Journal of Economic Issues
STYLESHEET
Guidelines For Authors
This guide will help you avoid most common problems and reduce editing, revising, and proofreading time.
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Throughout the editing and production process, it is of utmost importance for you to ensure that the copy/production editor has current contact information for you, including both your email and surface mail addresses and a telephone number where you can be reached. Please make sure that your contact info is up-to-date in Manuscript Central, or send an email to the production editor with the updated info: Log into your account to view the email address.
When submitting an article, book review, or note for the JEI, the preferred method of submission is through the editorial express at https://editorialexpress.com/jei or as an email to the editor. The manuscript must be Microsoft Word compatible.
WORD PROCESSING
Please, turn off ALL language features (other than English) prior to submitting your document. Make sure that all type is in one of the following: Goudy Old Style (preferable), Times New Roman, or Arial fonts. International contributors be forewarned: There are at least two kinds of fonts that wreak havoc on the spacing in the programs used. They are SimSun and Minchin.
In general, plain text is best. The production editor will format the article.
- Tables and figures—Save each in a separate file, not in the text. Type a place marker immediately following the paragraph in which you introduce it. For tables, use the table feature or tabs rather than spaces between columns. Excel tables are acceptable. Do not include borders or lines. The journal does not publish in color, make sure charts, tables, etc., are in black in white. To ensure the highest quality for your figures, .pdf is the preferred format. If there are problems with the quality/clarity of tables, graphs or figures, you may be asked to provide hard copies of them, in case we need to scan them. When creating tables and figures, keep in mind that a JEI page has a text area of four and three-quarters inches by seven inches. The minimum font size is eight points. In other words, a table in eight-point type that fills a standard sheet of paper is far too large for our format. Tables and figures with landscape (sideways) orientation and two-page tables can be used if necessary. Any tables or figures that include empirical data MUST include the notation “Source:” listing where the data came from.
- Footnotes—To ensure inclusion of references and notes, and proper numbering of the notes, please do not use your word processor’s footnote or endnote feature to code your notes. Instead, insert a number where you want the note, using your font feature to make it superscript, and include a numbered list at the end of your text. To make it easy to find, using a font color or highlighting the number is helpful. Our copy/production editor will format the footnotes properly in the final proof. In addition, turn off all auto-style or auto-format functions and any kind of reference indexing. DO NOT place footnote numbers in headings. DO NOT place two footnote numbers in the same place. Footnote numbers should be placed AFTER any punctuation, but before dashes. Include each footnote as a separate paragraph under its own number.
QUOTATIONS and OTHER PUNCTUATION
- Single or double—Use single quotation marks only for quotes within quotes; use double for everything else (use curved quotations (“”) not straight (″) ones. If you change the capitalization of a letter at the beginning of your quotation, from what it is in the original, enclose that letter in brackets. The JEI follows American English conventions: Periods and commas are located inside the ending quotation mark (“like this,” “not like this”,). Colons and semicolons are located on the outside of the ending quotation mark. The location of other punctuation (?, !, etc.,) will vary depending on the situation.
- Block quotations—Indent quotations of five lines or longer. Except to emphasize a point, shorter quotations need not be indented.
- Ellipses—Use periods and spaces ( . . . ) instead of the keyboard shortcut for the ellipsis symbol in your text. Do not start a quotation with an ellipsis; if you are starting the quote in the middle of a sentence, use a lower case letter. See the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) for additional examples and guidance.
- One space or two?—Use a single space after end punctuation.
WRITING
- Names—When mentioning an individual for the first time in the text or footnotes, provide their first name (or two initials). For example: “Clinton calls for Rumsfeld’s resignation” would be wrong, whereas “Hillary Clinton calls for Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation” would be correct. In subsequent mentions, when referring to an author’s, editor’s or translator’s work, only their last (given) name is needed in the text, unless two or more authors have the same last name (then include first name or double initials). If the work has two or three authors, provide the last names of each author. If there are more than three, use the last name of the first author followed by “et al.”
- Inclusive Gender Pronouns—Works submitted for publication in the JEI should avoid the use of gendered pronouns when referring to a generic population. The use of “they/them/their” as a singular pronoun is acceptable but should be avoided when it may result in confusion. There are a variety of techniques to achieve gender neutrality, as detailed in The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition, section 5.255. These can also be found on the last page of this document, or obtained by request from Log into your account to view the email address..
- Tenses—Attribution to a person, past tense: “Veblen said . . .” Attribution to a work such as an article or book, present tense: “Veblen (1899) says . . .” Established knowledge, present tense: “Institutionalists believe . . .” Methods and results, past tense: “We analyzed . . .” Presentation, present tense: “Table 1 shows . . .”
- Italics—Use for book and journal names, emphasis, and words being discussed. Do not use for keywords.
- i.e., and e.g.,—Use sparingly, if at all. Follow each with a comma whenever used and enclose the phrase in parentheses.
- Acronyms/Abbreviations—Always spell out the entire entry prior to using any acronym or abbreviation (please err on the side of too much information). United States is a special case. When referring to the United States (using it as a noun) always spell it out. When referring to money, use US$. When using as an adjective (e.g., U.S. Department of Too Many Rules) insert periods after the letters.
- United States v. “America”—Just as people from the United Kingdom could be British, Northern Irish, Scots, or Welsh, a person from the Americas could be from any of 35 countries in North or South America. When referring to people, entities, or policies from the United States, they should not be identified as “American.” The only officially and commonly used alternative for referring to the people of the United States in English is to refer to them as “citizens of the United States.” Another alternative is U.S.-American, also spelled US American.
- Section Numbering—Section numbers will be removed in the final publication, if sections are referred to in the text, be sure to refer to them by name, not by number.
AUTHOR’S PARAGRAPH
You will need to provide a brief, author’s paragraph that will be included at the bottom of the first page in the published copy. Please include it with the initial submission of your article on the separate title page. It should include each author’s name and affiliation as well as any acknowledgements.
ABSTRACTS, KEYWORDS AND JEL CLASSIFICATION CODES
You will need to furnish an abstract of 200 words or less; three to five keywords to be included in the Journal with your article, three to five JEL classification codes directly pertaining to your paper. The complete list of the JEL classifications/codes can be found at http://www.aeaweb.org/journal/jel_class_system.html
CITATIONS AND REFERENCES
Include all works cited in the text in the reference list. The JEI uses Author–Date References (with a corresponding Reference list). DO NOT include works not specifically cited in the text.
- et al.—may only be used for four or more authors. If there are three or fewer authors, list all names (in text and in references). For four to ten authors, you can use the last name of the first author followed by “et al.” or the first author’s last name “and others” in the text. However, in the references, please list all authors.
- ibid.—In a departure from previous editions, Chicago discourages the use of ibid. in favor of shortened author-date citations.
- Op. cit. and loc. cit.—like ibid., have also fallen into disuse and should be replaced with shortened author-date citations.
If you cite specific page numbers, make sure they are covered in the References. If an author has more than one entry, list in chronological order starting with the oldest and working toward the latest. The JEI uses the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), 17th edition. Papers with references that are not cited according to CMOS will be returned to the author for correct formatting of references. For sample citations, see: www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html
Any tables or figures that include empirical data MUST include the notation “Source:” listing where the data came from. 3
When writing authors names in the references, include two initials or the author’s full first name. For example: Smith, John, and Mary Jones OR Smith, J. R., and M. O. Jones NOT Smith, J., and M. Jones.
If the flow of your writing allows, you may incorporate the citation into the text (e.g., “Jones (2001) contains a good analysis of the problem (45–46), and Jane Martin wrote in 2003 that . . .”).
Citing a source repeatedly—Cite the author and date the first time in each paragraph and just the page numbers throughout the rest of the paragraph.
“p.” or “pp.”—DO NOT use in citations in articles or References; DO use in book reviews.
Here are samples of some commonly cited types of works and how they should appear in the reference list according to CMOS. Note the uses of italics. Note that all titles are written using “capital case.” Entries in parentheses are examples of how the reference should be cited in the text (they are not to be used as part of the reference at the end of your article):
Books
In references:
Hodgson, Geoffrey M. 1998. Economics and Institutions: A Manifesto for a Modern Institutional Economics. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
In text:
(Hodgson 1988)
In references:
Smith, John, and Mary Jones. 2003. The Ultimate Economics Textbook. New York: Megapublishing.
In text:
(Smith and Jones 2003)
Articles
In references (four or more authors):
La Porta, Rafael, Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes, Andrei Shleifer, and Robert Vishny. 1999. “The Quality of Government.” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 15 (1): 222–279.
In text:
(La Porta et al. 1999)
In references (fewer than four authors):
Sánchez-Andrés, Antonio, and José March-Poquet. 2002. “The Construction of Market Institutions in Russia: A View from the Institutionalism of Polanyi.” Journal of Economic Issues 36 (3): 707–722.
In text:
(Sánchez-Andrés and March-Poquet 2002)
In references (when a season or month is included):
Liu, Jui-Ch’i. 2015. “Beholding the Feminine Sublime: Lee Miller’s War Photography.” Signs 40, no. 2 (Winter): 308–19.
Edited Works
In references:
Johnson, Steve. 2003. “A New Dawn.” In Economic Philosophies, edited by Judy Gomez and Mary Jones, 1–10. New York: Megapublishing.
In text:
(Johnson 2003)
Online Works
If the URL starts with “www,” you do not need to include http://. Always include an Accessed date following the URL. If the cited document is dated, include the year as with other printed works. If the cited document is undated, use “n.d.,” DO NOT use accessed date.
In references:
Smith, John. n.d. “Writing College Textbooks. Academic Publishing.” Available at www.acpub.org/smithj.htm. Accessed September 1, 2010.
In text:
(Smith n.d.) [Cite the last name and “n.d.” for an undated item.]
In references:
Martin, Jane. 2003. “My Predictions.” CNN. April 7, 2003. Available at www.cnn.com/martincolumn.htm. Accessed October 10, 2010. 4
In text:
(Martin 2003) [For a dated item, include the last name and year.]
Newspapers
In references:
Greenhouse, Steven. 2010. “Unions Find Members Slow to Rally Behind Democrats.” New York Times, September 17, 2010.
In text:
(Greenhouse 2010)
Reprints
In references:
Keynes, John Maynard. (1936) 1964. The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. New York: Harvest.
In text:
(Keynes [1936] 1964)
Theses and Dissertations
In references:
Munasib, Abdul. 2005. “Lifecycle of Social Networks: A Dynamic Analysis of Social Capital Formation: The Relationship Between Human Capital and Social Capital, and The Importance of City Size.” PhD diss., Ohio State University.
In text:
(Munasib 2005)
WRITING BOOK REVIEWS
Book reviews should be between 500 to 1000 words. The following information is needed to identify the book:
Title in italics, by author’s name. Publisher location: Publisher, Year. Paper, cloth, hardcover: ISBN # with spaces no hyphens, cost, # of pages.
For example:
Policymaking for a Good Society: The Social Fabric Matrix Approach to Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation, by F. Gregory Hayden. New York: Springer-Verlag, 2006. Hardcover: ISBN: 0 387 29369 8, $84.95, 251 pages.
All questions cannot be answered in a brief guide, so, please, do not hesitate to contact the production editor, at Log into your account to view the email address., if you have any questions about style or manuscript preparation.
William Waller, Editor
Susan Evans, Production Manager
The Journal of Economic Issues is sponsored by the Association for Evolutionary Economics (AFEE).
The Chicago Manual of Style Online
5: Grammar and Usage
5.225 Nine techniques for achieving gender neutrality [*]
There are many ways to achieve gender-neutral language, but it takes some thought and often some hard work. Nine methods are suggested below because no single method will work for every writer. And one method won’t neatly resolve every gender-bias problem. Some of them—for example, repeating the noun or using “he or she”—will irritate readers if overused. All of them risk changing the intended meaning: though slight changes in meaning are inevitable, additional rewording may be necessary.
- Omit the pronoun: the programmer should update the records when data is transferred to her by the head office becomes the programmer should update the records when data is transferred by the head office.
- Repeat the noun: a writer should be careful not to needlessly antagonize readers, because her credibility will suffer becomes a writer should be careful not to needlessly antagonize readers, because the writer’s credibility will suffer.
- Use a plural antecedent: a contestant must conduct himself with dignity at all times becomes contestants must conduct themselves with dignity at all times.
- Use an article instead of a personal pronoun: a student accused of cheating must actively waive his right to have his guidance counselor present becomes a student accused of cheating must actively waive the right to have a guidance counselor present.
- Use the neutral singular pronoun one: an actor in New York is likely to earn more than he is in Paducah becomes an actor in New York is likely to earn more than one in Paducah.
- Use the relative pronoun who (works best when it replaces a personal pronoun that follows if): employers presume that if an applicant can’t write well, he won’t be a good employee becomes employers presume that an applicant who can’t write well won’t be a good employee.
- Use the imperative mood: a lifeguard must keep a close watch over children while he is monitoring the pool becomes keep a close watch over children while monitoring the pool.
- Use he or she (sparingly): if a complainant is not satisfied with the board’s decision, then he can ask for a rehearing becomes if a complainant is not satisfied with the board’s decision, then he or she can ask for a rehearing.
- Revise the clause: a person who decides not to admit he lied will be considered honest until someone exposes his lie becomes a person who denies lying will be considered honest until the lie is exposed.
[* In the 17th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style, this topic is addressed in section 5.255]
The Chicago Manual of Style 15th edition text © 1982, 1993, 2003 by The University of Chicago. The Chicago Manual of Style 16th edition text © 2010 by The University of Chicago. The Chicago Manual of Style Online © 2006, 2007, 2010 by The University of Chicago. The Chicago Manual of Style is a registered trademark of The University of Chicago.