| name | aeri-submission |
| description | Use when running the final pre-submission preflight for American Economic Review: Insights (AER: Insights) via the AEA/ScholarOne submission system — the word-count and exhibit-count gates, abstract limit, fees, author metadata, declarations, and the AEA Data and Code Availability Policy. Final checks; it does not draft content. |
Submission Preflight (aeri-submission)
When to trigger
- "Submitting tomorrow" — last check before pressing submit on the AEA portal
- Verifying the word count and exhibit count clear the auto-return gates
- Unsure which files, fees, and declarations the AEA system expects
- Confirming single-blind author metadata, declarations, and the data/code statement
Process facts (official AEA baseline checked 2026-06-20)
- AER: Insights is an AEA journal for short, single-idea general-interest papers. Submission is through the AEA-linked ScholarOne Manuscripts system.
- Hard length gate: main text ≤7,000 words with no exhibits; each exhibit subtracts 200 words; maximum five exhibits (figures + tables combined), each ≤1 page. The word count includes body, footnotes, endnotes, and in-paper appendices; it excludes title, authors, abstract, acknowledgement footnote, references, exhibits, and the Supplemental Appendix. Papers over the word or exhibit limit are returned unreviewed.
- Abstract: ≤100 words.
- Fees: AEA members — high-income US$200 / middle-income US$100 / low-income US$0; nonmembers — US$300 / US$200 / US$0; papers rejected without review receive a 50 percent submission-fee refund. Publication fee: US$15 per typeset page for applicable submissions.
- Single-blind review: author identity is visible to referees; referee identity remains anonymous to authors. The manuscript should include title, byline, and author affiliations on the first page, not a separate title page.
- Metadata: prepare keywords and JEL classifications if the portal prompts for them; use the AEA JEL guide for classification choices.
- Data and code: submission must comply with the AEA Data and Code Availability Policy; data, code, and documentation sufficient for replication are required before acceptance, verified by the AEA Data Editor (deposit to the AEA Data and Code Repository / openICPSR). See
aeri-replication-package.
Preflight checklist
Length & format (the auto-return gates)
Author metadata & declarations
Files, fees & declarations
Counting words the way the AEA counts them
The auto-return gate is enforced on a specific scope, so count it correctly:
- Include: the main body, footnotes, endnotes, and in-paper appendices.
- Exclude: title, author names, abstract, the acknowledgement footnote, the reference list, the
exhibits themselves, and the Supplemental Appendix.
- Then subtract 200 words per exhibit from the 7,000 ceiling: a paper with five exhibits has a 6,000-word
main-text budget. A common mistake is counting only the body and forgetting footnotes/in-paper appendices,
then discovering the true count is over at the portal.
Reconcile this with aeri-writing-style (cutting to the cap) and
aeri-tables-figures (the exhibit budget) before you reach the portal.
Anti-patterns
- Submitting over the word or exhibit cap (auto-return without review)
- Abstract over 100 words; exhibits over one page
- Stripping author information as if identities were hidden from referees, contrary to AEA single-blind instructions
- Significance asterisks/boldface in exhibits
- Treating the data/code policy as a post-acceptance afterthought
Output format
【Word count】main text = __ ; cap = 7000 − 200×__ = __ ; under? [Y/N]
【Exhibits】__ / 5, each ≤1 page? [Y/N]
【Abstract】__ words (≤100?) [Y/N]
【Author metadata】title/byline/affiliations and acknowledgement footnote complete? [Y/N]
【Classifications】keywords/JEL ready if portal prompts? [Y/N]
【Fee + declarations + data/code】fee ready; disclosures/AI/data policy acknowledged? [Y/N]
【Next step】submit via AEA portal → aeri-referee-strategy for what to expect
Supplementary resources
