Title
Articles with concise, appealing titles are more likely to be downloaded and cited; they need not reflect every aspect of the paper. Further details can be fleshed out in the abstract.
Titles should clarify if the study concerns a specific country or region, as in “Gender Equity and Prostitution: An Investigation of Attitudes in Norway and Sweden” or “Multiplying Themselves: Women Cosmetics Sellers in Ecuador.”
Abstract
Abstracts should argue for the paper’s importance and make a case for international and broad interest beyond specific subfields.
Good abstracts avoid broad or oversimplified claims and generalizations beyond those specifically supported by the study.
Journal abstracts are limited to 150 words.
Feminist Economics Editorial Policies
International orientation: the journal is read in more than fifty countries. Articles should therefore argue why a topic is important to countries other than author’s own and to a broad audience of feminists from economics and related fields.
Be sure to read and comply with the journal’s statistical reporting policy and policy on using information from human participants; these are detailed on the Editorial Policies page.
Literature review
Keep in mind that the journal is interdisciplinary. Contextualize the paper and studies cited for the journal’s entire audience, which includes scholars from outside economics and a particular subfield.
Identify the geographic contexts of studies cited.
Avoid making broad generalizations over widely varying studies and regions (for example, studies of OECD countries may have limited application to countries in the Global South).
We encourage citation of related articles previously published in Feminist Economics, so as to build upon the debates and clearly delineate relationship to previous contributions. In general, be cautious before describing an approach or study as “unprecedented” or “innovative.” Most new ideas have antecedents in the existing literature, which should be acknowledged and referenced.
Results
Discuss these in an organized way, clarifying their importance and relevance.
Avoid simply stating results. Provide analysis, exploration, and implications.
Conclusion
Explore the importance of the study’s findings. Why do they matter?
Be specific if making policy recommendations. For example, the statement “policy-makers need to look at this issue more carefully” is vague.
Variables
Variables should be clear and methodology fully explained.
Lack of clarity of variables may call into question effective presentation of results and validity of study.
Overall
Avoid imputing universality to certain, often unstated assumptions. Example: avoid stating “overall consensus exists among all feminist economics” about a particular issue. Better to present existing points of view with specific references.
For more information please see the PowerPoint presentation “Turning Research into an Article for Feminist Economic sand other Scholarly Journals” presented by journal editors Gunseli Berik and Diana Strassmann at the 2012 IAFFE conference in Barcelona.
PowerPoint Presentation (4.0 MB)