jfi-workflow

JFI Workflow Router (jfi-workflow)

When to trigger

• "I'm writing a JFI paper — where do I start?"
• You finished one stage and want the next jfi-* skill
• You are unsure whether your project is theory-led or empirics-led at JFI

What JFI is (orient first)

Journal of Financial Intermediation (JFI) is an Elsevier journal (ISSN 1042-9573) on **banking,

financial intermediation, and the economics of financial institutions and markets. It publishes both

theory and empirics**: bank behavior, intermediary frictions, corporate finance, regulation, and related

financial-economics topics. So the router first asks whether the paper's core contribution is a **model

(theory) or an empirical design** — this changes how jfi-identification-strategy,

jfi-data-analysis, and jfi-replication-and-data-policy are applied.

Routing map

| Where you are | Next skill |

|---|---|

| Choosing / sharpening the question | jfi-topic-selection |

| Placing it against the intermediation frontier | jfi-literature-positioning |

| Empirical causal design OR theory assumptions/proofs | jfi-identification-strategy |

| Running bank/loan-panel analysis OR numerical examples | jfi-data-analysis |

| Articulating the mechanism / "why intermediaries matter" | jfi-contribution-framing |

| Building exhibits | jfi-tables-figures |

| Polishing prose, author–date style, numbered sections | jfi-writing-style |

| Preparing Option C data sharing + Data Statement | jfi-replication-and-data-policy |

| Understanding single-blind / desk-reject / final decision | jfi-review-process |

| Final preflight + fee + abstract/keywords + AI disclosure | jfi-submission |

| Responding to referees on an R&R | jfi-rebuttal |

Default sequence

topic-selection → literature-positioning → identification-strategy → data-analysis →

contribution-framing → tables-figures → writing-style → replication-and-data-policy → review-process →

submission → rebuttal.

Two lifecycle profiles through this router

• Empirics-led (e.g., a register-based lending-channel paper): topic-selection settles the mechanism;

jfi-identification-strategy is the heaviest stop (demand confounds, within-firm design);

jfi-data-analysis builds the battery; jfi-review-process matters early, because the desk screen

is the binding constraint, not the referee round.

• Theory-led (e.g., a model of run-prone shadow funding): jfi-identification-strategy becomes

assumptions-and-propositions discipline; jfi-data-analysis shrinks to a numerical illustration;

jfi-writing-style carries more weight, since proof exposition is the surface the referee actually

reads.

Symptom → skill routing

| Symptom | Route to |

|---|---|

| "A referee could say it's all borrower demand" | jfi-identification-strategy |

| Abstract reads like generic banking | jfi-contribution-framing |

| Closest citations are all JF/JFE general finance | jfi-literature-positioning, then re-test fit |

| Exhibits do not show the mechanism | jfi-tables-figures |

| Worried about paying the non-refundable fee | jfi-review-process + the gates in jfi-submission |

| Restricted register data, sharing plan unclear | jfi-replication-and-data-policy |

Stage gates before money and goodwill are spent

1. Gate A (after literature-positioning): the delta is a mechanism, not merely a new dataset.
2. Gate B (after identification/data-analysis): a within-firm or equivalent demand control exists, or

the theory's propositions are fully proved with stated boundaries.

1. Gate C (before submission): the desk-screen self-audit passes — mechanism in the abstract, design

defended in the introduction, the <=250-word abstract and 1-7 English keywords are ready, and the

US$500 new-submission fee is justified. Re-confirm fees against the journal's current author

guidelines before filing.

A routing pass, worked (illustrative)

An author arrives with loan-level evidence that small banks cut credit after a deposit outflow.

jfi-topic-selection: strong fit once anchored to liquidity transformation. jfi-literature-positioning:

closest papers are the deposits-channel line; the delta is the relationship-borrower margin.

jfi-identification-strategy: outflow exposure may proxy local demand — gate B forces a within-firm

design before any drafting continues. jfi-data-analysis: battery planned around that threat. Only then

do framing, exhibits, and style run, and jfi-submission clears the fee gates. The router's value is

refusing to let writing start before gate B — at JFI the design objection, not the prose, kills papers.

On an R&R, re-enter the map at the skill matching the referee's heaviest comment, then exit via

jfi-rebuttal.

Anti-patterns

• Treating JFI as purely empirical when your contribution is a model (or vice versa)
• Skipping jfi-review-process and being surprised by desk-rejection or a narrow appeal path
• Forgetting the US$500 fee until jfi-submission — see the source map and re-confirm before filing

Output format

【Stage】<your current stage>
【Paper type】theory / empirical / both
【Next skill】jfi-<role>
【Then】<the one after>