Contemporary Economic Policy2008 Editor's Report

Abstract

Volume 26, published quarterly in 2008, comprises 45 articles (662 pages) and 95 authors and coauthors from a variety of topic areas as defined by the Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification system. Table 1 provides a distribution of articles via JEL topic area. TABLE 1 2008 Manuscripts Published by JEL (a) Topic Area Code No of Articles JEL (a) Code Field Primary Code All Codes A General Economics and 0 0 Teaching B Methodology and History of 1 0 Economic Thought C Mathematical and 2 1 Quantitative Economics D Microeconomics 3 5 E Macroeconomics and Monetary 9 13 Economics F International Economics 3 8 G Financial Economics 2 2 H Public Economics 6 3 I Health, Education, and 4 2 Welfare J Labor and Demographic 1 8 Economics K Law and Economics 2 2 L Industrial Organization 4 7 M Business Administration and 0 3 Business Economics, Marketing, Accounting N Economic History 0 0 O Economic Development, 2 8 Technological Change and Growth P Economic Systems 0 0 Q Agricultural and Natural 4 10 Resource Economics R Urban. Rural and Regional 2 3 Economics Z Other Special Topics 0 0 Total 45 (a) Journal of Economic Literature. JOURNAL STATISTICS Active participation in the annual conferences of the Western Economic Association International (WEAI) is encouraged by editors and members of the editorial board. At the 2008 annual meeting in Hawaii, Contemporary Economic Policy (CEP) sponsored 17 sessions out of 240 (7% of the total sessions). The WEAI conferences provided approximately 18% of our total manuscript submissions for 2008. During the 2008 publishing cycle, 211 manuscripts were submitted for review to CEP at the time of this reporting. There were 38 manuscripts submitted from the Hawaii conference and 173 non-conference submissions. At this time, 14 manuscripts have been accepted for publication and 134 rejected, with 63 decisions pending. The overall acceptance rate is expected to be approximately 20%. An important contribution to enhancing the quality of the journal is the refereeing process. CEP uses a double-blind process with the objective of obtaining three referee reports for each manuscript. As Table 2 demonstrates, we are making a significant effort to contact referees and make sure that the editorial team has well-grounded input in order to make informed decisions regarding the manuscripts. During 2008 we received 347 referee reports, which have helped to provide constructive input to improve accepted manuscripts as well as input for authors of rejected manuscripts. Refereeing is also the major challenge in providing timely feedback to authors. During 2008 we requested 942 referee reports. Individuals who have generously provided their time as referees for the journal are listed in Table 3. TABLE 2 1996-2008 Manuscript Acquisition and Disposition Manuscripts 1998-1999 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 Tahoe SD/Syd Vane SF Total Submitted 158 175 156 184 New conference 92 78 55 77 manuscripts without fee New conference 2 7 10 5 manuscripts with fee New non-conference 54 66 73 88 manuscripts New Submittals 148 151 138 170 Resubmittals 10 24 18 14 Rejected 122 129 114 130 Accepted 36 46 42 55 Decisions pending 0 0 0 0 Acceptance rate (%) 22. …