Quarterly Journal of Economics

About Quarterly Journal of Economics

Quarterly Journal of Economics: Journal Overview

The Quarterly Journal of Economics (QJE) is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press for the Harvard University Department of Economics. Founded in 1886, it is the oldest professional journal of economics in the English language. The QJE covers all aspects of the field — from the journal's traditional emphasis on microtheory to both empirical and theoretical macroeconomics — and is invaluable to professional and academic economists and students around the world (source: journalsinsights.com, accessed October 2026).

The QJE is generally regarded as one of the top five journals in economics, together with the American Economic Review, Econometrica, the Journal of Political Economy, and the Review of Economic Studies (source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quarterly_Journal_of_Economics, accessed October 2026).

The journal's Impact Factor is reported in the range of approximately 12.7–19.0 depending on source and JCR year (sources: research.com reports 12.7; journalsinsights.com reports 19.013 for 2026–27; researchhelpdesk.org reports 15.563 for 2026 — all accessed October 2026). It is consistently ranked at or near the very top of the Economics category. Its SCImago H-index of 322 reflects an archive unusually dense with field-defining papers (source: research.com, accessed October 2026).

History of the Quarterly Journal of Economics

The Quarterly Journal of Economics was founded in 1886, making it the oldest professional journal of economics in the English language — older than Econometrica (1933), the Review of Economic Studies (1933), and the Journal of Political Economy (1892) among its top-five peers, though younger than the American Economic Review (1911) only in the sense that... (source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quarterly_Journal_of_Economics, accessed October 2026).

Edited at Harvard University's Department of Economics since its founding, the QJE has been the publishing home of an extraordinary share of the most influential papers in modern economics. A bibliometric study of top economics journals found that the QJE climbed from fourth place to first place in citation rankings over the past three decades — the only journal among the top five to move so dramatically (source: davidcard.berkeley.edu "Nine Facts about Top Journals in Economics," accessed October 2026).

The journal is published quarterly — four issues per year — as its name indicates.

Leadership and Editorial Team

The QJE is edited by a team of five editors-in-chief, all based in Harvard University's Department of Economics: Robert J. Barro, Lawrence F. Katz, Nathan Nunn, Andrei Shleifer, and Stefanie Stantcheva (sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quarterly_Journal_of_Economics; github.com official-source-map, both accessed October 2026).

This five-editor model is distinctive: each editor handles papers in their areas of expertise, and the team collectively represents enormous breadth across microeconomics, macroeconomics, labor, public finance, and economic history. Recent former editors include Pol Antràs, Alberto Alesina, and Edward Glaeser (source: github.com official-source-map, accessed October 2026).

Aims & Scope

The Quarterly Journal of Economics is the oldest professional journal of economics in the English language. Edited at Harvard University's Department of Economics, it covers all aspects of the field — from the journal's traditional emphasis on microtheory, to both empirical and theoretical macroeconomics. QJE is invaluable to professional and academic economists and students around the world (source: journalsinsights.com, accessed October 2026).

Topical analysis shows the journal's content concentrates on microeconomics (approximately 17%), labour economics (approximately 10%), and monetary economics (approximately 9%), with strong representation of econometrics and demographic economics (source: research.com/journal/quarterly-journal-of-economics, accessed October 2026).

Editorial Process and Peer Review

The QJE is known for having among the fastest desk-decision times of the top-five journals — approximately two weeks for initial editorial screening — though papers that survive the desk review then face months of formal refereeing (source: github.com official-source-map, citing manusights.com submission guide, accessed October 2026).

Key submission facts (secondary, cross-checked): no submission fee; initial submission as a single PDF (no Word document required at first submission); approximately 60% or more of submissions are desk-rejected; the overall acceptance rate is approximately 1–4% (source: github.com official-source-map, accessed October 2026). Authors should verify current requirements on the official OUP journal pages and the Editorial Express submission portal.

Impact and Metrics

The QJE's citation metrics place it at the very top of economics:

• Impact Factor: reported between 12.7 and 19.0 depending on source and JCR year (sources: research.com 12.7; researchhelpdesk.org 15.563 for 2026; journalsinsights.com 19.013 for 2026–27 — all accessed October 2026). Figures vary across aggregators; the journal is consistently ranked #1 or near-#1 in Economics.
• SCImago H-index: 322; SJR: 35.995 (source: research.com, accessed October 2026)
• Access model: subscription (source: journalsinsights.com, accessed October 2026)

Readers should verify the current Impact Factor on Clarivate's Journal Citation Reports, as figures differ across secondary sources and JCR editions.

Submission Guidelines

Authors should consult the official QJE pages on Oxford Academic (academic.oup.com/qje) and the Editorial Express submission portal for current instructions. Cross-checked secondary guidance indicates: no submission fee; single-PDF initial submission; papers handled through the Editorial Express system (source: github.com official-source-map, accessed October 2026).

The journal also maintains a QJE Dataverse on the Harvard Dataverse for replication data — distinct from the AEA journals' openICPSR repository (source: github.com official-source-map, accessed October 2026). Authors should check the current data availability policy on the official pages.

Open Access and APC

The Quarterly Journal of Economics is a subscription journal published by Oxford University Press (source: journalsinsights.com, accessed October 2026). Authors interested in open access options should consult OUP's current open access policies. No APC figure is stated on the journal's public pages; verify current charges on the official OUP site before submitting.

Landmark Papers Published in the QJE

The QJE has published an exceptional concentration of landmark papers, including:

• Akerlof, George A. (1970). "The Market for 'Lemons': Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism." QJE 84(3): 488–500. The foundational paper on asymmetric information (source: github.com official-source-map, accessed October 2026).
• Spence, Michael (1973). "Job Market Signaling." QJE. The canonical paper on signaling in labor markets (source: github.com official-source-map, accessed October 2026).
• Mankiw, N. Gregory; Romer, David; Weil, David N. (1992). "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth." QJE 107(2): 407–437. Among the most cited empirical growth papers ever written (source: github.com official-source-map, accessed October 2026).
• Chetty, Raj; Hendren, Nathaniel; Kline, Patrick; Saez, Emmanuel (2014). "Where is the Land of Opportunity? The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility in the United States." QJE (source: github.com official-source-map, accessed October 2026).
• Chetty, Raj; Hendren, Nathaniel (2018). "The Impacts of Neighborhoods on Intergenerational Mobility I & II." QJE 133(3) (source: github.com official-source-map, accessed October 2026).
• Chetty, Raj et al. (2011). "How Does Your Kindergarten Classroom Affect Your Earnings? Evidence from Project STAR." QJE 126(4) (source: github.com official-source-map, accessed October 2026).

The Harvard Connection

Unlike most journals, which are published by learned societies or commercial publishers acting alone, the QJE is published by Oxford University Press for the Harvard University Department of Economics. This unusual arrangement — a university department as the editorial home of a major international journal — has persisted since 1886 and is central to the journal's identity. The five editors are all Harvard faculty, and the journal's editorial office sits within the department.

The QJE's Citation Dominance

The Quarterly Journal of Economics holds a remarkable distinction among the top-five journals: a bibliometric study tracking journal influence over decades found that the QJE climbed from fourth place to first place in citation rankings over the past three decades — the only top-five journal to move so dramatically. Today it is routinely ranked the #1 journal in economics by impact factor (source: davidcard.berkeley.edu "Nine Facts about Top Journals in Economics," accessed October 2026).

This dominance reflects the journal's editorial strategy. The five-editor Harvard team has cultivated particular strength in applied microeconomics — labor, public finance, development, and the economics of education and health — fields that generate enormous citation volumes. The Chetty papers on intergenerational mobility (2011, 2014, 2018), all published in the QJE, are among the most cited and publicly influential economics papers of the 21st century.

The journal's SCImago H-index of 322 is among the very highest in all of economics, reflecting an archive dense with field-defining contributions (source: research.com, accessed October 2026).

Reading the QJE: What to Expect

QJE articles are known for combining theoretical clarity with empirical credibility. A typical QJE paper opens with a sharply posed economic question, develops the minimal theory needed to frame it, and then deploys careful — often quasi-experimental — empirical analysis. The journal's traditional emphasis on microtheory remains visible: even its most empirical papers usually carry an explicit theoretical framework.

The quarterly rhythm means each issue is an event in the profession. With only four issues per year and extreme selectivity (acceptance around 1–4% per secondary sources), each published paper has survived one of the most demanding review processes in academia.

For students and researchers, the QJE archive from the 1970s onward is essential reading: Akerlof on lemons, Spence on signaling, Mankiw–Romer–Weil on growth empirics — these are the papers that define what modern economics is.

The QJE and Public Policy

Few academic journals can claim the QJE's influence on public policy. The Chetty mobility papers reshaped American debates about inequality of opportunity and place-based policy. Earlier QJE contributions to the economics of education, health, crime, and discrimination have informed legislation and program design worldwide.

This policy relevance stems from the journal's applied-microeconomics orientation and its editors' willingness to publish careful empirical work on questions of first-order social importance — even when the methods are simpler than the profession's technical frontier. The QJE demonstrates that rigor and relevance are complements, not substitutes.

Key Facts

Publishing in the QJE: What Authors Should Know

The QJE is among the most competitive journals in economics, with secondary sources reporting acceptance rates around 1–4% and desk-rejection rates above 60% (source: github.com official-source-map, accessed October 2026 — secondary; verify officially).

What the editors look for. The QJE's Harvard editorial team favors papers that combine a sharp economic question with credible empirical or theoretical analysis. The journal's traditional strength in microtheory means that even applied papers benefit from a clear theoretical framework. Papers with important policy implications — in the tradition of the Chetty mobility work — are particularly welcome.

Speed of initial decision. The QJE is known for the fastest desk decisions among the top five — approximately two weeks (source: github.com official-source-map, accessed October 2026). Authors whose papers survive the desk review should then expect months of formal refereeing.

Submission mechanics. No submission fee; initial submission as a single PDF through Editorial Express (source: github.com official-source-map, accessed October 2026). Authors should prepare replication data for the QJE Dataverse on Harvard Dataverse.

Career significance. A QJE publication is among the strongest possible signals on the economics job market. The journal's #1 citation ranking means QJE papers receive exceptional visibility (source: davidcard.berkeley.edu, accessed October 2026).

The QJE at 140: A Living Institution

As the QJE approaches its 140th anniversary, it remains what it has been since 1886: the journal where economics' most important applied ideas are stress-tested. Its archive traces the discipline's evolution — from early microtheory through the Keynesian debates, the rational-expectations revolution, the credibility revolution in empirics, and today's frontiers in inequality, mobility, and behavioral economics.

The journal's Harvard editorial home gives it unusual continuity: five editors, one department, nearly a century and a half of stewardship. In a profession where journals come and go, the QJE's persistence — and its climb to the very top of the citation rankings — testifies to an editorial formula that works: uncompromising standards, openness to important questions regardless of method, and the fastest initial decisions among its peers.

For the next generation of economists, the QJE remains the summit: the journal whose acceptance letter changes careers, whose papers define fields, and whose 1886 founding mission — covering all aspects of economics at the highest level — continues undiminished.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Quarterly Journal of Economics?
The QJE is a peer-reviewed economics journal published by Oxford University Press for Harvard's Department of Economics. Founded in 1886, it is the oldest professional economics journal in the English language.

Who edits the QJE?
Five editors-in-chief, all Harvard economists: Robert J. Barro, Lawrence F. Katz, Nathan Nunn, Andrei Shleifer, and Stefanie Stantcheva.

What is the QJE's impact factor?
Secondary sources report figures between approximately 12.7 and 19.0 depending on the JCR year. It is consistently ranked at or near #1 in Economics.

Is the QJE a top-five journal?
Yes — universally regarded as one of the top five economics journals.

Is there a submission fee for the QJE?
Secondary sources report no submission fee; verify on the official OUP pages.

What was the most famous QJE paper?
Akerlof's "The Market for Lemons" (1970) is among the most famous papers in all of economics and appeared in the QJE.

How often is the QJE published?
Quarterly — four issues per year.

What are the QJE's ISSNs?
Print ISSN 0033-5533; online ISSN 1531-4650.

Where do I submit to the QJE?
Through the Editorial Express portal linked from the official OUP journal pages (academic.oup.com/qje).

Does the QJE require data sharing?
The journal maintains a QJE Dataverse on Harvard Dataverse; check the current data policy on the official pages.

What fields does the QJE cover?
All of economics, from microtheory to empirical and theoretical macroeconomics, with strength in micro, labor, and monetary economics.

Why is it called "Quarterly"?
Because it publishes four issues per year — the name dates to its 1886 founding and has never changed.

Why is it called "Quarterly"?
Because it publishes four issues per year — the name dates to its 1886 founding and has never changed.

How does the QJE compare to Econometrica?
Both are top-five journals. The QJE leans toward applied microeconomics and has the fastest desk decisions; Econometrica is the most technically demanding, focused on econometric method and theory. Many economists publish in both over a career.

What is the QJE Dataverse?
The journal's replication-data repository hosted on Harvard Dataverse — distinct from the AEA journals' openICPSR system. Authors deposit data and code there to satisfy the journal's replication requirements.

Which Harvard economists have edited the QJE?
The current five-editor team (Barro, Katz, Nunn, Shleifer, Stantcheva) follows predecessors including Pol Antràs, Alberto Alesina, and Edward Glaeser, among others.

Is the QJE really the #1 economics journal?
By citation-based rankings it has held the #1 position in recent decades, climbing from fourth place over the past thirty years — a unique trajectory among the top five.

Does the QJE publish macroeconomics?
Yes — its scope explicitly covers both empirical and theoretical macroeconomics alongside its traditional microtheory strength.

Profile compiled October 2026 from official and secondary sources as noted. Metrics, editors, and policies change over time; verify current details on the journal's official pages.