What to Look for When Choosing a Journal
Before submitting your research, evaluate journals on these key criteria:
- Behavioural scope — cognitive biases, investor psychology, sentiment, and market anomalies
- Empirical and experimental methods — laboratory experiments, field experiments, and archival studies
- Open access for reach to behavioural economists, financial regulators, and personal finance advisors
- Fast review for competitive behavioural finance research
- Acceptance of neuroeconomics and neuroimaging studies with finance applications
- Retail investor and household finance research strongly welcomed
Recommended Journals — Cluster 7: Finance, Accounting & Economics
All journals below are published by Keith Publications — open access, peer-reviewed, and indexed for global discoverability.
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Journal of Financial Economics and Management
(JFEM)
Financial economics, corporate finance, investment management, financial markets, monetary policy, and the economics of financial systems and institutions.
Financial Economics Corporate Finance Investment Management Financial Markets -
Journal of Accounting and Financial Reporting
(JAFR)
Financial accounting, management accounting, auditing, corporate governance, financial reporting standards, and the intersection of accounting with regulation and public policy.
Financial Accounting Auditing Corporate Governance Financial Reporting -
International Journal of Banking and Financial Services
(IJBFS)
Banking systems, financial services regulation, fintech, digital banking, risk management, financial inclusion, and the stability of global financial institutions.
Banking Systems Financial Services Fintech Risk Management -
Economics and Social Policy Research Journal
(ESPRJ)
Applied economics, development economics, fiscal and monetary policy, social policy evaluation, labour economics, and the economics of welfare, health, and education.
Applied Economics Development Economics Fiscal Policy Social Policy
Fast Publication: All Keith Publications journals complete initial review within 2–5 business days and full peer review within 2–4 weeks. Articles are published online within 5–10 days of acceptance — making us one of the fastest open access publishers in finance, accounting, and economics.
Core Research Areas in Behavioural Finance
Keith Publications behavioural finance journals accept research on: investor overconfidence — excessive trading, underperformance, and overestimation of skill; loss aversion and prospect theory applications in investment; the disposition effect — holding losers too long and selling winners too early; herding and information cascades in financial markets; sentiment and noise trading — the role of investor sentiment in price formation; mental accounting — household financial decisions and category-based budget allocation; anchoring and framing effects in financial product choice; financial literacy and its effect on investment decisions; gender differences in investment behaviour and risk-taking; and robo-advice and algorithmic nudges in financial decision-making.
Behavioural Finance and Financial Regulation
Behavioural finance research has directly influenced financial regulation — most notably through the development of behavioural regulatory approaches that address systematic consumer biases in financial product choice. Research on disclosure design, default option effects in pension enrolment, complexity effects in financial product choice, and suitability requirements for retail financial products has informed regulatory frameworks from the UK FCA's consumer duty to the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Keith Publications welcomes research bridging behavioural finance and regulatory design.
Tips to Maximise Your Acceptance Chances
- Align your topic with the journal's scope — confirm your research fits the journal's finance, accounting, or economics focus area.
- Establish clear research questions — finance and economics editors expect precise, testable hypotheses or well-defined research questions.
- Address endogeneity and identification — be explicit about your causal identification strategy and its limitations.
- Use appropriate data and methodology — match your econometric or quantitative methods to your research question and data structure.
- Follow formatting guidelines exactly — non-compliant manuscripts are often desk-rejected without review.
- State practical and policy implications — explain how your findings inform investors, regulators, policymakers, or practitioners.
- Ensure robust robustness checks — include alternative specifications, subsample analyses, and placebo tests to strengthen your empirical claims.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Research Guides
Explore other research journal guides in the Finance, Accounting & Economics cluster: