Submissions

Author Guidelines

Asian Financial Economics and Policy (AFEP) publishes rigorous, policy-relevant scholarship in financial economics, macroeconomics, monetary and fiscal policy, capital markets, banking and financial systems, fintech, financial regulation, international finance, and comparative economic analysis. The journal places particular emphasis on Asia and emerging-market contexts while welcoming high-quality comparative and global studies with clear financial-economic or policy relevance.

Manuscripts submitted to AFEP must demonstrate conceptual clarity, methodological transparency, analytical rigor, and explicit implications for financial economics, economic policy, regulation, investment decision-making, institutional development, or macro-financial stability.

1) Article Types

AFEP considers the following manuscript types:

Original Research Articles
Empirical, theoretical, econometric, or model-based studies presenting original findings.

Review Articles
Narrative reviews, systematic reviews, scoping reviews, bibliometric reviews, and meta-analyses that synthesize existing knowledge in finance, macroeconomics, banking, financial regulation, and policy.

Policy and Analytical Papers
Evidence-based papers that assess policy frameworks, evaluate interventions, analyze regulatory issues, or provide analytically grounded recommendations.

Comparative Country Studies
Studies comparing economies, financial systems, capital markets, banking systems, regulatory environments, or macro-financial conditions across Asian countries or between Asia and other regions.

Case-Based Economic or Financial Analyses
Structured case studies of crises, policy episodes, market events, financial reforms, regulatory changes, sectoral shifts, or institutional developments, provided they maintain scholarly rigor and offer transferable insights.

Short Research Notes
Concise but analytically meaningful contributions presenting emerging findings, focused policy observations, methodological insights, or preliminary empirical evidence.

2) Fit and Editorial Screening

All submissions undergo an initial editorial screening for:

Alignment with AFEP’s scope in financial economics, macroeconomics, finance, banking, financial regulation, economic policy, or comparative economic analysis

Scholarly quality and clarity of contribution

Conceptual coherence and relevance to existing literature

Basic methodological adequacy and transparency

Policy, institutional, regulatory, financial-market, or macroeconomic relevance

Ethical compliance and integrity, including originality, proper attribution, and required disclosures

Manuscripts may be declined at this stage if they are out of scope, lack a clear scholarly contribution, are mainly descriptive without sufficient analysis, or do not meet minimum academic and methodological standards.

3) Manuscript Preparation and Structure

Authors should organize manuscripts using a clear academic structure appropriate to the research design. A typical manuscript should include:

Title

Abstract of 150–250 words

Keywords, preferably 5–8 keywords

JEL codes, if relevant

Introduction, including the research problem, context, objectives, contribution, and policy or financial-economic relevance

Review of Related Literature / Theoretical Framework

Methodology / Data and Methods, including data sources, variables, measures, model specification, estimation strategy, assumptions, and robustness checks where applicable

Results, with clearly presented tables and figures

Discussion, including interpretation of findings, comparison with prior literature, limitations, and implications

Policy Implications / Practical Implications, proportionate to the evidence

Conclusion

References

Appendices / Supplementary Materials, if applicable

For empirical papers using public macroeconomic, financial, or institutional datasets, authors must clearly state the data source, country coverage, time period, variable definitions, transformations, missing-data treatment, estimation approach, and robustness procedures where relevant.

For WDI, IMF, ADB, World Bank, central bank, or other public dataset papers, authors should provide sufficient detail to allow dataset reconstruction, including indicator names or codes, years covered, filters used, transformations applied, and exclusion rules.

For financial-market papers, authors should clearly identify the exchange, market, firms, securities, index or sector classification, data frequency, period covered, price adjustments, valuation metrics, and treatment of missing or extreme observations.

4) Formatting and Style

Language: English, using formal academic style.

Referencing style: APA 7th edition for in-text citations and reference list.

Tables and figures: Number sequentially and provide informative titles or captions.

Sources: Cite sources for all data, adapted tables, reproduced materials, and externally derived indicators.

Abbreviations: Define all indicators, indexes, models, and abbreviations at first mention.

Statistical reporting: Report estimates, test statistics, confidence levels, significance levels, model fit indicators, and assumptions clearly where applicable.

Equations and models: Present mathematical or econometric models clearly and define all variables.

5) File Requirements for Double-Blind Review

To support double-blind peer review, submissions should include:

Main Manuscript File (Anonymous):
This file should not contain author names, affiliations, acknowledgments, funding information, or identifying self-references that reveal the authors’ identities.

Title Page (Separate File):
This file should include the full manuscript title, author names, institutional affiliations, email addresses, ORCID IDs if available, corresponding author details, acknowledgments, funding statement, and competing interest declaration.

Authors should ensure that file names, document properties, acknowledgments, and self-citations do not compromise anonymity during review.

6) Research Ethics, Integrity, and Disclosure

Authors must ensure the following:

The submission is original and properly cites all relevant sources.

The manuscript is not under consideration by another journal.

The manuscript does not substantially duplicate previously published work without clear justification and transparent disclosure.

All authors have made a substantial scholarly contribution and have approved the final version submitted.

Guest, gift, and ghost authorship are not acceptable.

Any financial or non-financial competing interests are disclosed.

Funding sources and the role of funders, if any, are clearly stated.

Research involving human participants, institutional data, confidential records, sensitive information, or proprietary datasets complies with applicable ethical standards, permissions, informed consent requirements, and data privacy protections.

Authors should retain relevant data, code, documentation, or supporting materials and be prepared to provide them if requested for editorial verification, subject to legal, ethical, or confidentiality restrictions.

7) Data Transparency and Reproducibility

AFEP strongly encourages authors to include a brief Data Availability Statement indicating whether the data and code can be shared and under what conditions.

For publicly available datasets, authors should provide enough information to reproduce the dataset construction, including data source, indicator codes or variable names, period covered, country or firm filters, transformations, and cleaning procedures.

For proprietary, restricted, or confidential datasets, authors should explain the restrictions and provide as much methodological transparency as possible without violating legal, ethical, or contractual obligations.

For econometric, panel-data, time-series, forecasting, or machine-learning papers, authors are encouraged to provide model specifications, software used, estimation settings, and robustness checks sufficient for scholarly evaluation.

8) Use of AI-Assisted Tools

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and scholarly quality of the manuscript.

AI-assisted tools must not be listed as authors. Authorship is limited to individuals who have made substantial scholarly contributions and can take responsibility for the work.

Any material use of AI-assisted tools that affects the manuscript’s content, such as substantive drafting, extensive rewriting, coding support, data analysis assistance, or literature synthesis, should be disclosed in an appropriate section, such as the Methods, Acknowledgments, or a dedicated disclosure note.

AI-generated content must be carefully verified by the authors. Authors are responsible for checking factual accuracy, citations, references, data interpretation, originality, and compliance with ethical standards.

9) Submission Checklist

Before submitting, authors should confirm that:

The manuscript fits AFEP’s financial economics, macroeconomics, finance, banking, regulation, or policy scope.

The main manuscript file is anonymized for double-blind review.

A separate title page is provided.

The abstract is 150–250 words.

The manuscript includes 5–8 keywords.

JEL codes are included where relevant.

References are complete and formatted in APA 7th edition.

DOIs are included in the reference list where available.

Tables and figures are clear, numbered, titled, and properly sourced.

Data sources, variables, and methods are adequately described.

Competing interest and funding disclosures are prepared.

Ethical approvals, permissions, or data-use authorizations are documented where applicable.

A Data Availability Statement is included or prepared where appropriate.

Any material use of AI-assisted tools is disclosed where relevant.

10) Scope Reminder

AFEP especially encourages submissions that:

Connect macroeconomic variables to financial-market outcomes

Examine monetary, fiscal, or regulatory policy effects on investment, valuation, banking, or stability

Analyze capital markets, asset pricing, volatility, sectoral valuation, or market efficiency

Study banking systems, credit markets, financial inclusion, fintech, or digital financial regulation

Examine external shocks, capital flows, foreign direct investment, exchange rates, remittances, or global financial spillovers

Provide comparative evidence involving Asian economies, ASEAN, emerging markets, or transition economies

Use rigorous empirical, theoretical, review-based, or policy-analytical methods

Produce findings that are academically rigorous and practically relevant

Submissions that are purely corporate strategy, clinical, organizational behavior, management, or descriptive business case papers may be considered outside AFEP’s primary scope unless they establish a clear and substantial connection to financial economics, macroeconomic policy, capital markets, banking, regulation, or economic policy.