Get your Journal of Economic Psychology paper right the first time: a ready-made structure with the right abstract and citations, so editors see your science, not formatting slips.
4.1
Authored by Sumalatha Gangadhar | Published on 17 August, 2026
Submitting to Journal of Economic Psychology goes smoothly when your draft already matches the journal's own rules. Editors screen new manuscripts against the Journal of Economic Psychology guide for authors before peer review, so formatting, structure, and required statements should be right on the first draft rather than repaired during upload. This template sets that structure up for you.
It is a manuscript shell aligned to Journal of Economic Psychology. It covers front matter, the abstract the journal expects, a body organized to the journal's article types, and a reference list in the journal's required style. Confirm current scope and article types on the Journal of Economic Psychology journal page before you draft.
Prepare the title, authors, affiliations, and ORCID iDs. Write the abstract to the journal's rule and word limit, organize the body to the article type, and apply the required reference style from the first citation. Complete every declaration (ethics, competing interests, funding, data availability) the Journal of Economic Psychology guide for authors lists, and cite figures and tables in order.
The common failure modes are formatting or reference style that does not match the guide for authors, missing required statements, and an incomplete portal checklist. Clear all three against the Journal of Economic Psychology guide for authors before you submit.
The shell mirrors what editorial staff check first: article-type fit, the abstract rules, required declarations, and the journal's reference style. For more detail see the author resources. When your draft is ready, upload it through the journal's submission system.
| Element | J Econ Psychol requirement |
|---|---|
| Abstract | Unstructured abstract with a maximum of 250 words. The abstract should be concise and factual, briefly stating the purpose of the research, principal results, and major conclusions. Abstracts must be able to stand alone; references should be avoided if possible (if essential, cite author(s) and year(s)); non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided (if essential, define at first mention). The abstract is included on the first page. For Research Articles, the 250-word abstract limit counts toward the total 12,000-word manuscript limit |
| Main text | Research Articles: Maximum 12,000 words (includes abstract, main text, references, tables, figures, captions, and appendices). Review Articles: May exceed 12,000 words. Brief Reports: Maximum 4,000 words (excludes abstract and references). Brief Reports include focused reports on single empirical studies, data re-analyses, variants of previously-published studies, and short formal-analytical contributions linked to well-established empirical phenomena |
| Declarations | Ethics approval/consent as applicable; competing interests; funding; data availability |
| Figures/tables | Publication-ready; cited in order |
| Supplemental | Upload separately when used |
| Keywords | 1 to 7 keywords required for indexing purposes. Keywords should be written in English. Authors should try to avoid keywords consisting of multiple words (using 'and' or 'of'). Abbreviations should only be used in keywords if they are firmly established in the field. Keywords are included on the first page |
| References | Author-date citation style based on APA format. In-text citations use format (Author, Year) with ampersand (&) for two authors and 'et al.' for three or more authors. Reference list is alphabetically ordered. The guide emphasizes that reference lists must be precisely formatted and highly polished, with all references in the text cited in the reference list and vice versa. Consistent journal-name capitalization is required. Use of bibliography managers (BibTeX or BibLaTeX) is strongly recommended |
| Peer review | Single-blind/single-anonymous review process. Submissions are initially assessed by editors; suitable manuscripts are typically sent to a minimum of two reviewers for independent expert assessment of scientific quality. The final decision on acceptance or rejection is made by the editors. Papers must be in a highly-polished state to be sent for review |
| Submission | submit.elsevier.com/JOEP |
Read the Journal of Economic Psychology guide for authors once before drafting and once before upload. Draft the abstract after results are stable. Set the reference style before adding citations. Keep a cover letter that states your contribution and fit to Journal of Economic Psychology in under a page.
Skim two or three recent J Econ Psychol papers to calibrate depth and figure style. Make the novelty clear in the first two pages. Deposit data and code when the policy on the Journal of Economic Psychology journal page requires it. Disclose any preprint or conference version with identifiers in the cover letter.
Do one focused pass against the Journal of Economic Psychology guide for authors: scope, length, reference style, required declarations, and figure quality. Then submit through the journal's submission system.