Information for Authors
The journal publishes significant new research in financial economics, striving to establish a balance between theoretical and empirical studies. The principal criteria for inclusion are a paper's quality and contribution to the field of finance, without undue regard to its technical difficulties. Manuscripts are accepted for publication on the understanding that they have been submitted solely to The Review of Financial Studies and that they have not been previously published either in whole or in part.
Manuscript submissions
Initial submission
For instructions on initial submissions and resubmissions, please visit the homepage of The Review of Financial Studies at: http://rfssfs.org/.
Manuscript preparation for articles already accepted for publication
Manuscripts may be prepared and submitted using Word or LaTeX. Manuscripts should be prepared carefully according to the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition . For text citation style and reference style, refer to the author-date system explained in Chicago Manual of Style 16.4 and 16.90. To prepare your files in LaTeX, you may use the LaTeX files (available as a .zip file, accompanied by notes on usage) to format your manuscript. After acceptance, a copy editor will review your files before they are typeset by Oxford University Press; for details, see the Accepted Papers Checklist.
The Title page should include the title, name(s) of the author(s), and institutional affiliation for each author. It should also include name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address of the author responsible for correspondence.
Each article should include an Abstract of no more than 100 words. The first numbered section should follow the introduction of the article. Footnotes should be kept to a minimum and should be placed at the bottom of the page on which the footnote number appears. Once typeset, footnotes can continue onto a second page but cannot continue onto a third. Each footnote is a separate paragraph. Do not number author affiliations or acknowledgments of support or assistance. Equations should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals.
Tables should be typewritten, each on a separate page, and numbered sequentially with Arabic numerals; each should have a brief, descriptive title; each should be designed to fit on a page without undue compression. Vertical rules should not be used. They should be as self-explanatory as possible, incorporating any necessary descriptive material in an unnumbered footnote.
Figures should also be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals. All explanatory material should be included in the legend and not in the figure itself. Submit review copies of each figure with the manuscript. All artwork and typography should be of professional quality. Typewritten or hand-drawn figures are not acceptable. Figure legends should be typed together on a separate sheet double-spaced. The Review of Financial Studies accepts color figures. There will be a $100 fee per color figure file. This fee covers the journal's costs.
Creation and format. Figures should be created as Encapsulated Postscript (.eps) or Tagged Image Format (.tif) files at resolutions of 300 dpi (dots per square inch) for photographic and color images or 600 dpi for black and white line drawings. Use CMYK colors only. PowerPoint may also be used for graphs only. Please use high-resolution original sources, such as scanned original artwork or original image files, to create your .tif or .eps figures, with fonts embedded. For EPS submissions, please use the following fonts only: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Helvetica, and Symbol.
Even when saved as .tif or .eps files, graphics downloaded or saved from Web pages (and other low-resolution materials) will not meet print quality standards and are therefore unacceptable for figure creation. Blurry, illegible, or other low-quality figures will be returned to you for recreation and may delay publication of your paper.
We recommend that you produce your figures with high-quality graphics software, such as Adobe Photoshop, to help ensure appropriate resolution and workability. For further guidance on the preparation of figures for accessibility and quality, please refer to the Figures section of OUP’s Preparing Your Manuscript instructions.
Figure accessibility and alt text
Incorporating alt text (alternative text) when submitting your paper helps to foster inclusivity and accessibility. Good alt text ensures that individuals with visual impairments or those using screen readers can comprehend the content and context of your figures. The aim of alt text is to provide concise and informative descriptions of your figure so that all readers have access to the same level of information and understanding, and that all can engage with and benefit from the visual elements integral to scholarly content. Including alt text demonstrates a commitment to accessibility and enhances the overall impact and reach of your work.
Alt text is applicable to all images, figures, illustrations, and photographs.
Alt text is only accessible via e-reader and so it won’t appear as part of the typeset article.
Detailed guidance on how to draft and submit alt text.
Licence to publish
It is a condition of publication in the journal that authors grant an exclusive license to the Society for Financial Studies. Requests for permission to reprint material found in the journal should come to Oxford University Press. This ensures that requests from third parties to reproduce articles are handled efficiently and consistently and will also allow the article to be as widely disseminated as possible. As part of the license agreement, authors may use their own material in other publications provided that the journal is acknowledged as the original place of publication and Oxford University Press as the publisher.
Upon receipt of accepted manuscripts at Oxford Journals authors will be invited to complete an online copyright license to publish form.
Please note that by submitting an article for publication you confirm that you are the corresponding/submitting author and that Oxford University Press ("OUP") may retain your email address for the purpose of communicating with you about the article. You agree to notify OUP immediately if your details change. If your article is accepted for publication OUP will contact you using the email address you have used in the registration process. Please note that OUP does not retain copies of rejected articles.
Open access for authors
The Review of Financial Studies offers the option of publishing under either a standard licence or an open access licence. Please note that some funders require open access publication as a condition of funding. If you are unsure whether you are required to publish open access, please do clarify any such requirements with your funder or institution.
Should you wish to publish your article open access, you should select your choice of open access licence in our online system after your article has been accepted for publication. You will need to pay an open access charge to publish under an open access licence.
Details of the open access licences and open access charges.
OUP has a growing number of Read and Publish agreements with institutions and consortia which provide funding for open access publishing. This means authors from participating institutions can publish open access, and the institution may pay the charge. Find out if your institution is participating.
Conflict of interest policy
Editors
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New submissions by the Executive Editor are not permitted.
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Submissions from the following individuals will always be treated as an editorial conflict of interest: same institution, current or recent past co-author (for at least within the last 10 years), former PhD student (in case the editor was the main advisor), former PhD advisors, close friendships, relatives, and papers that criticize or closely compete with an Editor’s work or that of other members of the above categories. Cases not directly covered by this classification, depending on the circumstances, may still be treated as an editorial conflict.
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The Executive Editor retains final decision authority regarding publishing any paper in the RFS except in cases that have an identified COI.
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The Editors and Executive Editor are entirely recused from the process on papers where there is an identified COI. They will have no involvement in selecting referees or making any decisions on the paper.
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If any of the Editors feel that there is likely to be a perception of a conflict of interest in relation to their handling of a submission, they will inform the Executive Editor.
Referees
Potential conflict of interest for referees
The invitation letter to referees will include the following wording: ‘If you feel there is any potential conflict of interest in your refereeing this paper because of your relationship with the author (e.g. in terms of close friendship or conflict/rivalry) or for any other reason, please declare it. By accepting this invitation, it is assumed there is no potential conflict of interest.’ Standard policy will be not to use a referee if a conflict of interest has been declared, but the Editor may use his/her discretion after consulting with the Executive Editor.
Authors
Sources of funding
On acceptance, authors will be asked to provide a statement declaring all sources of outside funding relating to their paper, and the statement will be printed in the Acknowledgments section.
Funding
Details of all funding sources for the work in question should be given in the "Acknowledgements" section.
The following rules should be followed:
- The sentence should begin: "This work was supported by"
- The full official funding agency name should be given, i.e. "National Institutes of Health," not "NIH"(full RIN-approved list of UK funding agencies).;Grant numbers should be given in brackets as follows: "[grant number xxxx]"
- Multiple grant numbers should be separated by a comma as follows: "[grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]"
- Agencies should be separated by a semi-colon (plus "and" before the last funding agency)
- Where individuals need to be specified for certain sources of funding the following text should be added after the relevant agency or grant number "to [author initials]."
An example is given here: "This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [AA123456 to C.S., BB765432 to M.H.]; and the Alcohol & Education Research Council [hfygr667789]."
CrossRef Funding Data Registry
In order to meet your funding requirements authors are required to name their funding sources in the manuscript. Further information on this process and the CHORUS initiative.
Permission for illustrations and figures
Permission to reproduce copyright material, for print and online publication in perpetuity, must be cleared and if necessary paid for by the author; this includes applications and payments to DACS, ARS, and similar licensing agencies where appropriate. Evidence in writing that such permissions have been secured from the rights-holder must be made available to the editors. It is also the author's responsibility to include acknowledgements as stipulated by the particular institutions. Oxford Journals can offer information and documentation to assist authors in securing print and online permissions: please see the Guidelines for Authors section. Information on permissions contacts for a number of main galleries and museums can also be provided. Should you require copies of this, please contact the editorial office of the journal in question or the Oxford Journals Rights ([email protected]) department.
Language editing
Language editing, if your first language is not English, to ensure that the academic content of your paper is fully understood by journal editors and reviewers is optional. Language editing does not guarantee that your manuscript will be accepted for publication. For further information on this service, please click here. Several specialist language editing companies offer similar services and you can also use any of these. Authors are liable for all costs associated with such services.
Pre-publication policy
The Review of Financial Studies does not accept papers that have been previously published elsewhere with the exception of working papers series. The journal's policy regarding working paper series is:
- Pre-publication in working paper series is allowed where submission to the working paper series is prior to acceptance by the Journal.
- The working paper version may remain online after publication in the Journal.
- The working paper version should NOT be updated after acceptance by the Journal.
- Authors are requested to append the appropriate citation to the working paper version on acceptance by the Journal (if the working paper series allows this).
Editors' joint policy statement regarding "coercive citations"
Journal of Finance
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis
Journal of Financial Economics
Review of Asset Pricing Studies
Review of Corporate Finance Studies
Review of Financial Studies
A recent article published in the journal Science presents evidence that some editors across different business disciplines have engaged in coercive practices with regard to citations. The authors define coercive citations as requests that give no indication the manuscript is lacking in attribution but instead simply guide authors to add citations to the editor’s journal. They suggest that such practices are motivated by intent to increase measured journal impact factors.
The editors of JF, JFQA, JFE, RAPS, RCFS, and RFS hereby affirm that it has been, and will continue to be, our policy to avoid coercive citation practices. While we retain professional discretion to suggest that authors cite particular papers, we will do so only when scientifically appropriate, and without regard to the journal where the cited paper is published.
1 Allen W. Wilhite and Eric A. Fong, “Coercive Citation in Academic Publishing,” Science, Vol. 335, February 3, 2012, pages 542-543. doi:10.1126/science.1212540
Ethics statement
Authors should observe high standards with respect to publication best practice. Falsification or fabrication of data, plagiarism, including duplicate publication of the authors' own work without proper citation, and misappropriation of work are all unacceptable practices. Any cases of ethical or publication malpractice are treated very seriously and will be managed in accordance with the Commission on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines.
Further information about OUP's ethical policies.
Availability of Data and Materials
The Review of Financial Studies requires authors to publicly release all code underlying any published paper as a condition of publication. If the requirement cannot be met, this should be noted in a cover letter to the editor on initial submission. Decisions on exemption requests will be made by the editor handling the submission, and approved exemptions will be noted on the published paper. On acceptance, the author(s) are required to deposit source code in the RFS section of the Harvard Dataverse. RFS also encourages authors to include data. If the authors do not make the data available, they should provide pseudo data to help users see how the code works. Please see the full policy.
Author Toll Free Link and Discounts
All corresponding authors will be provided with a free access link to their article upon publication. The link will be sent via email to the article’s corresponding author who is free to share the link with any co-authors. Please see OUP’s Author Self-Archiving policy for more information regarding how this link may be publicly shared depending on the type of license under which the article has published.
All authors have the option to purchase up to 10 print copies of the issue in which they publish at a 50% discount. Orders should be placed through this order form. Orders must be made within 12 months of the online publication date.
