Submissions:

There were 278 submissions to JEEM in 2007, nearly the largest number ever (282, in 2002). There were a similar number of desk-rejects to 2006 (25 through the end of November, as compared to 24 for all of 2006), so that the number of papers processed is up somewhat. Through the end of November, the rate at which processed papers were offered the opportunity to revise and resubmit is down from previous years, at about 17.5%.

  Processing time:

Average time taken by co-editors to first decision in 2007 was 84 days, somewhat lower than in the past (89 days in 2005, 97 days in 2006). Working against this, I was somewhat slower assigning papers to co-editors during 2007. On balance, however, the time between initial submission and first decision is down slightly, from 111 days in 2006 to 110 days in 2007. The median processing time was 86 days; 75% of papers were processed within 119 days; all but 5% of papers were processed within 187 days. On balance, I believe these statistics support the hypothesis that JEEM provides much better service to prospective authors than most economics journals.

  Acceptance rates:

The available data can be used to construct ultimate acceptance rates for some of the past years. All files from 2001 through 2004 have been closed, and most files from 2005 are closed as well. A modest number of files remain open from 2005 and 2006. The table below lists the number of submissions, desk-rejects, invited R&Rs, and total number of papers ultimately accepted. Comparing this last number to papers submitted gives the acceptance rate in the penultimate column; I also list the fraction of papers that are ultimately accepted, conditional on having been offered the chance to resubmit (in the last column). Consistent with the goal of raising quality and tightening standards, acceptance rates have been declining since 2002; I also note the increase in accuracy of initial screening, as indicated by the higher acceptance rate, conditional on resubmission. A rough estimate of the current acceptance rate can be formed by multiplying the estimated revise-and-resubmit rate (about .175) against the conditional probability of acceptance given an invitation to revise has been offered (recently, about .78), or .137.

  Staffing issues:

My assistant for the past thirteen months has just graduated, leaving a gap in services. Fortunately for me, one of the department secretaries has resigned her post and will be working for the journal starting in mid-January. As her husband is one of our graduate students on the market this year, I expect to be in a similar situation at the end of Summer 2008. During 2007, two co-editors retired (Larry Goulder and Jinhua Zhao), and Aart de Zeeuw retired at the end of 2007. I have replaced the retiring co-editors with Chris Costello, Marty Smith and Rob Williams. I expect to add another co-editor during 2008.

  Budget:

The journal is in good financial health. Submission fees nearly covered our various expenses. In part because I had undertaken a policy of reading all accepted papers for editorial content, I have added an additional co-editor (Chris Costello), which increased costs slightly. I am also planning to increase the co-editor honorarium from $2,500 per year to $3,000 per year this year, and may raise the honorarium again in 2009. To the best of my knowledge, the honorarium has not changed since Bob Deacon’s time as managing editor, so in my view a raise is well overdue. Between the additional fees for the new secretary and the extra monies that will be paid to co-editors, I anticipate significantly increased costs for 2008. Given the current financial health of the journal, I do not think these extra costs will pose any problems.

  Trends: