Submission Preflight (aeja-submission)

When to trigger

• "Submitting tomorrow" — last check before pressing submit on the AEA system
• Unsure which files, fees, and declarations the AEA submission expects
• Confirming title/byline/front matter, JEL codes, and disclosure statements are in order
• Confirming the paper is data-policy-ready should it advance

Process facts (official AEA pages checked 2026-06-20; editor + fees re-verified 2026-06-22)

• AEJ: Applied is one of the four American Economic Journals, published by the American Economic Association (AEA), quarterly; submission is through the AEA online submission system.
• Single-blind review: author identities are visible to referees; referee identities remain anonymous to authors. The manuscript should include title, byline, and author affiliations on the first page.
• Submission fee: AEA members: high-income USD 200, middle-income USD 100, low-income USD 0. Nonmembers: high-income USD 300, middle-income USD 200, low-income USD 0. Papers rejected without review receive a 50 percent refund.
• Publication fee: accepted papers first submitted on or after 1 February 2024 are assessed USD 15 per typeset page at proofs.
• Length/front matter: abstract of 100 or fewer words; JEL codes; title, byline, and author affiliations on the first page; recommended maximum equivalent to 40 pages at 11-point/1.5 spacing/1-inch margins or 45 pages at 12-point/1.5 spacing/1-inch margins.
• Editor (re-verified 2026-06-22): Raymond Fisman (Boston University), lead-editor term beginning January 2026; coeditors Leah Boustan, Marika Cabral, Peter Hull, Xavier Jaravel, and Nicholas Ryan; Data Editor: Lars Vilhuber (Cornell). Re-verify the masthead on the AEA editors page before submission.
• Data & code: the AEA Data and Code Availability Policy applies; papers offered R&R are asked to submit their data replication package at resubmission, and accepted papers must clear the Data Editor's compliance/reproducibility check before publication (aeja-replication-package).
• One paper under review at a time per AEA rules; AI cannot be listed as an author.

Preflight checklist

Front matter

• Title, byline, and author affiliations appear on the first page
• Acknowledgement footnote includes author emails, author-order statement, funding/grants, acknowledgments, IRB details, and RCT registration where applicable
• JEL codes assigned; keywords listed; abstract is 100 words or fewer

Format & exhibits

• Length within the AEJ: Applied recommendation or consciously justified
• Tables and figures legible; standard errors reported (stars permitted but SEs are required); exhibit notes self-contained
• Supplemental appendix prepared for nonessential material and kept separate from the main paper
• References complete and consistent (AEA author-date house style)

Files, fee & policy readiness

• Main PDF + supplemental appendix uploaded as required by ScholarOne
• Submission fee ready for the submitting author's AEA membership and country-income tier
• Publication-page-fee exposure understood if accepted
• Replication package buildable into an openICPSR deposit; Data Availability Statement drafted
• Experimental/own-data: instructions/instruments ready; pre-registration cited

Declarations

• Separate disclosure statement PDF for each author (including "nothing to disclose" where applicable)
• Confirmed not under review elsewhere; AI not listed as an author

Anti-patterns

• Submitting a manuscript that hides the title/byline/affiliations despite the single-blind rule
• Forgetting JEL codes, disclosure PDFs, or the required front-page information
• Treating the data/code package as irrelevant at submission or R&R, then scrambling at the publication gate
• Omitting standard errors from exhibits, or notes that are not self-contained
• Assuming the fee tier without checking AEA membership and country-income status

Output format

【Front matter】title/byline/affiliations + acknowledgement footnote + JEL + <=100-word abstract? [Y/N]
【Exhibits】SEs reported, notes self-contained, online appendix separate? [Y/N]
【Fee】submission tier and publication-page-fee exposure understood? [Y/N]
【Data-policy readiness】openICPSR-buildable + DAS drafted? [Y/N]
【Declarations】disclosure done; not under review elsewhere; no AI author? [Y/N]
【Next step】submit via AEA system → aeja-rebuttal after the decision

Supplementary resources

• templates/checklist.md — 8-section pre-submission self-check
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — official AEA/AEJ: Applied URLs behind every fact