Preparing to Submit a Policy Analysis Paper

• John Vandivier

In this article I track my target journals for a new paper I'm working on. My previous papers have yet to be accepted so I tried a slightly different journal targeting technique this time compared to my previous approach.

In a prior approach I would look for a journal and then find a model paper within those journals of choice. In the current approach I looked for a model paper first. My paper analysis H-1B and Section 127 dynamic policy interaction. Looking around the post-2015 literature, \"dynamic effects\" seems to be a common title substring. Testing a causal hypothesis around the idea that certain titles are more likely to draw editorial and peer attention, I found the below model papers.

  1. Identification and estimation of dynamic causal effects in macroeconomics using external instruments (2018)
    1. Economic Journal, The
    2. Impact factor: 2.946 (2017)
    3. Acceptance rate 6%
    4. Time to Review 2-3 months
  2. Big data analytics and firm performance: Effects of dynamic capabilities (2017)
    1. Journal of Business Research
    2. Impact Factor: 4.028 (2018)
    3. Acceptance Rate 6-10%
    4. Time to Review 2-3 months
  3. Household debt and the dynamic effects of income tax changes (2017)
    1. Review of Economic Studies, The
    2. Impact Factor: 4.767 (2018)
    3. Acceptance Rate 5%
    4. Time to Review 2-3 months
  4. Dynamic effects of minimum wage on growth and innovation in a Schumpeterian economy (2020)
    1. Economics Letters
    2. Impact Factor: .558 (2016)
    3. Acceptance Rate: 23%
    4. Time to Review: 1-2 months
  5. Dynamic effects of the minimum wage on informality in Colombia (2017)
    1. Labour
    2. Unable to locate additional information.
  6. *Offshoring, labour migration and neo-liberalisation: nationalist responses and alternatives in Eastern Europe (2017)
    1. Economic and Labour Relations Review, The
    2. Impact Factor: .481
    3. Acceptance Rate: 15%
    4. Time to Review: 1-2 Months
  7. The dynamic effects of forward guidance shocks (2016)
    1. Review of Economics and Statistics, The
    2. Impact Factor: 4.767 (2018)
    3. Acceptance Rate 7%
    4. Time to Review 6+ months
  8. The dynamic effects of educational accountability (2016)
    1. Journal of Labor Economics
    2. Impact Factor: 3.607 (2017)
    3. Acceptance Rate: 6%
    4. Time to Review: 3-6 months
  9. Dynamic effects of teacher turnover on the quality of instruction (2016)
    1. Economics of Education Review
    2. Impact Factor: 1.456 (2016)
    3. Acceptance Rate: 20%
    4. Time to Review: 2-3 months

*This journal was stumbled onto while looking for Labour, and this article was selected from that journal. Its selection doesn't follow the pattern of the others here.

I think 6+ months is unacceptable. The Economics of Education Review seems like my preferred first journal here. Economics Letters looks great too. I'm more concerned about maximizing publication odds over impact factor at the moment.