Submissions

Author Guidelines

Author Guidelines

All submitted manuscripts must be original work that hasn’t been published in another form such as another journal, magazine, or book chapter. Upon submitting a manuscript for consideration by PMR, an author is restricted from submitting their manuscript elsewhere until an editorial decision on their work has been made. Submissions are only accepted by uploading to our online article submission system. We do not require any specific style or format for initial submission. However, upon acceptance of an article for publication, the author will be expected to bring their manuscript into conformity with the stylistic and mechanical specifications described below. Also at that time, the author will be expected to sign the PMR copyright agreement and to remove all prior versions of the article from everywhere that they have been posted, including SSRN and all other websites.

These guidelines apply to all the journals in the PMR family of journals except for The Journal of Derivatives, which has separate guidelines.

Target Audience

Journals in the PMR family of publications are directed primarily toward an audience of investment professionals. This includes investors, issuers, intermediaries, and other market participants such as accountants, lawyers, and rating agency analysts. Please write your article for such an audience. In particular, please write in plain English, minimizing the use of technical jargon, and emphasizing clarity and brevity as much as possible.

Although the readers of PMR journals include large numbers of academics, researchers, and policymakers, those groups are not the primary target audience. Manuscripts that have clearly been written primarily for an academic audience will be rejected at the preliminary review.

Target Length

The target length for articles is 4,000 words, not including the abstract, exhibits, and references. However, the editor of a journal may accept articles that are substantially longer or shorter. Articles shorter than 2,500 words or longer than 7,500 words are rarely accepted.

An editor may permit the use of an online supplement. Materials in an online supplement do not count in figuring the length of an article. Content such as detailed empirical results and mathematical proofs are particularly well suited to being placed in online supplements.

Content Organization

Title

You should give your article a short descriptive title. In general, an article’s title should be no more than 12 words. You should try to avoid including words that carry little or no meaning.

An article’s title is the first opportunity to catch the attention of potential readers. Also, an article’s title figures strongly in how visible the article will be via Internet search engines. In most cases, the first few words of an article’s title should be terms that are strongly associated with the article’s subject. Terms that identify the subject more narrowly are generally better than terms with broader meaning. For example, consider the title for an article about model risk associated with quantitative models. The title “Model Risk: Trouble in Quant Land” is stronger than “Trouble in Quant Land: Model Risk” because the term “model risk” appears as the first words of the former.

Abstract

You should write a strong abstract for an article appearing in a PMR journal. The target length for abstracts in PMR journals is 160 words. The abstract should be non-technical, should not contain any references, and should define any acronyms on first use.

An article’s abstract is the only part of the article that appears on the unrestricted portion of the related journal’s website. In the printed version of a journal, the abstract appears in the table of contents (as if it is written by the editorial team, not the authors). It does not appear directly before the article’s main text.

An article’s abstract serves two main functions: First, it communicates the main points of the article and explains the core of the reasoning or analysis that supports them. When applicable, the abstract should further state how the article expands on prior research. Second, the abstract should stimulate the reader’s appetite to read the complete article. It should make the reader want to get all the details.

The abstract is the main vehicle for alerting potential readers that the article exists and informing them about why it is worth reading. A well-written abstract enhances the likelihood that an article will receive the full attention that it deserves from readers. Conversely, a weak abstract may cause readers to overlook an otherwise excellent article.

Introductory Material

Please write strong introductory paragraphs. The introductory material is an important part of an article. It serves three critical functions. First, it serves as a substitute for the abstract at the start of the article. Because an abstract is not presented right before its associated article, a reader will not necessarily have read the abstract before reading the main text.

Second, like the abstract, the introductory material allows an author to communicate the key points of his or her article. This is important because busy investment professionals suffer numerous interruptions and distractions. Therefore, an article’s introductory material should describe the article’s main points and briefly explain the reasoning or analysis that supports them. The introductory material should explain why the findings, results, or conclusions are important and how they add to prior research in the area. If applicable, the introductory material should convey how an investment professional can use the findings, results, or conclusions in a practical way.

Third (also like the abstract), the introductory material in the main text should tease the reader’s curiosity.

In most cases it is helpful to include a “roadmap” paragraph at the end of the introductory material. The purpose of the roadmap paragraph is to inform readers about how the article is organized into different sections and what is covered in each one.

Headings

Articles in PMR journals can have up to three levels of headings. Top-level headings appear in bold uppercase. Second-level headings are indented and bold. Third-level headings appear as bold in-line paragraph headings. These submission guidelines use the heading structure for articles. To assist the copyediting and typesetting process, please use headings formatted in those ways.

The first heading in an article should appear after the introductory material. Articles in PMR journals do not include any heading before an article’s introductory material.

Conclusion

Please end the main text of an article with a short conclusion that briefly summarizes the article’s main point. The conclusion may resemble the article’s abstract, though it need not omit references and technical terms used in the article. The conclusion should not introduce new material.

Footnotes

PMR journals now use footnotes rather than endnotes. Footnotes generally should not be used for references but rather for peripheral or tangential commentary that would not be suitable for inclusion in the main text.

References

PMR journals follow the “author-date” reference format of The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), 17^th Edition, Chapter 15 both for references included in the text of an article and for the list of references at the end of an article. The list of references should immediately follow the main text.

Style, Usage, and Grammar

PMR journals follow CMS with respect to matters of style, usage, and grammar. This includes standards for hyphenation, abbreviations, and capitalization.

Mechanical Standards

Authors should submit manuscripts as MS Word or LaTex files with the text formatted as follows:

• paper size: 8½ × 11 inches
• margins: 1 inch all around
• font for main text: 12 point Times New Roman
• font for footnotes: 10 point Times New Roman
• font for tables: 9 point Times New Roman or larger
• single spaced text
• paragraphs have 12 points of space before
• first line of paragraphs indented one tab stop
• pages numbered at bottom center

We prefer that manuscripts containing mathematical equations be submitted in MS Word using either Equation Editor or MathType. If you submit a manuscript prepared in LaTex, please also submit a .pdf file with the .tex file and make sure to embed all fonts in the .pdf file.

First Page: The first page should contain only the following:

• Title of the article
• Date
• Name and complete contact info for each author
• For each author a sentence describing the author’s role and affiliation, such as: “John Doe is the chief investment officer of Acme Investment Management, Inc.”
• If there are multiple authors, an indication of which one is the corresponding author

Second Page: The second page should contain only the following:

• Title of the article
• Date
• Abstract
• Keywords and JEL codes

Third Page: The main text of the article should begin at the top of the third page

Exhibits

Please call all tabular or graphical material Exhibits. Number exhibits with Arabic numbers consecutively in order of appearance in the text. Do not call them Table 1 and Figure 1. We reserve the right to return to an author for reformatting any paper accepted for publication that does not conform to this style.

An article’s text should refer to all of its exhibits. In general, the text should clearly explain the point supported or demonstrated by each exhibit. Additionally, except for the simplest tables and charts, the text should explain how to read each exhibit. For tables that report statistical results, the text should direct readers to the key values and clearly explain what they mean. For an equation, the text should describe and explain the relationship represented by the equation and clearly define all terms used in the equation. In many cases, it is better to place content that is heavy with equations in an appendix. Within the PMR family of journals, The Journal of Fixed Income and The Journal of Derivatives generally allow for the highest proportions of quantitative material in the main text.

Exhibit Presentation: Authors are encouraged to submit articles with exhibits in color. Please make sure that all categories in an exhibit can be distinguished from each other and match the categories in any legend connected with an exhibit. Also, make sure that each exhibit will be legible when printed in black-and-white. This is important for all articles because a reader may print an article on a black-and-white printer.

Tables: Please organize and present tables consistently throughout an article. Use 9­‑point Times New Roman or larger; align numbers correctly by decimal points; use the same number of decimal points for the same sorts of numbers; center headings, columns, and numbers correctly; use the exact same language in successive appearances; identify any bold-faced or italicized entries in exhibits; and provide any source notes necessary.

For best results, prepare tables as native in native MS Word format rather than as MS Excel spreadsheets.

Charts: Charts will appear the way you submit them. Please be consistent as to fonts, capitalization, and abbreviations in graphs throughout the paper, and label all axes and lines in charts clearly and absolutely consistently. For best results, charts should be prepared within MS Word, so that they carry all their underlying data. When pasting graphs into Word, paste as an object, not as a picture, so we will be able to have access to the original charts. Unless the underlying data values are already embedded in a pasted chart, please supply all the underlying data values in a separate MS Excel file.

See Appendix A for additional guidelines and examples for tables and charts.

Equations: Please display called-out equations on separate lines, aligned on the same indents as the text paragraphs and with no punctuation following. Number equations consecutively throughout the paper in Arabic numbers at the right-hand margin. Use a text box to explain any operation signs, Greek letters, or any other notation that may be unclear. Leave space around operations signs such as plus and minus everywhere. We reserve the right to return for resubmission any accepted article that prepares equations in any other way.