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qje-referee-strategy

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Use when war-gaming likely referee objections for a Quarterly Journal of Economics (QJE) manuscript before submitting, to close gaps pre-emptively given QJE's ~2-week desk screen and ~1-4% acceptance. Anticipates referee reports; it does not write the post-decision response letter (see qje-rebuttal).

When to use

• stress-testing a nearly submission-ready paper adversarially
• anticipating specific weaknesses a referee will seize on
• choosing content placement in body vs. appendix to forestall objections
• drafting suggested and excluded referees
• drafting a strategic cover note
• writing a hostile report of strongest objections
• triaging fundamental threats vs. robustness requests
• pre-empting the biggest objection explicitly in the text

When not to use

• writing the post-decision response letter

Skill page

Source