Instructions for Authors submitting papers to
Oxford Economic Papers
All papers to be considered by Oxford Economic Papers must be submitted via our online
submission site at www.editorialmanager.com/oep. Authors will be required to upload the
following files:
1. Covering letter
Please address your letter to “The Editors, Oxford Economic Papers” and not to an individual
Editor as he may not be the one who is assigned to your paper. Please include details of any other
dissemination of the paper, for example as a working paper. See our terms and conditions below
for further information on this point.
2. Your manuscript
Authors are given the choice of whether or not to submit their paper anonymously. If you do wish
to submit anonymously we expect you to scrupulously check your manuscript to ensure that it is
indeed fully anonymous (e.g., removing such phrases as “in our previous paper we discuss…”).
It is essential that the Editors see the full paper so for anonymous submissions the
corresponding author must upload a separate title page with the names of all authors and their
affiliations, plus your acknowledgements; if the submission is not anonymous you must upload
the full paper including the title page and all acknowledgements.
Please use a reasonable font size for your article. We will return the paper to you if this is too
small. Please also ensure that the legends on figures are fully legible.
Terms and conditions of submission to OEP
The submitted paper must not be under consideration elsewhere and authors must not offer it for
publication elsewhere while it is under consideration by OEP. The paper which you submit to
Oxford Economic Papers should make an original contribution to economics which has not been
published elsewhere and none of the authors should have other work either published or under
consideration elsewhere which significantly reduces the original content of the work submitted to
OEP. In the event that an Editor notices, or a referee points out, that there is a possible overlap
with another paper, consideration of the paper will be suspended while the author is asked to
explain the relationship between the two papers.
The fact that a paper is available as a working paper or discussion paper does not disqualify it
from consideration by Oxford Economic Papers. The Editors recognize that there may be cases of
doubt as to whether previous dissemination was a ‘working paper’ or a ‘full publication’ and
welcome specific enquiries on this point prior to submission. Please contact us at
[email protected]. In any case, the authors are asked to state, in their covering letter, any
dissemination of the paper which might be regarded as a full publication on the web or otherwise.
It is accepted that dissemination through RePEc, central bank, NBER, or IMF Working Paper
series, for example, are not ‘full publications’, although other web-based series may be.
The names of all the authors must be declared to the journal at the time of submission. You must
also include your Acknowledgements.
All correspondence on submissions to the journal must be through the submission site or to the
OEP office at [email protected]. This ensures the speediest response to your queries.
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Length
The guideline for length is 8,000 words for the main body of the paper, including footnotes
and references. The Editors will consider papers of up to 10,000 words, or the equivalent length
allowing for tables and figures. We are happy to consider papers with appendix material which
can be published online only. The Editors take a firm line on length and papers and are extremely
unlikely to proceed with submissions in excess of 10,000 words.
Please also note that the Editors do not wish to send out papers which authors say ‘can be
shortened after refereeing’. We expect the submitted paper to be what the author considers to be
the final version ready for publication. If you feel that additional material is needed for referees
this can be included as a separate appendix.
Abstract
An abstract of strictly 150 words or less must be included in the paper. Authors are also required
to paste their abstract into a box on one of our submission pages. Abstracts should give a sense of
the problem addressed by the paper and the manner in which it is addressed. They must stand
alone so should not include citations.
Data
Where applicable, OEP requires authors to make their data and replication files available if the
paper is accepted for publication. If the data is confidential we would still expect the stata do (or
equivalent files) to be published (online) with the paper.
Indexing
OEP is indexed in Scopus, Social Science Citation Index, IBZ Online, International Bibliography
of Social Sciences, Periodicals Index Online, ABI/INFORM, Business Source Premier, Public
Affairs Index, Business Source Elite, EconLit, Geobase, Historical Abstracts, DIALNET.
Step-by-step guide to submission
Please register or log on as an author on our home page. You will be taken to the Author Main
Menu and at the top of the page you will see Submit New Manuscript. Please click on this to
begin submitting your paper.
1. Please select an Article Type. You should choose Article from the drop down menu.
2. Please Enter the Full Title of Your Submission. Authors should refrain from typing this in
all capital letters - please use upper and lower case.
3. Add, Edit or Remove Authors. This is where you add the names of any co-authors. If you
scroll down you will see that your name has already been entered, so if you are the only author
proceed to the next page; you do not need to enter your name again.
If you have co-authors you must include all of them. The submission will be returned to you for
completion if you omit co-authors on this page, even if they are shown on the title page of the
article.
Enter the details of your first co-author, including an affiliation, and ideally an email address so
they can copied into correspondence where applicable. After entering the necessary details, press
Add Author. You can then add any further co-authors in the same way.
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Before leaving this page please scroll down to view the list of authors at the bottom. You can
change the order of authors at this stage if you wish.
4. Enter Abstract. This must be 150 words or less. You will not be able to complete the
submission if the abstract is too long. If it is too long, please do not be tempted to upload an
incomplete abstract. The pasted abstract will be merged into any referee invitations and referees
are quick to notice if abstracts are incomplete. Please also check for typographical errors.
5. Enter Keywords. Please enter the keywords for your paper. JEL classifications are optional
here, but if the paper is accepted they will be required on the manuscript.
6. Additional Information. On the next page you will be asked to respond to several questions:
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confirmation that you have read this document, Instructions for Authors submitting papers to
OEP
confirmation that the paper is not under consideration elsewhere
whether or not you wish the paper to be considered anonymously
whether there is any other dissemination of the paper
You are also asked for:
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a precise word count for your paper. This must include footnotes and references and any
appendix which is to be published with the paper. It is not necessary to include tables and
figures at this stage.
information on whether your paper includes an appendix and if it can be for online-only
appendix. If your paper does include an appendix (however short) and you answer ‘no’ the
submission will be sent back to you for amendment.
whether your paper uses a dataset and if so, whether the data can be made available online if
the paper is accepted. OEP accepts that some data is confidential, but in this case we still
expect the replication files to be made available.
7. Select Region of Origin. Please use the drop down menu for this.
8. Attach files. This is where you will upload your covering letter and manuscript. You can either
browse for files or use drag and drop.
Covering letter
From the drop down menu beside Item please choose Covering letter [not visible to referees]
and attach your file.
Your article
For anonymous submission:
1. Please chose Title page for anonymous submission [not visible to referees] and upload the
full title page of your paper which must include all author names and affiliations, and your
acknowledgements.
2. Choose Manuscript from the drop down menu and upload an anonymous manuscript.
For non-anonymous submissions:
Choose the item Manuscript from the drop down menu and upload the full manuscript
including your title page, affiliations and acknowledgements.
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You can upload either a word document or a pdf file. The system has mixed success with papers
in Latex or Scientific Word so it is advisable to convert these to a pdf file before submitting your
paper.
Optional files
If your tables and figures are in separates files you may add them in the same way as above,
choosing the appropriate category from the drop down menu.
Appendix
You can also include an appendix or material that is for referees only and not for publication.
There is a choice of two categories: either Appendix [online-only publication] or Additional
material [not for publication]. Or indeed you can upload both.
9. Build pdf. The next page is a summary of the files which have been attached. If you are happy
that you have uploaded all necessary files please click on Build PDF for my Approval.
Building the PDF file may take a little time. You can either click on the link Submissions Waiting
for Author’s Approval or go Back to Main Menu and then click on the link. When you open the
submission you will see that the status of the paper is Needs Approval. Please click on Action
Links on the left hand side which will give you five options:
View Submission
Edit Submission
Approve Submission
Remove Submission
Send Email
The system will not allow you to approve the submission without viewing the pdf file that has
been created. Click on View Submission and scrutinise the pdf carefully from beginning to
end. Having to return the paper for changes (for example if the pages are upside down, or tracked
changes are shown, or figures are not visible) wastes both your time and ours – check thoroughly
before approving the file.
Once you are sure that you are happy with the paper, please click Approve Submission. The
paper will then be submitted to OEP but please return to the Main Menu to ensure that your paper
is in the Submissions Being Processed folder. If you click on this you will see that the status of
the paper has changed to Submitted to Journal. You will also receive an email confirming that the
paper has been submitted (please also see Email Contact below).
Processing Submissions
1. New submissions are first checked by the Journal Office. If the submission is in order it is
passed to the Allocating Editor (at this point you will receive an email notifying you of the
submission number). It is not always possible to deal with submissions immediately but your
paper should be checked within a few days. If there are any problems it will be returned to you
for changes.
2. When it is sent to the Allocating Editor the status of your submission will change to With
Editor. The Allocating Editor should be able to look at your paper and assign a Managing or
Associate Editor within a week of submission, but it may take longer at certain times of the year
(e.g., over the summer or the Christmas period).
3. Some papers, whose prospects of being accepted appear slim, or which are not suitable for
Oxford Economic Papers, are rejected on initial assessment by the Editor. We aim to do this as
quickly as possible to give you a chance to resubmit elsewhere without delay.
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4. The remaining papers are sent to referees. The Editors usually approach two referees, but
occasionally only one referee is consulted; and sometimes three or more referees may be
appointed. Referees are asked to respond within six to eight weeks. They are not always able to
meet this timescale, but we do aim to write to authors within three to four months of referees
being appointed. While the paper is with referees the status will appear as Under Review.
5. Authors cannot revise their submission while the paper is with referees.
6. If you wish to contact us for any reason while the paper is under consideration this must be via
the site or the OEP journal office ([email protected]). On the website, please use the Send
Email option on the submission. This ensures that there is a record on all correspondence on your
paper. To use this feature please log onto the site and click on Action Links and then Send Email.
(Please type a message before you send the email to the Journal Office).
Decisions
Once we have received all the reports on the paper the status of your paper will change to
Required Reviews Complete. Your Editor will write to you as soon as he can but it may be
necessary for him to seek another opinion or to confer with his co-Editors before reaching a
decision. The decision on whether to reject the paper or invite a resubmission is based on a
number of factors including referees’ reports. We receive a large number of submissions and have
to assess papers rigorously so we are unable to invite revisions without some degree of support
from both referees.
Email contact
Occasionally we have problems contacting an author, with emails returned to the OEP office as
undeliverable. The reasons for this are usually:
1. The email address you have provided is no longer valid. Please log on (using your old email
address) and update your details by clicking on Update my Information on the main toolbar.
2. Your university server rejects our messages as spam. Please add our email address
([email protected]) to your address book. You can also enter two email addresses on your
details to ensure that our emails will be received at a second address.
If your paper is co-authored please ensure that you enter email addresses for your co-author(s) so
that we can contact them if we cannot reach you.
If you have successfully submitted a paper but have not received an email confirming this please
check your junk mail for our message and add us to your safe sender list.
You can see all correspondence that has been sent to you regarding the paper by logging on to our
site and clicking on the Action Links and then View Correspondence on your submission. If a
decision has been reached on your paper you can see this by logging on to the site, even if you
have not received our email. It is always a good idea to check the site first before contacting us.
The Journal Office WILL NOT RESPOND to emails asking us to confirm who we are before
our automated emails can be delivered to you. It is your responsibility to ensure that you can
receive these when you submit a paper to us.
If you have any queries about submitting your paper please contact Liz Skalka at the OEP Journal
Office, [email protected].
(Updated 4 April 2017)
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