| name | jfi-workflow |
| description | Use when routing a Journal of Financial Intermediation (JFI) manuscript through its lifecycle — given where you are in the banking/intermediation paper pipeline, it names the next jfi-* skill to invoke and separates the theory-led path from the empirics-led path. It coordinates; it does not draft content. |
JFI Workflow Router (jfi-workflow)
When to trigger
- "I'm writing a JFI paper — where do I start?"
- You finished one stage and want the next jfi-* skill
- You are unsure whether your project is theory-led or empirics-led at JFI
What JFI is (orient first)
Journal of Financial Intermediation (JFI) is an Elsevier journal (ISSN 1042-9573) on banking,
financial intermediation, and the economics of financial institutions and markets. It publishes both
theory and empirics: bank behavior, intermediary frictions, corporate finance, regulation, and related
financial-economics topics. So the router first asks whether the paper's core contribution is a model
(theory) or an empirical design — this changes how jfi-identification-strategy,
jfi-data-analysis, and jfi-replication-and-data-policy are applied.
Routing map
| Where you are | Next skill |
|---|
| Choosing / sharpening the question | jfi-topic-selection |
| Placing it against the intermediation frontier | jfi-literature-positioning |
| Empirical causal design OR theory assumptions/proofs | jfi-identification-strategy |
| Running bank/loan-panel analysis OR numerical examples | jfi-data-analysis |
| Articulating the mechanism / "why intermediaries matter" | jfi-contribution-framing |
| Building exhibits | jfi-tables-figures |
| Polishing prose, author–date style, numbered sections | jfi-writing-style |
| Preparing Option C data sharing + Data Statement | jfi-replication-and-data-policy |
| Understanding single-blind / desk-reject / final decision | jfi-review-process |
| Final preflight + fee + abstract/keywords + AI disclosure | jfi-submission |
| Responding to referees on an R&R | jfi-rebuttal |
Default sequence
topic-selection → literature-positioning → identification-strategy → data-analysis →
contribution-framing → tables-figures → writing-style → replication-and-data-policy → review-process →
submission → rebuttal.
Two lifecycle profiles through this router
- Empirics-led (e.g., a register-based lending-channel paper): topic-selection settles the mechanism;
jfi-identification-strategy is the heaviest stop (demand confounds, within-firm design);
jfi-data-analysis builds the battery; jfi-review-process matters early, because the desk screen
is the binding constraint, not the referee round.
- Theory-led (e.g., a model of run-prone shadow funding):
jfi-identification-strategy becomes
assumptions-and-propositions discipline; jfi-data-analysis shrinks to a numerical illustration;
jfi-writing-style carries more weight, since proof exposition is the surface the referee actually
reads.
Symptom → skill routing
| Symptom | Route to |
|---|
| "A referee could say it's all borrower demand" | jfi-identification-strategy |
| Abstract reads like generic banking | jfi-contribution-framing |
| Closest citations are all JF/JFE general finance | jfi-literature-positioning, then re-test fit |
| Exhibits do not show the mechanism | jfi-tables-figures |
| Worried about paying the non-refundable fee | jfi-review-process + the gates in jfi-submission |
| Restricted register data, sharing plan unclear | jfi-replication-and-data-policy |
Stage gates before money and goodwill are spent
- Gate A (after literature-positioning): the delta is a mechanism, not merely a new dataset.
- Gate B (after identification/data-analysis): a within-firm or equivalent demand control exists, or
the theory's propositions are fully proved with stated boundaries.
- Gate C (before submission): the desk-screen self-audit passes — mechanism in the abstract, design
defended in the introduction, the <=250-word abstract and 1-7 English keywords are ready, and the
US$500 new-submission fee is justified. Re-confirm fees against the journal's current author
guidelines before filing.
A routing pass, worked (illustrative)
An author arrives with loan-level evidence that small banks cut credit after a deposit outflow.
jfi-topic-selection: strong fit once anchored to liquidity transformation. jfi-literature-positioning:
closest papers are the deposits-channel line; the delta is the relationship-borrower margin.
jfi-identification-strategy: outflow exposure may proxy local demand — gate B forces a within-firm
design before any drafting continues. jfi-data-analysis: battery planned around that threat. Only then
do framing, exhibits, and style run, and jfi-submission clears the fee gates. The router's value is
refusing to let writing start before gate B — at JFI the design objection, not the prose, kills papers.
On an R&R, re-enter the map at the skill matching the referee's heaviest comment, then exit via
jfi-rebuttal.
Anti-patterns
- Treating JFI as purely empirical when your contribution is a model (or vice versa)
- Skipping
jfi-review-process and being surprised by desk-rejection or a narrow appeal path
- Forgetting the US$500 fee until
jfi-submission — see the source map and re-confirm before filing
Output format
【Stage】<your current stage>
【Paper type】theory / empirical / both
【Next skill】jfi-<role>
【Then】<the one after>
