American Economic Review 'Under Review': What Each Status Means
If your American Economic Review submission shows Under Review, here is what the AEA coeditor is doing during each stage and when to follow up.
What to do next
Already submitted? Use this page to interpret the status and choose the next step.
The useful next step is understanding what the status usually means, how long the wait normally runs, and when a follow-up is actually reasonable.
Last reviewed: 2026-05-17.
Quick answer: If your American Economic Review submission shows "Under Review," elapsed time is the most reliable signal. The American Economic Review has a 2024 JCR impact factor of 11.0, accepts roughly 6 to 8 percent of submissions, and AEA reports that the AER desk rejects roughly 45 percent of submissions for reasons including expected probability of meeting the standards of the journal, breadth of topic, excessive reliance on online appendices, and interest to the AER audience (per AER editorial policy). When a manuscript is received, the editor assigns it to a coeditor to oversee the review process and make a publication decision. Before giving a first revise-and-resubmit decision, the coeditor will consult a second coeditor of their choosing for input. All manuscripts submitted to the American Economic Review undergo single-blind peer review.
For a second opinion before referees see your manuscript, run a American Economic Review submission readiness check.
Submission portal and editorial contact: American Economic Review uses ScholarOne Manuscripts at mc.manuscriptcentral.com/aer. Editorial questions should reference the manuscript ID; the AER editorial office handles inquiries through the manuscript record. The AER editorial policy at aeaweb.org/journals/aer/for-authors and the AER editorial process documentation cover the editorial workflow. For broader status-tracking guidance across publishers, the Cell Press author status portal at cell.com/information-for-authors/after-you-submit gives useful baseline patterns for reading status fields across editorial portals. The BMC author services portal at biomedcentral.com/getpublished/peer-review-process is another cross-publisher reference baseline.
How AEA handles an American Economic Review submission
American Economic Review operates the AEA editor + coeditor model. When a manuscript is received, the editor assigns it to a coeditor to oversee the review process and make a publication decision. The handling coeditor reads the entire paper and evaluates economics significance, methodological rigor, breadth of topic for AER audience, and AER subfield routing across labor economics, macroeconomics, microeconomic theory, applied microeconomics, behavioral economics, and econometrics. A coeditor at AER typically handles 80 to 150 manuscripts per year and spends 30 to 90 minutes on the initial read; AER coeditors are working academic economists fitting AER editorial work around their own research. The senior editor (Editor-in-Chief Erzo F.P. Luttmer since 2023) oversees the editorial board and the associate editor pool.
AER editorial culture is decisive: ~45 percent of submissions are desk-rejected. Papers that pass the AER coeditor desk screen have cleared the steepest filter in top-tier economics publishing.
American Economic Review's review pipeline
Status | What is happening | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
Submitted | AER ScholarOne administrative processing | Day 0 to 3 |
With Coeditor | Coeditor evaluating economics significance + breadth + AER audience interest | Days 3 to 28 |
Second-Coeditor Consultation | Before R&R, coeditor consults a second coeditor (parallel) | Days 14 to 28 (parallel; invisible to author) |
Under Review | 2 to 3 referees invited under single-blind review | Days 14 to 180 (3 to 6 month first decision) |
Required Reviews Complete | Coeditor synthesizing referee reports | 14 to 28 days |
Decision Pending | Coeditor + second coeditor finalizing recommendation | 7 to 14 days |
Decision Sent | Reject, R&R, or accept | Check email |
The coeditor desk screen (about 45 percent rejected)
Before the paper reaches external referees, an AER coeditor evaluates whether the economics significance and breadth warrant AER's editorial slots. About 45 percent of submissions are desk-rejected at this stage. A desk rejection most often means the coeditor concluded that the work has insufficient expected probability of meeting the AER standards, has breadth-of-topic issues, relies excessively on online appendices, or has insufficient interest to the AER audience. Desk-rejected papers typically receive transfer suggestions to AEJ journals (AEJ: Applied Economics, AEJ: Macroeconomics, AEJ: Microeconomics, AEJ: Economic Policy) or external economics journals.
Day 0 to 3: AER ScholarOne administrative processing
The AER editorial office confirms files are complete: manuscript with figures embedded, Supporting Information with replication data and code, AEA template formatting, cover letter directed to the editor naming the economics contribution, conflict-of-interest declarations, ethics-statement documentation (IRB for human-subjects experimental economics work), and data-availability statement (AEA Data and Code Repository deposition required for accepted papers).
Days 3 to 28: Coeditor desk screen
The handling coeditor reads the paper and evaluates economics significance, methodological rigor, breadth of topic for AER audience, and AER subfield routing. The coeditor performs the desk screen in depth; AER's 45 percent desk rejection reflects rigorous coeditor evaluation rather than quick triage.
Days 14 to 28: Second-coeditor consultation (parallel for R&R decisions)
Before giving a first revise-and-resubmit decision, the coeditor will consult a second coeditor of their choosing for input. This second-coeditor consultation is AER's distinctive feature: R&R decisions are not made unilaterally by the handling coeditor. The consultation runs in parallel with active referee review and adds 7 to 14 days to the timeline that is invisible to the author in the portal.
Days 14 to 42: External referee recruitment
AER coeditors typically invite 2 to 3 referees, with referee recruitment typically taking 14 to 28 days. The recruitment window can take longer because referees with topic-matched economics subfield expertise are scarce and the single-blind model means the referee knows the author's identity (potentially creating recruitment hesitation).
Days 14 to 180: Active peer review (3 to 6 month first decision)
Once 2 to 3 referees agree to review, the typical AER peer-review cycle lasts 8 to 16 weeks per referee. Referees are asked to evaluate economics significance, methodological rigor, contribution clarity, and reproducibility. Referee reports for AER tend to be thorough; 2500 to 5000 word reports are typical given the high-stakes editorial decision.
Day 180 onward: Editorial synthesis and decision
After reports return, the coeditor synthesizes them and (for R&R decisions) consults a second coeditor of their choosing. Total submission-to-acceptance commonly runs 12 to 24 months for AER given economics-discipline norms (multiple revision rounds are typical, each taking 6 to 12 months for response).
When to worry
- Rejection within 1 to 14 days: Administrative issue or fast-track coeditor desk rejection.
- Rejection within 14 to 28 days: Coeditor desk rejection per the 45 percent figure.
- Still Under Review after 4 weeks: Strong signal. Paper passed the AER coeditor desk screen.
- Still Under Review after 16 weeks: Referee-recruitment or referee-report delay. A polite inquiry via the ScholarOne portal is appropriate.
- Status changes to "Decision Pending": Reports are in; expect a decision within 2 to 3 weeks after second-coeditor consultation.
"My paper has been Under Review for 8 weeks. Is that bad?"
This is the most common anxiety we hear from AER authors during the active editorial window. The honest answer: no, 8 weeks at Under Review puts you in the early-to-middle portion of AER's 3 to 6 month first-decision distribution. Reports may still be arriving with the coeditor preparing for editorial synthesis and (for R&R decisions) second-coeditor consultation. Most referee-driven delays come from the economics-discipline norm of longer referee reports (2500 to 5000 words) rather than slow editorial response. If the portal still says Under Review at the 16-week mark, the most likely explanation is that one of the assigned referees asked for an extension and the coeditor granted it. This is normal practice at AER.
What you should NOT do during the 8-to-16-week window is email the editorial office. AER coeditors are working academic economists managing 80+ active papers per year around their own research; an inquiry at 8 weeks adds friction without accelerating the timeline.
What to do while waiting
- Do not email the editorial office during the first 8 weeks unless an urgent ethics issue surfaces.
- Do not submit the paper anywhere else while it is Under Review at AER. AEA has explicit prohibitions on dual submission.
- Prepare a comprehensive point-by-point response template for likely referee concerns: economics significance, methodological rigor (identification strategy for causal-inference papers, structural-model robustness for theory papers), replication-data adequacy, contribution clarity.
- If you have related work submitted elsewhere or recently published, prepare disclosure language for when revisions are requested.
- Read recent AER papers in your subfield to calibrate the current editorial bar.
Readiness check
While you wait, scan your next manuscript.
The scan takes about 1-2 minutes. Use the result to decide whether to revise before the decision comes back.
If American Economic Review rejects: sister-journal cascade with reasoning
If your AER paper is rejected after review, the natural cascade depends on what the referees and coeditor cited:
AER: Insights is the natural AEA short-format cascade for high-impact short papers.
AEJ: Applied Economics is the AEA cascade for applied microeconomics.
AEJ: Macroeconomics is the AEA cascade for macroeconomics.
AEJ: Microeconomics is the AEA cascade for microeconomic theory.
AEJ: Economic Policy is the AEA cascade for economic policy.
Econometrica is the external Econometric Society cascade for top-tier economics theory and econometrics.
Quarterly Journal of Economics (QJE) is the external Harvard/Oxford cascade for top-tier general economics.
Journal of Political Economy (JPE) is the external University of Chicago cascade for top-tier general economics.
How American Economic Review compares to nearby alternatives
Feature | American Economic Review | AER: Insights | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Desk-rejection rate | ~45 percent | ~33 percent (1/3) | Higher than 30% accept rate would imply | 50 to 60 percent |
Desk-decision speed | 2 to 4 weeks | <2 weeks | 90-day target for high-quality feedback | 2 to 4 weeks |
Total review time (post-screen) | 3 to 6 month first decision | 3 to 6 month first decision | 65-day Department Editor decision average | 2 to 4 months |
Reviewer count | 2 to 3 (single-blind) | 2 to 3 (single-blind, can include AEs) | 2 to 3 (double-anonymous) | 2 to 3 |
Peer-review model | Single-blind + coeditor + second-coeditor consultation | Editor + coeditor + AE + referees | Double-anonymous + department editor structure | Single-blind + short-format |
Editorial bar | Top economics + breadth + AER audience interest | Top economic theory + econometrics + AE judgment | Top business/operations + double-anonymous discipline | Top short-format economics |
Submit if your paper passed the desk
If your AER paper is Under Review past 4 weeks, you have cleared the coeditor desk screen. Use the waiting window to prepare a comprehensive revision response template (multiple R&R rounds are typical in economics).
American Economic Review submission readiness check takes about 5 minutes.
Think twice before assuming "Under Review" means certain acceptance
AER coeditors retain discretion to reject after partial review if referee reports surface methodological or economics-significance concerns the desk screen did not catch. The 6 to 8 percent overall acceptance rate means most post-desk-screen papers still receive a reject or R&R decision (R&R with multiple rounds is the typical path to acceptance at AER).
For a pre-upload diagnostic of economics significance framing and replication-data adequacy, run a American Economic Review pre-submission diagnostic before referee reports surface those concerns.
Last verified: AER editorial policy at aeaweb.org/journals/aer/editorial-policy and AER editorial process documentation.
The American Economic Review referee experience
AEA asks referees at AER to evaluate four things specifically. The table below maps each to actionable preparation.
Reviewer focus area | What AER asks referees to evaluate | How to prepare for it |
|---|---|---|
Economics significance | Does the work advance economics understanding beyond incremental contribution? | Frame the introduction around the economics significance the findings illuminate. The 45 percent desk rejection rate selects for papers with clear economics significance. |
Methodological rigor (identification or structural) | Are the identification strategy (causal-inference) or structural-model assumptions (theory) appropriate, properly justified, and rigorously implemented? | Include detailed methodology documentation. Identification strategy or structural-model assumptions are the primary methodological criteria. |
Breadth and AER audience interest | Does the work appeal to the broad AER audience beyond a narrow subfield? | Frame the broad interest in the introduction. Breadth-of-topic issues are explicit desk-rejection criteria. |
Replication-data adequacy | Are replication data and code adequately deposited (AEA Data and Code Repository required for accepted papers)? | Deposit replication data and code. AEA's Data and Code Repository requirement is strictly enforced for accepted papers. |
Common patterns we see that miss the AER bar
In our pre-submission work with AER-targeted manuscripts, three named patterns generate the most consistent referee concerns and the most common reasons papers miss the editorial bar or fail the desk screen.
Narrow-subfield framing flagged at coeditor desk screen. When the introduction frames the work too narrowly within one economics subfield without broad AER audience interest, AER coeditor desk rejection within 2 to 4 weeks is common (breadth-of-topic is an explicit desk-rejection criterion). The strongest manuscripts frame the broad AER audience interest.
Excessive reliance on online appendices flagged at desk screen. When the main paper relies excessively on online appendices for core methodological details or robustness checks, AER coeditor desk rejection is common (this is an explicit desk-rejection criterion). The strongest manuscripts keep core methodology in the main paper.
AEJ family cascade offers from coeditor. When the coeditor concludes the work is rigorous but the broad AER audience interest bar is not met, transfer offers to AER: Insights (short-format), AEJ: Applied Economics (applied micro), AEJ: Macroeconomics, AEJ: Microeconomics, or AEJ: Economic Policy are common. AEA editors take these transfers seriously.
Methodology note
This page was created from AEA's public AER editorial policy at aeaweb.org/journals/aer/editorial-policy, AER editorial process documentation (~45 percent desk rejection rate, coeditor model with single-blind review, second-coeditor consultation before R&R, single-blind peer review with author identity revealed to referee but referee anonymous to author, EIC Erzo F.P. Luttmer of Dartmouth College since 2023, AEA Data and Code Repository deposition required for accepted papers), and Manusights pre-submission review experience with AER-targeted manuscripts.
What to read next
For the AEA economics landscape beyond AER, see AER: Insights (short-format), AEJ: Applied Economics (applied micro), AEJ: Macroeconomics, AEJ: Microeconomics, AEJ: Economic Policy, and external top-tier economics alternatives (Econometrica, QJE, JPE, Review of Economic Studies). The choice across these titles depends on whether the central contribution is top general economics (AER), top short-format (AER: Insights), applied micro (AEJ: Applied Economics), macro (AEJ: Macroeconomics), micro theory (AEJ: Microeconomics), policy (AEJ: Economic Policy), top economic theory/econometrics (Econometrica), top general economics (QJE, JPE), or top general economics with European editorial focus (Review of Economic Studies).
Referees at AER typically draw from 2 to 3 economics subfield experts under the AEA single-blind model. Editors screen and triage manuscripts before any referee sees them, and preparing a response template that addresses breadth-of-topic and AER audience interest alongside methodological rigor accelerates revision rounds substantially.
For a pre-upload check of your manuscript against the AER economics-significance-plus-breadth bar before submission, our American Economic Review pre-submission diagnostic flags the breadth and online-appendices weaknesses most likely to surface in the coeditor desk screen.
Frequently asked questions
Your manuscript has cleared AER ScholarOne admin checks and is being evaluated. When a manuscript is received, the editor assigns it to a coeditor to oversee the review process and make a publication decision, and papers are handled by the designated coeditor throughout the decision process. Before giving a first revise-and-resubmit decision, the coeditor will consult a second coeditor of their choosing for input. All manuscripts submitted to the American Economic Review undergo single-blind peer review.
AER operates two tracks: rapid desk rejection (~45 percent of submissions) typically within 2 to 4 weeks, and full peer review where coeditors invite 2 to 3 referees with first decisions typically 3 to 6 months. The current Editor-in-Chief is Erzo F.P. Luttmer of Dartmouth College, who has served since 2023.
Wait at least 8 weeks before inquiring. Contact via the AER ScholarOne portal at mc.manuscriptcentral.com/aer referencing your manuscript ID; the AER editorial office handles inquiries through the manuscript record. For broader status-tracking baseline, see the Cell Press author status portal.
No. AER's 3 to 6 month first-decision window means 8 weeks puts you in the early-to-middle portion of the active review distribution. Reports may still be arriving.
Your paper passed the coeditor desk screen and 2 to 3 referees have been invited under single-blind peer review. The name of the author is revealed to the referee(s), while the referee(s) remain anonymous to authors. The designated coeditor handles the paper throughout the decision process.
Yes. The 3 to 6 month first-decision window means most accepted papers take more than 90 days for the first round. Multiple revision rounds are common; total submission-to-acceptance commonly runs 12 to 24 months for AER given economics-discipline norms.
Past 16 weeks is the right moment for a polite inquiry. Past 24 weeks suggests a referee dropped out and the coeditor needs a replacement. Silence in the first 8 weeks is normal at AER given the economics-discipline referee-recruitment workflow.
Sources
Best next step
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Conversion step
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