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ecj-topic-selection

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Use when scoping or framing a research question for a The Economic Journal (EJ) manuscript and you need to test whether it is "EJ-shaped" — a substantial contribution of broad interest to economists at large, full-length or short-paper. Diagnoses fit and frames the contribution; it does not design the empirics.

The-Economic-Journal-Skills/skills/ecj-topic-selection/SKILL.md

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# Topic Selection & Fit (ecj-topic-selection)

## When to trigger

- You have data or a result but not yet a sharp, broadly interesting economic question
- You are unsure whether the paper belongs at EJ, a field journal, or a top-5
- The pitch is "X is correlated with Y" with no mechanism, or a narrow result only specialists would read
- You are deciding between a **full-length article** and EJ's **short-paper (AER:Insights-style)** route

## The EJ fit test

EJ (founded **1891**, the **Royal Economic Society's** flagship, published by **Oxford University Press**; editor-in-chief **Francesco Lippi**, verified 2026-06-20) publishes the **full breadth of economics — theory and applied** — for a **broad international readership**. Its stated bar is that a paper be technically well-crafted, make a substantial contribution, and be of broad interest to economists at large. Score the idea against these five questions before committing:

1. **Broad interest** — Would an economist *outside your subfield* care about the answer? EJ's defining bar is general relevance, not just field novelty.
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