TL;DR

• Issues in Political Economy publishes undergraduate-level student research.

• Submissions must follow strict formatting and citation guidelines.

• Peer review is blind, so author details must be removed from the manuscript.

• Acceptance is competitive; a focused research question strengthens your paper.

• Submitting to the right journal saves months of wasted effort.

You have written a paper on political economy. Maybe it covers labor markets, trade policy, income inequality, or the economics of a specific region. Now you want to publish it. The question is: where do you start, and what does Issues in Political Economy actually require from you?

Most students skip the submission guidelines and send a paper that gets rejected on technical grounds before anyone reads the argument. That is a fixable problem. Understanding exactly what the journal expects, before you submit, is the difference between a desk rejection and a real review.

This guide walks through the submission process for Issues in Political Economy step by step. It covers scope, formatting, the review process, and what happens after you submit.

What Is Issues in Political Economy?

Issues in Political Economy (IPE) is a peer-reviewed undergraduate economics journal published by Elon University. It publishes original research written by undergraduate students from institutions around the world. Papers must engage with questions in political economy, broadly defined, including topics that sit at the intersection of economics, politics, and social structure.

IPE has been publishing student research since 1992, making it one of the longest-running undergraduate economics journals in the United States. It is indexed and freely accessible, which means your published work can be found and cited by other researchers. For a high school student or early undergraduate, a publication in a journal with that kind of track record carries real weight on a college application or academic profile.

The journal does not charge submission fees. There is no cost to submit or to publish. That matters, because many journals targeting student researchers charge fees that can run into hundreds of dollars. IPE is a legitimate, no-cost venue for serious student work.

Does Your Research Fit the Scope of Issues in Political Economy?

IPE publishes empirical and theoretical research in economics and political economy. Papers should present original analysis, a clear research question, and a structured argument supported by data or economic theory. Purely descriptive essays or opinion pieces are outside the journal's scope.

Strong submissions typically fall into one of these categories: quantitative empirical research using econometric methods, qualitative analysis grounded in economic theory, or comparative studies examining policy across countries or time periods. If your paper describes a problem without testing a hypothesis or building a structured argument, it is likely not ready for submission yet.

The journal's stated focus includes microeconomics, macroeconomics, international economics, public policy, labor economics, and development economics. If your paper touches one of those areas and makes an original contribution, even a modest one, it belongs in the scope. If you are unsure whether your topic fits, read two or three recent issues before submitting. The editorial board's preferences become clear quickly when you read what they have already published.

If you are still building your research skills before submitting to a competitive journal, the guide on how to submit a research paper to a peer-reviewed journal covers the foundational steps every student researcher needs to understand first.

How to Format Your Submission for Issues in Political Economy

IPE requires submissions in a specific format. Deviating from these requirements is one of the most common reasons papers are rejected before peer review begins. Follow each requirement exactly.

1. Length: Papers should typically be between 15 and 30 double-spaced pages, not counting references and appendices. Check the current submission guidelines on the journal's official website for any updates to this range.

2. Citation style: IPE uses the American Economic Association (AEA) citation format. All references must follow this style consistently. In-text citations use the author-date format, for example (Smith, 2021).

3. Abstract: Include a structured abstract of 100 to 150 words. The abstract should state the research question, the method used, and the main finding. Do not include the conclusion or background context in the abstract.

4. Blind review preparation: Remove all identifying information from the manuscript file. This includes your name, institution, and any acknowledgements that could identify you. IPE uses a double-blind peer review process, meaning reviewers do not know who wrote the paper and authors do not know who reviewed it.

5. File format: Submit as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx). PDF submissions are generally not accepted for initial review because editors need to be able to annotate the file.

Prepare a separate cover page with your name, institution, email address, paper title, and a brief statement confirming the paper has not been submitted elsewhere simultaneously. Simultaneous submission to multiple journals is a violation of academic publishing ethics, and IPE, like most peer-reviewed journals, requires that you submit to only one journal at a time. If you want to understand the rules around this in more detail, the post on submitting the same paper to two journals explains the policy clearly.

How to Submit to Issues in Political Economy: Step by Step

Submitting to IPE follows a straightforward sequence. Going through each step carefully reduces the chance of a preventable rejection.

1. Finalize your manuscript. Read your paper against the submission guidelines one final time. Check length, citation format, abstract word count, and that all identifying information has been removed from the main document.

2. Prepare your cover page. Create a separate file with your contact details and a brief cover letter addressed to the editor. State the title of your paper, confirm it is original work, and confirm it is not under review elsewhere.

3. Email your submission. IPE accepts submissions by email. Send your manuscript file and cover page to the editorial address listed on the journal's official website at Elon University. Use a clear subject line: for example, "Manuscript Submission: [Your Paper Title]."

4. Wait for an acknowledgement. The editorial team will send a confirmation that your submission was received. This can take one to two weeks. If you do not receive confirmation after two weeks, a brief follow-up email is appropriate.

5. Peer review. If your paper passes the initial editorial review for scope and format, it enters the double-blind peer review process. This stage typically takes several weeks to a few months. Reviewers assess the quality of the research question, the methodology, the analysis, and the writing.

6. Decision. You will receive one of four decisions: accept, accept with minor revisions, major revisions required, or reject. A request for revisions is not a rejection. Most published papers go through at least one round of revisions.

7. Revise and resubmit if required. If revisions are requested, respond to each reviewer comment directly in a separate document. Make the changes, explain what you changed and why, and resubmit within the timeframe the editor specifies.

If you are working through this process for the first time and want a platform that helps you structure your paper, identify gaps in your argument, and match your work to the right journal, Publication Compass is currently accepting waitlist signups from student researchers preparing to submit.

What Makes a Strong Submission to Issues in Political Economy?

A competitive submission to IPE does three things well. It asks a clear, narrow research question. It uses an appropriate method to answer that question. And it situates the findings in the existing literature without overclaiming.

The most common weakness in student submissions is a research question that is too broad. "What causes income inequality?" is not a research question for a 20-page paper. "Does minimum wage legislation reduce youth employment in U.S. states with low union density?" is. The narrower the question, the more convincing the answer can be within the constraints of an undergraduate paper.

Methodology matters. IPE reviewers expect you to explain why you chose your method and what its limitations are. If you ran an ordinary least squares regression, explain why OLS was appropriate and acknowledge what it cannot control for. If you used a case study, explain why that case was selected and what it can and cannot generalize to. Honest engagement with limitations is a sign of intellectual maturity, and reviewers notice it.

The literature review should be focused, not exhaustive. Cite the papers that directly inform your question and method. Do not pad the reference list with tangentially related work. Quality of engagement with sources matters more than quantity.

Other Student Journals Worth Considering in Economics and Policy

Issues in Political Economy is one of several serious journals publishing student research in economics and related fields. If your paper sits closer to social science, public policy, or interdisciplinary research, other venues may be a better fit.

The Journal of Student Research publishes work across a wide range of disciplines including economics and social sciences, and accepts submissions from high school students as well as undergraduates. For students whose work engages with humanities alongside economics, Critical Debates in Humanities, Science, and Global Justice is a student journal with an explicitly interdisciplinary scope that includes political economy topics.

Choosing the right journal before you finalize your paper is not a minor decision. It shapes how you frame your argument, what literature you engage with, and how you pitch your contribution. Submitting to a journal whose scope does not match your paper wastes your time and the editor's.

Should You Upload a Preprint Before Submitting to Issues in Political Economy?

Uploading a preprint means posting your paper to an open-access server before it has been peer reviewed. This is common in economics, where working papers are routinely shared on repositories like SSRN or EconStor before formal publication. For student researchers, the decision is less straightforward.

IPE does not explicitly prohibit preprints, but you should confirm this with the editor before posting. Some journals treat a preprint as prior publication and will not consider the paper. Others have no policy against it. The safest approach is to email the editor and ask directly before uploading anywhere. The post on whether to upload a preprint before submitting covers the tradeoffs in detail and is worth reading before you make that decision.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Issues in Political Economy open to high school students?

Issues in Political Economy is primarily an undergraduate journal. High school students are not explicitly excluded, but the expected level of analysis, methodology, and engagement with academic literature is undergraduate standard. A high school student with genuinely rigorous research may be considered, but the bar is the same as for any other submission. If your work is not yet at that level, journals specifically designed for high school researchers are a better starting point.

How long does peer review take at Issues in Political Economy?

Peer review at IPE typically takes between six weeks and four months, depending on reviewer availability and the volume of submissions the journal receives. This is consistent with most undergraduate peer-reviewed journals. Plan your timeline accordingly, especially if you are working toward a college application deadline.

What happens if Issues in Political Economy rejects my paper?

A rejection from IPE does not mean your paper cannot be published. Read the reviewer comments carefully. They almost always contain specific, actionable feedback. Revise the paper based on those comments, then identify a different journal whose scope fits your work. Many published papers were rejected at least once before finding the right venue.

Can I submit a paper I wrote for a class to Issues in Political Economy?

Yes, class papers can be submitted, but they almost always require significant revision before they are ready for peer review. A class paper is written for a professor who already knows the context. A journal submission must stand alone for an expert reader who does not. The introduction, literature review, and methodology sections typically need the most work when adapting a class paper for submission.

Does Issues in Political Economy charge any fees?

Issues in Political Economy does not charge submission fees or publication fees. It is a free venue for student researchers. Always verify this on the journal's official website before submitting, as journal policies can change.

Getting Your Paper Ready to Submit

The submission process for Issues in Political Economy is structured and learnable. Read the guidelines carefully, narrow your research question, format your manuscript correctly, and remove all identifying information before you send anything. Those four steps alone put your paper ahead of a significant portion of submissions that fail on technical grounds.

If you are at an earlier stage and still working out how to structure your research or identify the right journals for your topic, the Publication Compass blog covers the full publication process for student researchers, from first draft to final submission. Start with the process, get the fundamentals right, and the submission becomes straightforward.