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name: jhr-submission description: Use when running the final pre-submission preflight for the Journal of Human Resources (JHR) via the msubmit.net portal — the page-count limit, the nonrefundable upfront fee, the per-author disclosure statement, the data-archive footnote, and scope fit. Final checks; it does not draft content.

Submission Preflight (jhr-submission)

When to trigger

• "Submitting tomorrow" — last check before uploading to msubmit.net
• Unsure which declarations and footnotes JHR expects at initial submission
• Confirming the 40-page limit and single-anonymous formatting are met

Process facts (verified 2026-06-01; re-confirm on the live page)

• JHR is published by University of Wisconsin Press for the Board of Regents, housed at the UW-Madison Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP); founded 1965; Editor Michael Lovenheim (Cornell, ILR School) since 2026-07-01, succeeding Anna Aizer (Brown). Re-verified 2026-09-14.
• Submit only via http://jhr.msubmit.net. Do NOT email the editor, coeditors, managing editor, or editorial office directly.
• Scope is the first gate. JHR is empirical microeconomics (labor, development, health, education, discrimination, retirement) with a policy bent and does NOT consider management/personnel ("HR") research. The fee is not refunded for out-of-scope papers.
• Nonrefundable submission fee: $175 on the live Authors page ($150 in the Sept-2024 policy PDF — verify which is current). No fee for invited revisions; economic-hardship exemption may be requested. The fee does not guarantee outside review.
• Length is page-based, not word-based: max 40 pages including references, tables, and figures at 12pt, 1.5-line spacing, 1-inch margins; up to 50 pages if double-spaced; footnotes may be smaller/single-spaced. Overflow goes to an Online Appendix (must not be excessive).
• Single-anonymous review: referees are anonymous, author names are not hidden — so do not waste effort anonymizing the body.

Preflight checklist

Scope & fit

• This is empirical microeconomics with a policy-relevant question, not HR-management/personnel work
• A clear causal or descriptive contribution to one of JHR's fields

Format & length

• <= 40 pages incl. references/tables/figures (12pt, 1.5-spacing); or <= 50 double-spaced
• Online Appendix holds overflow and is not bloated
• Tables/figures numbered, called out in order, with self-contained notes

Required front matter & footnotes

• Per-author Disclosure Statement up front (funding/support >= $10,000 over 3 yr, positions, relatives/partners, right-to-review, IRB status)
• Data-archive plan footnote with a persistent (DOI) link, or a waiver request made now (see jhr-replication-and-data-policy)
• Data Availability Statement drafted for the title page
• For RCTs: pre-analysis plan existence, registry, and deviations stated
• Author-order randomization "r" superscript used if applicable

Files for msubmit.net

• Main manuscript (within page limit) + Online Appendix
• Cover letter (question, design, headline result, policy relevance)
• Optional: prior journal's decision letter + referee reports to speed review

Worked page budget for the 40-page cap

Illustrative allocation for a design-based JHR manuscript at 12pt, 1.5-spacing (adjust to the paper, but the proportions are the point):

Section	Pages	Notes
Intro incl. reconciliation paragraph	5	Question, variation, magnitude, bridge to prior estimates
Institutional setting + data	7	Treatment definition, sample construction, linkage
Empirical strategy	4	Estimator, clustering, identifying assumption stated once
Results + design diagnostics	11	Roughly 5-7 exhibits: main table, event study or first stage, reconciliation
Heterogeneity + external validity	4	Only policy-mapped cuts
Conclusion + references	6	References count against the cap
Slack	3	R&R additions will need it

A draft at 47 pages is not "close" — cut exhibits to the Online Appendix before upload, since the cap includes tables, figures, and references.

Cover-letter skeleton

1. Question + JHR field (labor/education/health/development/discrimination/retirement)
2. Identifying variation in one sentence (rollout / cutoff / lottery / instrument)
3. Headline magnitude in policy units
4. One reconciliation sentence vs. the closest published estimate
5. Notes: archive-plan footnote or waiver; optional prior-journal reports attached

Anti-patterns

• Paying the nonrefundable fee on an out-of-scope HR-management paper
• Emailing the editor instead of using msubmit.net
• Blowing past 40 pages and dumping the excess into a bloated appendix
• Omitting the disclosure statement or the data-archive footnote (can reverse acceptance)
• Over-anonymizing the body for a single-anonymous journal

Output format

【Scope】empirical micro + policy, not HR-mgmt? [Y/N]
【Length】<=40pp (or <=50 double)? overflow in appendix? [Y/N]
【Fee】$175 nonrefundable acknowledged / hardship? [Y/N]
【Disclosure】per-author statement up front? [Y/N]
【Data】archive footnote + DAS (or waiver requested)? [Y/N]
【Files】manuscript / appendix / cover letter staged? [Y/N]
【Next step】await desk decision → jhr-rebuttal on R&R

Supplementary resources

• templates/checklist.md — full pre-submission self-check
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — official JHR URLs behind every fact