joe-review-process

Review Process (joe-review-process)

When to trigger

• You want to know how JoE evaluates a methodological submission, end to end
• You are choosing among the Regular / Annals / Themed Issue tracks
• You are anticipating referee objections before submitting or after a revision request
• You are unsure who decides (editors, Co-Editors, Guest Associate Editors)

How JoE review works

• Single-anonymized review: referees know the authors' identities; authors do not know the referees.
• Editor screening first: editors screen submissions; suitable papers are sent to a minimum of two independent expert referees, and the editors make the final decision. Unsuitable or out-of-scope papers are desk-screened out.
• Co-Editors-in-Chief: Michael Jansson (UC Berkeley) and Aureo de Paula (UCL), supported by a set of Co-Editors. Check the live board page for the complete current roster before naming a handling editor.

The three submission tracks

• Regular Issues — standard standalone methodological papers; the default route.
• Annals Issues — focused volumes assembled around a coherent theme.
• Themed Issues — topic-based collections, often originating from conferences. Proposal organizers may serve as Guest Associate Editors who make recommendations to the Co-Editors; Themed Issues still go through the regular editorial process. If your work matches an active theme, this can be a strong, well-matched route (check the journal's Themes page for current calls).

Pick the track deliberately: a standalone advance → Regular; a contribution that fits an active call → Themed/Annals, where a Guest Associate Editor close to the topic may handle it.

What methods referees look for

1. Genuine methodological contribution with mathematical rigor — proofs/asymptotics, not a relabeled method.
2. Primitive, verifiable assumptions and honest asymptotics (no smuggling the conclusion).
3. Monte Carlo that reports size and size-adjusted power and stresses the assumptions.
4. Precise positioning against the nearest estimator/test.
5. Reproducibility — runnable estimator and a run_all pipeline.
6. Scope fit — a methodological advance, not a purely applied result.

Practical reading of the process

• A clean editor screen rewards a contribution stated plainly in the abstract/intro (see joe-contribution-framing, joe-writing-style).
• Because referees are specialists, the closest-competitor comparison and the boundary-case Monte Carlo are where reports are won or lost.
• Expect detailed, technical referee reports; a revision request usually means "make the theory/Monte Carlo airtight," handled in joe-rebuttal.

Editor-screen packet

Before submission, assemble a four-item packet for the first editorial read:

Packet item	What it must show	Where it appears
One-sentence method advance	The estimator/test/theorem is not a relabeling of an existing method	Abstract and first introduction paragraph
Closest-competitor contrast	Exactly which estimator, test, or asymptotic result is improved	Introduction table or paragraph
Formal-core promise	Identification, assumptions, rate, and inference are all proved or clearly delegated to appendices	Theory section map
Finite-sample credibility	Monte Carlo stresses the boundary cases where the method should matter	Simulation design summary

If the packet cannot be filled without hedging, the paper is not ready for JoE screening. Fix the formal core before investing in formatting.

Anti-patterns

• Treating JoE like a double-anonymized journal and over-anonymizing (it is single-anonymized)
• Submitting to a Themed Issue whose scope your paper does not actually match
• Ignoring that editors screen first — a buried contribution dies at the screen
• Assuming a purely applied paper will survive referees here
• Letting a simulation-heavy paper hide the absence of a formal methodological advance

Output format

【Review model】single-anonymized; editor screen → ≥2 referees
【Track】Regular / Annals / Themed (+ Guest AE if themed)
【Handling editor】Co-Editor / Guest AE; final call by editors
【Referee hot spots】assumptions / asymptotics / size-power / positioning / reproducibility
【Editor-screen packet】advance / competitor / formal core / finite-sample credibility
【Scope check】methodological advance present? [Y/N]
【Next step】joe-submission