What to Look for When Choosing a Journal
Before submitting your research, evaluate journals on these key criteria:
- Corporate finance scope — capital structure, investment, dividends, and governance
- Empirical rigour — event studies, panel data models, and natural experiments with firm data
- Open access for reach to corporate finance practitioners, CFOs, and investors
- Fast review for time-sensitive corporate event research
- International scope — cross-country corporate finance and governance research
- Acceptance of both theoretical modelling and empirical corporate finance research
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 Corporate Finance
Keith Publications corporate finance journals accept research on: capital structure — debt-equity choice, leverage determinants, and capital structure dynamics; dividend policy — dividend signalling, share buybacks, and payout policy; investment decisions — capital budgeting, project selection, and investment-cash flow sensitivity; mergers and acquisitions — M&A value creation, synergies, and post-merger integration; IPOs and seasoned equity offerings — pricing, underpricing, and long-run performance; corporate governance — board structure, ownership concentration, and managerial incentives; CEO compensation — executive pay, pay-performance sensitivity, and excessive remuneration; financial distress, bankruptcy, and restructuring; and family firms and entrepreneurial finance.
Corporate Finance in Emerging Markets
Corporate finance research in emerging markets presents distinctive challenges and insights not captured by research focused solely on developed market corporations. In many emerging economies, founding family control, state ownership, pyramidal ownership structures, and weak investor protection create unique corporate governance dynamics. Capital markets are thinner, information asymmetries are more severe, and access to external finance is more constrained. Keith Publications corporate finance journals actively encourage research on corporate finance in emerging markets, recognising that the dominant US and UK-based literature may not generalise globally.
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: