Scientific research and policy advice strongly depend on the regular dissemination and exchange of methodological advances and new empirical findings. Cutting-edge research, however, is often published in renowned journals that have a considerable time lag until publication. Therefore, all major research institutions and network have their own working paper series in which new studies are pre-published. In the field of labor economists, the IZA Discussion Paper Series has long established itself as the most popular and most influential outlet. Close to 7,000 papers have already been published in the IZA series during the past 15 years. IZA has also been actively involved in the making of important field journals, for example by hosting the editorial office of the Journal of Population Economics, co-editing the Research in Labor Economics series, and collaborating with other international peer-reviewed journals.
To complement these efforts, IZA has now launched a new series of open access journals in close cooperation with Springer Verlag, which has traditionally been an important partner in publishing. The aim of the new IZA Journals is to provide a high-quality, peer-reviewed outlet for papers as an instrument to foster production of knowledge and scientific excellence in the areas where IZA sees need. We encourage in particular submissions that relate to the IZA program areas, such as program evaluation, personnel economics, institutional labor economics, migration and ethnicity, transition and emerging economies, jobs and development, future of labor, environment and development, and growth and employment in low income countries.
Obtaining quick publications is the objective of all researchers. One of the key characteristics of the IZA Journals is the fast decision making and publication process. Acceptance/rejection decisions are expected to be made within one month from the receipt of the original manuscript. The publication appears online within one month after the submission of the final manuscript. The fast process from the submission to the acceptance/rejection decision is guaranteed by (i) an advanced desk rejection policy and (ii) the fact that only those papers refereed that require minor revisions are accepted while those not accepted are rejected without a detailed referee report. This requires the submission of manuscripts which authors consider ready for direct publication if found suitable by the editorial team. A limited number of 24 articles per journal per year will be published.
The IZA Journals will be accessible online through SpringerOpen. This implies that electronic access to all five new journals is provided freely and permanently worldwide immediately upon publication. IZA sees open access as a key channel to promote the dissemination of latest findings from research and policy. This will particularly benefit researchers and interested readers from less developed regions of the world. To make open access possible, moderate publication fees apply. These are waived for members of the IZA network, who are asked to participate in the referee process. This provides an additional collaboration incentive for IZA Fellows and Affiliates. Authors not affiliated with IZA are also exempt from fees if they provide several referee reports. In addition, no fees apply to authors, e.g. from developing countries, who are specifically invited by the editors.
See journals.iza.org for full information on all five journals.
