance rate in Economics and

Econometrics journals is very low.

• Don’t be dejected if you are rejected – all professionals are rejected some of the time.

• No matter what you initially think of an unfavorable review, there is generally always something useful in any review, so learn from it.

• Many articles are published in journals other than where they were first submitted.