Berkeley Economic Review Submission

This page is designed to help you ensure your submission is ready for and fits the scope of the journal.

Before submitting you should read over the guidelines here, then register an account (or login if you have an existing account)


About

Berkeley Economic Review is the University of California, Berkeley’s premier undergraduate, peer-reviewed, academic economics journal. Founded in 2016, we are a 100% student-run and student-produced nonprofit publication. Our publications have expanded from our original undergraduate economic research journal to a printed magazine, online articles, and original research, although these forms of publication are produced exclusively in-house.

Our journal is one of the premier undergraduate economics journals in the world, accepting full-length economic research papers from all undergraduate students enrolled in an accredited college or university. More details on paper submission criteria can be found on our Journal Submission page. 

At Berkeley Economic Review, we envision a platform for the recognition of quality undergraduate research and writing. Our organization exists to provide a forum for students to voice their views on current economic issues and ultimately to foster a community of aspiring economists. We are proud to offer a rare opportunity to publish fully citable undergraduate economics papers across disciplines, and provide feedback to all authors who submit.

We are proudly sponsored by Berkeley Economics, Cornerstone Research, and Analysis Group. All publication decisions are made by the Berkeley Economic Review alone on the grounds of scholarly merit, and do not reflect the views of our organization, or our sponsors.

Any questions about the journal may be directed to berkeleyeconreview@gmail.com. For more information on our organization, please see our website, econreview.berkeley.edu. For updates on journal timeline and other publications, please see our Instagram, @berkeleyeconrev.


Focus and Scope

The Berkeley Economic Review places a finger on the pulse of undergraduate economics research, publishing work across economic disciplines, from students around the world. Through a rigorous, anonymous peer review process, we select papers that make an original contribution to the field, through theoretical and/or empirical analysis. Our broader goal is to advance undergraduate economic scholarship by elevating fresh perspectives and making polished, citable undergraduate economic research available to the broader research community.


Submission Checklist

Eligibility: All undergraduate students currently enrolled in an accredited college or university are welcome to submit content for review. If you completed a paper while you were an undergraduate but have since graduated, you are still eligible for submission to journal issues within one year of your graduation date. For example, if you completed a senior thesis and graduated with your undergraduate degree in May 2024, you are eligible to submit that thesis for consideration in the 2024 journal (published in Spring 2025). Any author that does not meet the eligibility criteria will be immediately disqualified from review.

AI Policy: We allow the use of AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini, etc.). However, we require transparent use. Authors must disclose and describe any use of AI when submitting their paper.

We follow Chicago APA style. Please be sure that your paper and citations are in this format.

Please note that, while the submission form asks for a title and abstract, both of these fields must also be present in the text of your manuscript.

Please see https://escholarship.org/uc/berkeleyeconreview/submissionguidelines for more detailed information on submission guidelines and eligibility criteria.


Copyright Notice

The following is an agreement between the Berkeley Economic Review (hereafter referred to as the Journal) and the submitter (the Author), governing the work currently being submitted, including the primary contribution as well as any supporting materials such as an abstract, data sets, media files, figures, or tables created by the Author and any co-authors (the Submission).

The Berkeley Economic Review is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to readers or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.

1. As consideration for publication in the Journal, the Author grants the Journal the following rights:
1.1. A non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free right to publish, reproduce, publicly display, publicly perform and distribute the Submission in perpetuity throughout the world in all means of expression by any method or media now known or hereafter developed; and
1.2. A non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free right to license others, including databases or printing vendors, to do any or all of the above on a non-exclusive basis.

2. The Author warrants that:
2.1. The Author is the author of the Submission, or is authorized to act on behalf of the author(s) and copyright holder (if different from the author(s)), and has the power to convey the rights granted in this agreement.
2.2. If the Submission has multiple authors, the other authors are identified in the Submission, and the Author will inform the other authors of the terms of this agreement.
2.3. Any textual, graphic or multimedia material included in the Submission that is the intellectual property or work of another is identified and cited in the Submission. 
2.4. If the Submission reproduces any material that is the intellectual property of another, the Author has received permission to publish that material in the Submission, or the material is being incorporated based on an informed, reasonable, and good faith application of fair use.
2.5. The Submission is the original work of the Author(s). To the best of the Author’s knowledge, it does not contain matter that is obscene, libelous, or defamatory; it does not knowingly violate another’s right of privacy, right of publicity, or other legal right; does not contain false or misleading statements; and is otherwise not unlawful.
2.6. The Submission has not been previously published. If this is not the case, the Author will provide the Journal with information about the other locations where the Submission appears. Prior distribution of a Submission, including on a preprint server or in a repository, does not disqualify a Submission from potential publication; the Journal is primarily concerned with other appearances in similar publications. The Author certifies that, should there be published versions of this Submission or its modifications post the signing of this agreement, the Author will note on the publication that a previous version appeared in the Journal.
2.7. If the Author is a student, the Author agrees to share their work and waive any privacy rights granted by FERPA or any other law, policy or regulation, with respect to the Submission, for the purpose of publication. If the Author has any student co-authors, the Author will obtain a signed copy of this agreement from those co-authors. 

3. Indemnification
The Author will indemnify and hold the Journal harmless against loss, damages, expenses, awards, and judgments arising from breach of any of the above warranties.

4. Author’s Rights and Obligations
4.1. Nothing in this agreement constitutes a transfer of the copyright by the Author. As such, the Author retains all rights not expressly granted herein, including but not limited to, the right:
    4.1.1. To reproduce and distribute the Submission, and to authorize others to reproduce and distribute the Submission, in any format;
    4.1.2. To post the Submission in an institutional repository or the Author’s personal or departmental web page.
    4.1.3. To include the Submission, in whole or in part, in another work.
4.2. If the Author distributes the Submission on another website or in another publication (as described above), the Journal will be cited as the source of first publication.

5. Rights for Readers
The Journal and the Author agree that the Submission will be distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), or other later version of the same license, that allows others to copy, distribute, translate, adapt, and build upon the Submission, as long as they provide appropriate credit to the author(s) and do not use the Submission for commercial purposes. Anyone who translates, adapts, or builds upon the Submission must distribute their contributions under a CC BY-NC-SA license. Anyone who uses or redistributes the Submission under this license must indicate any changes that were made, must link to the license, and cannot imply that the author(s) endorse them or their use. More information about this license is available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

6. Termination
The Author agrees to the terms of this agreement for the Submission being considered for publication. If the Submission is declined, this agreement is terminated.


Peer Review

This journal operates a double anonymous peer review policy.

While the Head of Peer Review has access to identifying information for administrative purposes, the rest of the Peer Review team evaluate submissions anonymously. 


Licences

The following licences are allowed:

  • CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
    <p>You are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms. Under the following terms: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes. ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.</p>

Publication Cycle

This journal published continuously annually, with submissions selected from Spring and Fall cycles of the previous calendar year.


Sections

Section or article type

Public Submissions

Peer Reviewed

Indexed

Article