jme-workflow

JME Workflow Router (jme-workflow)

Overview

This is the router. It does not replace any specialized skill. It tells you which jme- skill to use at the current stage* of a manuscript aimed at the Journal of Monetary Economics (JME).

Default assumption: unless told otherwise, treat the target as JME — Elsevier's leading outlet for monetary economics and macroeconomics broadly defined (monetary theory and policy, central banking, business cycles, growth, financial intermediation, fiscal interactions, expectations), in both quantitative/DSGE and empirical/applied-policy modes. Operational tells you are at JME and not a generic top econ journal: submission via Elsevier Editorial Manager (editorialmanager.com/monec/); a US$350 fee (US$200 for full-time PhD students) charged up front (no fee on resubmission; half refunded on a direct return); single anonymized (single-blind) review with at least two reviewers; the distinctive "up or out" first-revision rule and the ~50% publication-likelihood threshold for an R&R; a strict 40-page / ≤10 tables-and-figures cap on accepted papers; a 100-word abstract that may not begin with "This paper" or "We"; and the annual Carnegie-Rochester-NYU Conference Series on Public Policy issue. Editors are S. Borağan Aruoba (Maryland) and Eric Swanson (UC Irvine). Re-verify volatile specifics on the official page.

When to trigger

• The user asks "what should I do next?"
• The user hands over a draft and needs the current bottleneck diagnosed
• Work is ping-ponging between the model, the empirics, writing, and the response letter
• A JME decision letter arrived (reject / revise-and-resubmit) and the user needs to switch modes

Routing table

Current symptom	Next skill
Idea feels narrow / unclear fit with monetary-macro scope	jme-topic-selection
Contribution relative to the monetary-macro literature is fuzzy	jme-literature-positioning
The "what's new / why it matters for policy" pitch is undersold	jme-contribution-framing
Causal/structural identification of the shock or mechanism is undefended	jme-identification-strategy
VAR/LP/DSGE estimation or moments need stress-testing	jme-data-analysis
Too many exhibits for the 10-table-and-figure cap; IRFs unclear	jme-tables-figures
Prose buries the result; abstract begins with "This paper"/"We"	jme-writing-style
Need the ScienceDirect/Mendeley deposit + AI declaration ready	jme-replication-and-data-policy
Want to understand single-blind review, two-referee, "up or out"	jme-review-process
Ready to submit via Editorial Manager; need the fee + 40-page preflight	jme-submission
Received an R&R; the resubmission is "up or out"	jme-rebuttal

Default order

1. jme-topic-selection — confirm a first-order monetary/macro question and JME fit
2. jme-literature-positioning — stake the contribution against the frontier
3. jme-contribution-framing — sharpen the "what's new + policy lesson" claim
4. jme-identification-strategy — make the shock/mechanism identification credible
5. jme-data-analysis — VAR / local projections / DSGE estimation and robustness
6. jme-tables-figures — fit IRFs and tables under the ≤10 cap, online appendix for the rest
7. jme-writing-style — JME house style; 100-word abstract; author-date references
8. jme-replication-and-data-policy — ScienceDirect/Mendeley deposit + AI declaration
9. jme-review-process — understand single-blind, two-referee, "up or out", 50% threshold
10. jme-submission — Editorial Manager preflight (fee, 40 pages, line numbers, JEL codes)
11. jme-rebuttal — after the R&R (the resubmission must end in accept or reject)

jme-writing-style is a late-stage polish. Do not rewrite the intro before the model and identification are settled — the argument will change.

Decision shortcuts

• "Is my question monetary-macro enough for JME?" → jme-topic-selection
• "My TWFE/VAR shock is not really identified" → jme-identification-strategy
• "Should I report VAR and local projections?" → jme-data-analysis
• "I have 14 figures" → jme-tables-figures
• "My abstract starts with 'We'" → jme-writing-style
• "Editor may require my Dynare code" → jme-replication-and-data-policy
• "Submitting tomorrow; do I pay the fee now?" → jme-submission
• "Got an R&R — what does 'up or out' mean for me?" → jme-rebuttal

Anti-patterns

• Do not skip jme-literature-positioning and jump to estimation — referees judge the contribution first
• Do not polish exhibits while the shock identification or model is still shaky
• Do not treat the 40-page / ≤10 exhibit cap as a final-stage edit — design for it from the start
• Do not let jme-rebuttal draft the response before the revised manuscript exists — and remember the resubmission is up or out, not another R&R round