jme-review-process - SKILL.md Agent Skill

name: jme-review-process description: Use when you need to understand how the Journal of Monetary Economics (JME) review process actually works — single anonymized (single-blind) review with at least two reviewers, the distinctive "up or out" first-revision rule, the ~50% publication-likelihood threshold for an R&R, suggested referees, and reconsideration.

Review Process (jme-review-process)

When to trigger

You need to set expectations for what happens after submission
You are unsure what "up or out" means for your revision strategy
You want to know whether to suggest referees or request exclusions
A decision arrived and you need to interpret it

How JME review works

Single anonymized (single-blind) review: reviewers know the author identities; authors do not know the reviewers. Plan your framing and self-citation accordingly — there is no point anonymizing the manuscript.
At least two reviewers: suitable submissions are typically sent to a minimum of two reviewers.
Editors: the journal is led by two co-Editors-in-Chief, S. Borağan Aruoba (University of Maryland) and Eric Swanson (University of California, Irvine) (Aruoba appointed as one of the two Editors-in-Chief effective January 1, 2022); neither outranks the other.
Suggested / excluded referees: in the cover letter, authors may suggest up to five referees and request that some not be used.
Reconsideration: a formal reconsideration of a rejection is costly, rare, and unlikely to reverse the decision — do not bank on it.

The distinctive "up or out" funnel

JME's process is unusual and worth internalizing:

A first-round decision is reject or revise-and-resubmit — there is no slow drip of multiple R&R rounds.
Editors invite a resubmission only when they judge at least a 50% likelihood of ultimate publication. An R&R is therefore a strong (though not guaranteed) signal.
The resubmission is "up or out": it must result in acceptance or rejection — there is no second round of revise-and-resubmit. Your one revision has to fully resolve the referees' concerns.

This funnel changes strategy: you cannot count on iterating across many rounds, so the first revision must be comprehensive, and at submission your contribution must be sharp enough to clear the 50% bar.

Fee mechanics tied to the process

A US$350 submission fee (US$200 for full-time PhD students) is charged up front; a manuscript is only considered after payment.
No fee is charged for revised/resubmitted manuscripts.
If a paper is desk-returned without full review (within roughly three months), one half of the fee is refunded.

Checklist

You understand review is single-blind (do not anonymize)
Up to five suggested referees + any exclusions prepared for the cover letter
You are prepared for at least two referee reports
You understand the first revision is "up or out" (no second R&R)
You understand an R&R signals ~50% publication likelihood, not certainty

Review-risk pass for Journal of Monetary Economics

Use this as a second-pass capability check. First lock the main macro object, the identifying variation, and the policy-relevant counterfactual; then test whether the manuscript addresses macro and monetary economists who expect the shock, mechanism, and policy margin to be visible early.

Primary move: Turn likely reviewer objections into a ledger with response evidence, manuscript location, and the decision-maker who must be convinced first.
Decision ledger: return claim / evidence / blocker / next edit rows so the next pass can patch the manuscript directly.
Neighbor test: compare against JIE for open-economy trade/finance emphasis, RED for dynamic macro theory, AEJ Macro for broader field positioning; if the neighboring outlet has the stronger audience claim, recommend re-routing before polishing.
Verification floor: before submission-ready advice, re-open resources/official-source-map.md for volatile rules and name the one unresolved fact that could change the recommendation.

Output format

【Review model】single anonymized (single-blind), ≥2 reviewers
【Suggested/excluded referees】ready? Y/N
【Decision type】reject / R&R (R&R ⇒ ~50% likelihood)
【Revision rule】"up or out" — one revision, then accept or reject
【Next step】jme-submission (pre-submit) or jme-rebuttal (on R&R)