IZA Discussion Paper Series - Submission Guidelines

(1) Who May Submit?

The IZA Discussion Paper Series is open to submissions from IZA fellows, affiliates and staff members only.

(2) What Topics Are Accepted?

The paper must fit into IZA's research agenda on labor markets, labor policy, inequality and behavioral economics.

(3) Can I Still Submit My Paper Elsewhere?

We place no restrictions on submitting your paper simultaneously to other working paper series. However, we do not accept papers that have already been published in a journal or book. Please also be aware that some journals do not accept papers previously published as discussion papers. It is your responsibility to ensure that publication in the IZA DP Series poses no copyright conflicts as you cannot withdraw your paper once it is online.

(4) At What Stage Should I Submit My Paper To The IZA DP Series?

While you are free to submit papers at any stage of the production pipeline, an ideal time might be when you initially submit the paper to a journal, conference volume or other book. At that point the Discussion Paper would still benefit from comments, yet it would not replicate the eventually published version. Please note that we do not update, replace or delete IZA DPs once they have been circulated. We thus suggest that you do not submit your paper at a very preliminary stage.

(5) How Do I Submit?

We require online submission. A submission form is available in the protected area of the IZA website. Fellows and affiliates can log in here (and request a new password if need be).

(6) What Are The Formatting Requirements?

  • File format: We accept files in PDF format only. Since we produce our own abstract page, please make sure that the body of your paper starts on a separate page!
  • Paper details: Submission must include abstract (maximum length 900 characters with spaces), keywords, JEL classification, and all authors' affiliations.
  • Contact details: Please include both e-mail and postal address of the corresponding author. Note that we provide contact details for one author only, which will usually be the submitting author – unless you inform us otherwise.
  • Datasets used: Our online submission form also asks which datasets you have used. This information is analyzed by IZA's Research Data Center (IDSC).The more detailed the information is, the easier other researchers can identify the datasets for secondary analysis.
    Authors are also welcome to deposit datasets and code to its IDSC Dataverse in order to satisfy Journal publication requirements.

(7) How Are The Papers Circulated?

IZA Discussion Papers are available online from the IZA website and through RePEc. Copies are also posted at SSRN. We advertise our papers through e-mail alerts sent to thousands of subscribers.

Note: The IZA series has an ISSN number (2365-9793), but the papers have no DOI.

We also advertise selected papers in the IZA Newsroom and via Twitter. For this purpose, authors are invited to include a non-technical summary and/or a tweet with their submission.