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American Economic Association

Prepare your manuscript for American Economic Review.

Review the checklist, choose your article type, and turn your draft into a cleaner submission package.

Checked 2026-10-23
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Article types

Review
Editorial
Letter
Perspective
Protocol

Readiness requirements

Review the key details below, or download the complete checklist with every stored source-backed requirement.

Abstract length

  • Provide an author-written abstract of no more than 100 words.
  • An abstract of 100 or fewer words is required.
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  • Abstracts An abstract is required for all articles, comments, and replies and must not exceed 100 words.
  • Manuscripts must be anonymized to avoid revealing author identities: The title of the article and the abstract should appear at the top of the first page, but author names, author affiliations, author contact information, and the acknowledgement footnote should be omitted from the manuscript and should instead be provided in a separate PDF document, labeled "title page.".

Reference style

  • Articlo formats your supplied references in Harvard style and checks that citations match the reference list; source validity is not verified.
  • Submission Policy All papers submitted to the AER must represent original work and should fully reference and describe all prior work on the same subject.
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  • If you are using bibliographic software to prepare your reference list, we prefer that you use the "Chicago Manual Author-Date" style.
  • Text Citations and Reference List Entries Text citations and reference list entries should follow author-date style (see Chicago Manual of Style ).
  • Each text citation should have a corresponding entry in the list of references.
  • Data sources and registered studies used in the research must be included in the reference list.
  • Include full citations of sources in the references.
  • Manuscripts must be anonymized to avoid revealing author identities: All references to the authors' prior work should be cited using the authors' names and should avoid the use of pronouns, such as "my" or "our," or phrases such as "the authors' previous work.".
  • For research involving field experiments, authors must supply the AEA RCT identification number during the manuscript submission process and should include a citation of their registration in the acknowledgement footnote of the paper.
  • Text citations with one to four authors should include all author names; for more than four authors, list only the name of the first author followed by "et al." Reference list entries with one to ten authors should include all author names; for eleven or more authors, list the first seven, followed by a comma and "et al.".
  • These appendices should begin on a new page following the text, preceding the references.
  • Acknowledgment Footnote In a note at the bottom of the first page, include the following: A statement identifying the AEA RCT registration, if applicable, including its identification number and a citation to the study, which should be included in the list of references.

Figure and table rules

  • Keep every figure and table numbered, captioned, and cited in the manuscript.
  • Tables must be no more than 9 columns wide including row headings.
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  • Authors are solely accountable for, and must thoroughly fact-check, outputs created with the help of AI software.
  • For footnotes pertaining to specific table entries, footnote keys should be lowercase letters (a, b, c, etc.).
  • If there are variables (italics) or matrices and vectors (boldface) in figures, they should be designated as such.
  • Source notes, if any, should be placed after other notes related to the figure.
  • Figures: must be supplied as vector-based graphics in one of the following formats—vector PDF, EPS, AI, WMF, or PPT.
  • Place source note, if any, after other notes related to the table.

Competing interests

  • Prior to submission, authors should familiarize themselves with how the AER handles conflicts of interest between authors and coeditors, as described in our Editorial Policy.
  • Submissions to the AEA journals should conform to the AEA Disclosure Policy, which provides principles for the disclosure of financial conflicts of interest and, when relevant, information regarding IRB approval.
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  • A cover letter is not required and should only be used to provide substantive information, such as the identification of coeditors with whom the author may have a personal conflict of interest.

Ethics statement

  • Include or confirm the ethics statement required by the journal. Articlo checks this item and flags anything that still needs author input.

Blinded manuscript

  • Manuscripts must be anonymized to avoid revealing author identities: Links to online information stored on personal websites or at institutions with which any of the coauthors are affiliated should be omitted.

Cover letter

  • Potential personal conflicts should be identified in an accompanying cover letter during submission.
  • Any data access limitations should also be noted in the cover letter.
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  • Note: The journal cannot reprint images owned by a third party without the written consent of the copyright holder.

Supplementary files

  • Include every cited supplementary file and use matching labels in the manuscript.
  • Supplementary appendices must be anonymized.
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  • The paper (including any in-paper appendices) must be self-contained, in the sense that a reader can understand and evaluate the findings without consulting the Supplemental Appendix.

Title page and author information

  • Provide the author, affiliation, and correspondence details for the separate title page; Articlo creates the editable companion file.
  • Title and Byline Manuscripts should not include a title page.
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  • Manuscripts must be anonymized to avoid revealing author identities: Identifying locations and institutional affiliations, such as descriptions of study sites or IRB approvals, should be omitted.

Artificial intelligence disclosure

  • Each (co)author should prepare a separate PDF document entitled " Disclosure Statement," which must be provided with the manuscript.
  • The disclosure statement should include the (co)author’s name and the title of the article.
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  • If an author has nothing to disclose, that fact should be explicitly stated in the disclosure statement.
  • Artificial intelligence (AI) software, such as chatbots or other large language models, may not be listed as an author.

Other submission requirements

  • Subscripts and superscripts must be easily distinguished from regular variables and from each other.
  • Use only two levels of sub- and superscripts.
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  • The manuscript should be in PDF format and should be kept under 10 MB when reasonably possible.
  • Photographs and Other Images Photographs and other images (maps, screenshots, etc.) should be provided at 300 dpi.
  • Papers previously rejected by the AER should not be resubmitted and will not reviewed.
  • For authors to take advantage of the lower (or waived) fees offered to low- and middle-income countries, the submitting author must meet that criteria.
  • Adherence to the journal's Style Guide is required for accepted articles but is optional at the time of submission.
  • Submissions that do not include these statements will be considered incomplete and will not be reviewed.
  • If these templates are used, they should be used in "review mode.".
  • Title and byline should be placed at the top of the first page.
  • Equations should appear on separate lines and be numbered consecutively at the left margin, using Arabic numbers in parentheses.
  • Blackboard font should be used to indicate real numbers, integers, and natural numbers only.
  • Columns must be in vertical (or portrait) orientation.
  • Use only horizontal lines and additional blank space to show space distinction.
  • If AI software was used in the preparation of the manuscript, including drafting or editing text, this must be briefly described during the submission process, which will help us understand how authors are or are not using chatbots or other forms of AI.
  • Prior to acceptance, authors of papers that contain empirical work, simulations, or experimental work must provide the data, code, and other details of the computations sufficient to permit replication.
  • 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.).
  • Do not use shading.
  • Place a zero in front of the decimal point in all decimal fractions (e.g., 0.357, not.357).
  • We strongly recommend that manuscripts not exceed a length equivalent to 40 pages when formatted using 11-point font, 1.5 spacing, and 1-inch margins, or 45 pages when formatted using 12-point font, 1.5 spacing, and 1-inch margins.

Data and open-science statements

  • All submissions must comply with the AEA Data and Code Availability Policy.

Manuscript structure

  • Do not use asterisks to denote significance of estimation results.
  • All essential information, such as data sources, variable definitions, and methods (for empirical work) and proofs of the formal results (for theoretical work), must be included in the paper.
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  • Section Headings Section headings should follow traditional outline format: Roman numerals (I., II., etc.) for major section headings, followed by capital letters (A., B., etc.) for the first subsection, etc. The introductory section should not receive a heading.
  • Do not abbreviate in column headings.

Language and text style

  • Use italics for scalar variables, use boldface to specify vectors and matrices, and use script for sets.
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What your package checks

Abstract: 100 words
References: Harvard
Title page: separate file
Declarations: Acknowledgements
Format: 11 pt, 1.5-line spacing

Source transparency

This preparation guide uses published journal-specific author requirements. Journal instructions can change, so authors should complete a final review before submission.

Open official guideline source