---
name: jimf-topic-selection
description: Use when deciding whether a question belongs at the Journal of International Money and Finance (JIMF) and how to frame it as international monetary/financial economics. Tests scope and the international margin; it does not invent evidence, exemplars, or citations.
---

# Topic Selection (jimf-topic-selection)

## When to trigger

- A finance/macro question is forming and you must decide whether JIMF is the right outlet vs. JIE, JME, JMCB, or JFE
- The paper has a result but the **international/open-economy margin** is implicit or decorative
- A referee or coauthor says "this is interesting, but is it *international money and finance*?"
- You need a domestic result repackaged for an international audience — and want to know if that repackaging is real or cosmetic

## The JIMF "does it belong here?" test

JIMF publishes work where the **international or cross-border dimension is load-bearing**, not a robustness footnote. The litmus test: if you removed the open-economy element (the exchange rate, the cross-border flow, the foreign monetary shock, the sovereign external position), would the paper collapse or merely lose a section? If it merely loses a section, you have a domestic paper with international garnish — route it to JME/JMCB/JFE instead. JIMF's core objects are exchange-rate dynamics and pass-through, capital-flow drivers (push vs. pull) and the global financial cycle, cross-border banking and the international transmission of monetary policy, sovereign risk and external debt, currency crises, FX intervention and capital controls, and international asset pricing (UIP, carry, term premia).

| Candidate question | JIMF-fit verdict | Why / where else |
|--------------------|------------------|------------------|
| Do Fed surprises move EM exchange rates and capital flows? | Strong fit | Spillovers are the international margin |
| Does a domestic macroprudential rule cut domestic credit? | Weak fit | JME/JMCB unless cross-border leakage is the point |
| Does exchange-rate pass-through into import prices vary by invoicing currency? | Strong fit | Core ERPT / dominant-currency question |
| Does a firm's leverage predict its stock returns (one country)? | Out of scope | JFE/RF — no international margin |
| Does the global financial cycle constrain monetary autonomy (trilemma)? | Strong fit | Canonical JIMF / open-economy macro-finance |
| Does sovereign CDS spread react to a foreign-currency debt rollover shock? | Strong fit | Sovereign risk + external position |

## Where this sits in the workflow

Topic selection is the first gate, and it is the cheapest place to prevent the most expensive failure: a fully executed paper that is desk-rejected on scope. If the international margin is not load-bearing, no amount of later identification or robustness work makes the paper a JIMF paper — it makes it a well-identified paper at the wrong journal. Settle fit here, then hand a paper whose international contribution is unmistakable to `jimf-literature-positioning` to stake it against the frontier. Do not skip this gate because the result is exciting; excitement about a domestic result is exactly what produces a misrouted submission.

## How to frame the question for JIMF

1. **Name the international mechanism in the title or first sentence** — pass-through, spillover, push/pull, leakage, trilemma, dominant currency. The mechanism, not the data source, signals fit.
2. **State the unit of identifying variation** that is international: a foreign monetary surprise, a cross-country regime difference, a capital-control change, an exchange-rate regime switch.
3. **Decide the audience segment**: a central-bank/IMF/BIS policy reader (wants external validity and policy relevance) vs. an international-finance academic (wants the asset-pricing or identification innovation). JIMF serves both; say which you lead with.
4. **Pre-empt the desk-reject**: editors triage papers whose international content is thin or whose contribution is a marginal extension of a known cross-country regression. Make the new object explicit.

## Reframing a domestic result for JIMF (when it is honest)

A domestic finding can become a JIMF paper if the international margin is *added as the question, not a robustness column*. Three honest reframings: (a) **cross-border transmission** — does the domestic mechanism spill across borders, and through which channel (trade, bank, portfolio)? (b) **cross-country comparison** — does the mechanism's strength vary with an international institution (exchange-rate regime, capital-account openness, currency-denomination of debt)? (c) **external-shock response** — does the domestic object respond to a *foreign* shock (a Fed surprise, a global risk shift, a terms-of-trade move)? If none of these is the paper's actual question, the reframing is cosmetic and the paper belongs elsewhere.

## Sizing the contribution

JIMF publishes solid, well-identified field contributions, not only paradigm shifts — but a marginal extension of a famous cross-country regression will be triaged out. Calibrate: a new mechanism, a cleaner identification of a known effect, a new measurement that overturns an aggregate result, or credible external validity for a result that was estimated in one country/region all clear the bar. "First study of X for country Y," a longer sample of an existing regression, or a re-label of a domestic result do not.

## Worked vignette (illustrative)

A team has a clean result that domestic bank lending falls after a domestic policy tightening — a solid but domestic finding. Is there a JIMF paper in it? Apply the load-bearing test through the three reframings. (a) Transmission: does the lending contraction spill abroad through these banks' foreign branches or cross-border claims? If the foreign-claims response is the new result, that is a JIMF paper on the international bank-lending channel. (b) Comparison: does the contraction differ for banks more reliant on foreign (dollar) funding? That is a JIMF paper on the global-funding margin. (c) External shock: do these banks contract lending after a *foreign* (US) tightening, not just the domestic one? That is a JIMF spillover paper. If none of these is the actual question and the paper stays about the domestic rate, route it to JME/JMCB — the international content would be cosmetic.

## Referee pushback mapped to the topic fix

- *"This is interesting but not international finance."* → Make the international mechanism the question (transmission / comparison / external-shock), not a section.
- *"This is a JME/JMCB paper."* → If the binding variation is domestic monetary policy, accept the reroute; if it is cross-border, foreground that margin.
- *"The contribution is incremental."* → Identify a new object (mechanism, measure, design) or hold the paper until there is one.
- *"This is really a real-trade / real-exchange-rate paper."* → If there is no monetary or financial channel, it is a JIE paper; add the financial margin or reroute.

## Checklist

- [ ] Removing the international margin would collapse the paper, not just trim it
- [ ] The international mechanism is named (pass-through / spillover / push-pull / trilemma / dominant currency / sovereign external risk)
- [ ] The identifying variation is itself international (foreign shock, cross-country contrast, regime/control change)
- [ ] The paper is distinguished from JIE (real trade/macro), JME/JMCB (domestic money), and JFE (no international margin)
- [ ] The contribution is a new object or design, not a marginal control added to a known regression
- [ ] If reframed from a domestic result, the reframing is the question (transmission/comparison/external-shock), not cosmetic
- [ ] The lead audience (policy vs. academic) is chosen and the framing serves it
- [ ] Fit is settled here before executing the paper — the cheapest place to avoid a scope desk-reject
- [ ] The new object (mechanism, measure, or design) is statable in one sentence
- [ ] Process facts (editor, APC, blinding) cited from `resources/official-source-map.md` or marked 待核实

## Anti-patterns

- A domestic study with one "we also add a foreign variable" robustness column dressed as international finance
- Pitching the data ("we have new FX tick data") instead of the question (what international mechanism it identifies)
- Confusing JIMF with JIE: a real-trade or real-exchange-rate-fundamentals paper with no monetary/financial channel belongs at JIE
- Re-running a textbook cross-country growth/credit regression with one more year of data and calling it a contribution
- Inventing exemplar JIMF papers or editor names to justify fit instead of marking uncertainty

## Output format

```text
【Journal】Journal of International Money and Finance
【Skill】jimf-topic-selection
【Verdict】fit / reframe / reroute (JIE / JME / JMCB / JFE)
【International mechanism】<pass-through / spillover / push-pull / trilemma / sovereign / dominant currency>
【Load-bearing test】does removing the international margin collapse the paper? [Y/N]
【Lead audience】policy (CB/IMF/BIS) or academic international-finance
【Source status】verified URL / 待核实
【Next skill】jimf-literature-positioning
```