china-industrial-economics

Submission to 《中国工业经济》 (china-industrial-economics)

Journal Positioning

DomesticIndustrial economics / empirical research on firms and innovationTop journal. Known for "rigorous empirical work"—it has even published highly cited methodological how-to guides (standard procedures for mediation effects, difference-in-differences, etc.). Editorial board tastes:Identification must be clean, robustness must be exhaustive, mechanisms + heterogeneity must both be complete, and policy implications must be actionable. More "empirical engineering" than 《经济研究》, more econometrics-oriented than 《管理世界》.

When to Trigger

• The topic involves industrial organization, firm behavior, innovation and R&D, digital economy, regional economy, or environmental regulation
• Using Chinese policies as quasi-experiments (pilots, subsidies, environmental inspections, Broadband China, low-carbon cities, self-innovation zones…)
• Worried that the robustness section is not thick enough, or reviewers demand a pile of additional tests
• Unsure whether mechanisms/heterogeneity are adequate

Topic Preferences

1. Policy evaluation quasi-experiments: causal effects of an industrial/regional/environmental policy on firm or regional outcomes
2. Firm behavior and performance: innovation, exports, total factor productivity, digital transformation, ESG
3. Industrial organization and competition: market structure, entry and exit, factor allocation efficiency
4. Digital economy and new growth drivers: impact of platforms, data factors, and artificial intelligence on productivity

Methods and Identification (Empirical Engineering)

• The mainstay is DID / staggered DID / event-study; parallel trends + placebo + modern heterogeneity-robust estimation are mandatory
• Mechanism tests: prefer "channel-by-channel regressions / moderating effects"; use the three-step mediation approach with caution (the editorial board has reservations about it)
• Heterogeneity: split along multiple dimensions such as firm ownership, size, industry, region, and factor intensity, and explain the economic meaning
• Robustness "arms race": alternative measures, removing confounding policies, PSM-DID, changing windows, placebo, ruling out competing explanations—doing it exhaustively is the norm
• Endogeneity: IV / Heckman / DID combinations, addressed explicitly

Structure and Writing

• Introduction: real-world problem + policy background + 3–5 marginal contributions
• The institutional background section must get policy details right (documents, timing, pilot lists)
• After the main tables there must be interpretation of economic meaning (magnitude, share of the mean), not just reporting significance
• Policy implicationsactionable: who, at which link, does what—this is the key difference between this journal and 《经济研究》
• Substantial length, many tables and refined figures

Routing to Prevent Mis-Submission

• This journal is quickly positioned as belonging to the "industrial economics and innovation" channel; only when the manuscript's core contribution satisfies "industrial organization, firm behavior, innovation, digital economy, or regional industrial policy must be the main line" should 《中国工业经济》 be taken as the first choice.
• For similar profiles, first compare:china-economic-quarterly(《经济学（季刊）》) / china-economic-studies(《中国经济问题》) / china-public-administration-review(《公共管理评论》) / china-rural-economy(Chinese Rural Economy). If the readership of these journals is a closer fit, do not force a submission to this journal merely because of similarity in name, region, or variables.
• Common misdirected submissions: if the theoretical contribution outweighs the industry context, compare with comprehensive top economics journals. Before formal advice, it is still necessary to go through the official verification checklist.

Official verification checklist

• Before formally giving submission format/process advice, first read ../../resources/source-basis.md and ../../resources/official-source-map.md, start verification from the official source anchors therein or from the entry point of the same organizing/publishing system, and state the verification date in the answer.
• Search for "China Industrial Economics submission instructions / guidelines for contributors / author guidelines"; rely on the official website, organizer page, editorial system, or the journal's official CNKI page
• Check whether anonymous main text, author information page, separate funding information sheet, abstract/keywords/JEL or Chinese Library Classification number, and figure/table/reference formatting are required
• Check whether there are requirements for data, programs, supplementary materials, copyright agreements, no-fee statements, or special columns
• If this skill conflicts with the latest official requirements, the official requirements shall prevail

Pre-submission self-check

• DID parallel trends + placebo + modern heterogeneity estimation are all complete
• Mechanism uses "sub-channel/moderation" rather than a simple three-step mediation
• Heterogeneity is multidimensional and has economic interpretation
• Robustness covers: alternative measures/alternative samples/PSM-DID/exclusionary explanations
• Institutional background and policy timing are accurate
• Policy recommendations are specific to actors and stages

High-frequency rejection minefields

• DID does not do parallel trends/placebo, or ignores staggered treatment bias
• Mechanism has only three-step mediation and no theoretical channel
• Heterogeneity is cut only by a single "east-central-west" split
• Robustness is thin and collapses as soon as a reviewer asks
• Policy recommendations are the four-piece set of "strengthen, improve, promote"

Decision mnemonic

• "Clean policy shock + thick robustness + implementable policy" → exactly right for this journal
• "Theoretical contribution thicker than empirical" → switch to Economic Research Journal
• "Leans toward management theory/cases/questionnaires" → switch to Journal of Management World or Nankai Business Review
• "The landing point is financial mechanisms" → switch to Journal of Financial Research

Output format

【匹配度】高 / 中 / 低
【识别】DID/event-study 合规性：平行趋势 □ 安慰剂 □ 异质性稳健 □
【机制】分渠道/调节 √ | 仅三步中介（需改）
【异质性维度】<已切维度>（建议补 <维度>）
【稳健性清单】已做 <…> / 建议补 <…>
【政策可操作性】高 / 中 / 低