AEA Papers and Proceedings

ISSN 2574-0768 (Print) | ISSN 2574-0776 (Online)

Accepted Articles: Manuscript Preparation Guidelines

Please review these guidelines thoroughly before preparing and sending your manuscript files, supplemental materials, and required documents (see checklist).

All materials, with the exception of data and code, should be emailed to pandp@aeapubs.org no later than the first Friday following the end of the ASSA Annual Meeting.

When preparing manuscripts, authors should follow the Chicago Manual of Style and the AEA Papers and Proceedings Style Guide.

Publication Policy

All papers published in the AEA Papers and Proceedings (P&P) must represent original work and should reference and describe relevant prior work on the same subject. Papers under consideration for publication at another journal are ineligible for publication in P&P.

Authors must adhere to the AEA Disclosure Policy, which provides principles for the disclosure of financial conflicts of interest and, when relevant, information regarding IRB approval. Disclosure is author- and paper-specific; a specific relationship may be relevant for one of an author’s papers but not for another.

It is the policy of the AEA to publish papers only if the data and code used in the analysis are clearly and precisely documented and access to the data and code is nonexclusive to the authors. All submissions must comply with the AEA Data and Code Availability Policy, even papers using data that cannot be published.

Research involving field experiments must be recorded in the AEA registry for randomized controlled trials (RCTs). (Laboratory experiments do not need to be registered at this time.)

Manuscript PDF

The manuscript PDF should include the main text, exhibits, and references. Manuscripts should not include a title page. Title and byline should be placed at the top of the first page.

Manuscript Native Files

Authors must provide the native files used to create the manuscript PDF.  AEA templates may be used for LaTeX, Scientific Word, and Microsoft Word. 

Length Restrictions

Papers that exceed the length restrictions will be returned to the author. If, after being returned, the paper is not edited to conform to the guidelines, the paper will not be published.

Five-paper session 

Page limit includes all text, figures, tables, footnotes, acknowledgements, and references.

Four-paper session

Page limit includes all text, figures, tables, footnotes, acknowledgements, and references.

Three-paper session

Page limit includes all text, figures, tables, footnotes, acknowledgements, and references.

*If you are not using our templates, format with:
-- 12-point Times New Roman font.
-- 1-inch side, top, and bottom margins.

Abstract

An abstract of 100 or fewer words must be provided as a Word document, separate from your paper. Abstracts will be included on the article web page.

Data and Code

Authors of papers that contain empirical work, simulations, or experimental work must provide information about the data, programs, and other details of the computations sufficient to permit replication, as well as information about access to data and programs.  Data and programs must be archived in the AEA Data and Code Repository or another trusted repository by May 1.

As part of the archive, authors must provide a README file listing all included files and documenting the purpose, format, and provenance of each file provided, as well as instructing a user on how replication can be conducted.

After the data and code archive is created, a single Data and Code Availability Form must be emailed to pandp@aeapubs.org.

See the Data and Code Availability Policy for details.

Data and Code: Related Documents

A Data Information Form must be provided to indicate whether data were used in the paper. 

Authors of papers that contain empirical work, simulations, or experimental work must each sign a separate Data and Code Archive Agreement.

Author Disclosure Statements

Each (co)author must submit an individual disclosure statement (in PDF format) including the paper title and the author's name at the top. Statements must acknowledge (i) funding sources; (ii) any other potential conflict of interest; and (iii) IRB approval, if applicable. If there is nothing to disclose, an author is still required to supply a disclosure statement formally making that claim.

See the full AEA Disclosure Policy for details and guidance.

Supplemental Appendix

Authors may submit a Supplemental Appendix that contains material such as nonessential extensions, nonessential alternative specifications or robustness checks, and additional discussion that will be of interest to those pursuing work in the area.

The Supplemental Appendix must be provided as a separate PDF and should include a heading that begins with "Supplemental Appendix," followed by the manuscript title and the names of the authors.  Supplemental appendices are posted under "Additional Materials" and are not typeset or edited.

Presentation Slides

Authors may supply optional presentation slides as a separate, clearly labeled PDF.  Presentation slides are posted under "Additional Materials."

Publication Agreements 

Each (co)author must submit a separate, signed Publication Agreement and specify whether implicit or explicit reprint rights are preferred.