Submissions Overview

General

Cryptoeconomic Systems is committed to providing a holistic perspective on blockchain technology. We accept submissions from any discipline, as long as the subject matter is arguably relevant to blockchain, cryptoeconomics, digital currencies, etc. We actively encourage submissions from underexplored, unexpected, or nontraditional fields. All submissions undergo peer review to ensure that, in the opinion of experts in the field(s), the piece offers a novel and substantial contribution to the blockchain space. Additional editorial criteria may be applied on an ad hoc basis. Works that do not meet the requirements for publication in Cryptoeconomic Systems may be considered for publication on our blog, or may be submitted to our open preprint server (coming soon). Working papers may be submitted to our annual conference.

Schedule

Cryptoeconomic Systems accepts papers twice a year, generally in February-March for the Fall issue, and in August-September for the Spring issue. This may be subject to adjustment. Please keep an eye on this Submissions page for current and upcoming Calls for Papers.

Subject Matter

Noted above, but worth repeating: Cryptoeconomic Systems is a multidisciplinary journal. We accept submissions from all fields and actively encourage submissions from nontraditional fields. We do not restrict the type of paper submitted, and welcome research papers, systematization of knowledge papers (SoKs), measurement papers, visual art, narrative works, meta-analysis, and subject surveys (to name just a few). Working papers may be published to our preprint server (coming soon), our blog, or submitted to our annual conference. That said, our primary concern is rigor. Submissions from all fields must meet our quality standards. We are committed to publishing the best work in each issue, so we are forced to turn down many phenomenal and creative submissions every cycle.

Submission Guidelines

Cryptoeconomic Systems (“CES”) manages submissions via HotCRP. Please follow all instructions given on our HotCRP site. You will need to provide a PDF copy of your work, including an abstract, that is stripped of identifying information.

The current Cryptoeconomic Systems CFP (Volume 3, Issue 1) is open until June 16, 2023.

If your manuscript requires any special treatment (e.g., if your field has conventions that do not comport with our guidelines, if your piece has third-party interests, etc.), please also include an explanatory note as the first page(s) of your PDF. Failure to do so may result in a desk rejection of your piece.

Paper Requirements

We request that written works adhere to a word limit of 20,000 (excluding references and appendices). Submissions may be formatted in any A4 format and submitted via HotCRP as PDF files. All papers must be submitted electronically according to the instructions found at the submission site. A total page restriction may apply for published versions.

Unless expressly identified by the author, all submissions will be considered exclusive. If accepted, both the full paper and the peer review summary will be published. If the paper you submit is currently under submission at another peer-reviewed venue, you must mark your submission as a “Hot Topics Submission.”

Double-blind Peer Review

Cryptoeconomic Systems strives to publish high-quality scholarship, regardless of author affiliations or other external considerations. For the purposes of our double-blind review process, all identifying information must be stripped from your submission. This includes (but is not limited to) names, affiliations, previous works, and locations. If some of this information is critical for properly evaluating your paper, please leave those components intact, and state your reasoning in an explanatory note submitted as the first page(s) of your PDF. The editors will review and make a judgement call.

We do not require authors to remove submissions from public preprint or personal servers; we expect that submitted papers will often coexist on, e.g.,  ePrint, arXiv.org or SSRN. We will not reject papers on the basis of existing public access, though we expect authors to make reasonable, good-faith efforts to respect the integrity of a blind peer review process, if only to help our reviewers focus their attention on the content of the paper rather than on preconceptions about the authors.

Open Peer Review Policy

Long term, the editorial team is interested in undertaking experiments to maximize the speed, quality and reach of our journal’s publication processes. As a starting point, an open peer review policy will be operated with select reviewer feedback being published online alongside accepted papers (with optional reviewer attribution). We encourage the adoption of various forms of peer review within the cryptocurrency community, and view the publication of reviewer feedback as a way of seeding public discussions and bringing increased transparency to the review process.

Acceptance

If your article is accepted for publication, you will need to provide the following:

• An unblinded version of your manuscript;

• a brief (3-5 sentence), third-person bio for each author;

• a non-technical, 2-4 page summary of your manuscript, explaining your work and conclusions in the simplest possible terms (i.e., not an abstract);

• a headshot of the the lead author (or author designated by the lead author); and

• a short profile/interview of the lead author (CES will provide the format/guidelines for this upon acceptance).

Other Questions

If you have any additional questions, please contact Managing Editor Reuben Youngblom at [email protected]. Thank you!

Additional Requirements

By submitting a manuscript to Cryptoeconomic Systems (“CES”), authors agree to meet the following requirements:

• engage in timely communication with our editorial staff;

• assign copyright for accepted manuscripts to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (“MIT”) in accordance with our Copyright Release;

• timely provide such materials as CES requires to publish your article, such as edits, author bios, summaries, profiles, etc.;

• assurance that the piece is original work that has not been previously published in a peer-reviewed venue (if your paper is currently under consideration in another peer-reviewed journal, please indicate this in HotCRP by marking your submission as a “Hot Topics Submission.”);

• follow best-practice disclosure and conflict-of-interest guidelines;

• agree to publish under our Open Peer Review standard;

• agree to copyediting (e.g., changes to enhance readability, grammatical changes, etc.) and commit to a reasonable number of revision cycles prior to publication (if necessary);

• agree to shepherding (if necessary);

• agree to CES’ double-blind review process, including publication alongside a review summary;

• agree to style formatting in accordance with the CES Style Guide (may be revised post-acceptance, if necessary); and

• agree to publication consistent with CES, MIT, or MIT Press conventions.

Note: Authors may request to publish anonymously in special cases (e.g., disclosing a vulnerability/exploit, etc.). For more information, please contact Managing Editor Reuben Youngblom at [email protected].

Evaluation Criteria

Cryptoeconomic Systems aims to publish the most relevant, up-to-date research in the blockchain space. In order to be considered for publication, a work must:

• offer a substantial advancement to blockchain (broadly conceptualized) as a discipline, either by presenting original research and reaching a conclusion that has not been previously published, or by providing a new way of conceptualizing a core tenet of the blockchain world;

• reach a conclusion (or other output) that is both novel, and of interest to a multidisciplinary audience;

• lend itself to formatting in an academic journal; and

• be submitted in accordance with the above Submission Guidelines.

Failing to meet one or more of these criteria will result in an automatic desk rejection, while compliant submissions will continue on to be evaluated by our editorial board/program committee.

Timelines

We strive to adhere to a predictable publication calendar. In general, the CFP for our Fall issue opens in February and remains open for six weeks, while the CFP for our Spring issue opens in August and runs for six weeks.

Once submissions close, we have two review rounds of ~6 weeks each (12 weeks total) for both Spring and Fall issues. Authors are then notified, placing notification approximately 3 months out from our CFP deadline.

Once authors are notified, we allow for 4-6 weeks of shepherding (which may or may not be necessary) and 4-8 weeks of copy/line editing, revisions, and formatting. Once a manuscript has been formatting, it is ready to be published. Publication on our CES website occurs approximately three months after author notification.

Please note, these timelines may shift according to the needs of our staff, referees, or our publisher (MIT Press). We make every effort to notify authors and contributors when changes to our schedule must be made.