Online submission
All submissions are handled online at http://ees.elsevier.com/corfin . Once you have logged on as author using your JOURNAL username and password you will be guided through the creation and uploading of your files. The system automatically converts source files to a single Adobe Acrobat PDF version of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF at submission for the review process, these source files are needed for further processing after acceptance. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail and via the Author's homepage only. Therefore users need to keep their contact coordinates on the registration page up-to-date with the "UPDATE MY INFORMATION" option.

Submission Fees
Each submission must be accompanied by a submission fee of US $ 75.00. The submission fee applies to every round, unless forgiven by the Editor. Payment is through PayPal. Submission fees will not be refunded.

Journal Policy Statement
The editors of the Journal of Corporate Finance are committed to publishing papers that advance our knowledge of corporate finance through both theoretical and empirical work. We hope to publish papers that are useful to readers and that are innovative. We will publish papers with "non results" if they contribute to our general understanding of corporate finance. In today's world, there are vast amounts of data from many different countries available readily. Thus, there are great opportunities to do work that expand our knowledge. However, there are also unprecedented opportunities to find correlations among variables with weak theoretical justification. Papers that do so will not be published. Our goal is to publish research that impacts our understanding of corporate finance.

The Journal of Corporate Finance has a two-stage review process. In the first stage, at least one editor must decide that a paper should go to a reviewer. The number of submissions to the JCF has increased dramatically and we do not have the resources in terms of the editor's and, most importantly, reviewer's time to review all papers. If a paper passes the first stage, the paper is sent to at least one reviewer for detailed comments. We would like to help authors improve their papers, even if they will not be published, but we are severely limited in that role by resource constraints. The editor's final decisions are based on the potential contribution of the paper, the fit with the mission of the Journal of Corporate Finance, and the quality of the work.

We have decided against an increase in submission fees to preserve the opportunity to all for submission. However, even if a paper is rejected in the first stage without a review, the author will be charged. We will pay our reviewers $35 for each review. Second submissions will also carry a submission charge unless forgiven by the editor.

Authors considering a submission should make sure the paper is as polished as possible, fits with the mission of the Journal of Corporate Finance (a guiding question is whether there are related publications already in the Journal of Corporate Finance) and is of interest to our readers. Our letter to reviewers contains this paragraph and should further guide authors:

The Journal of Corporate Finance is a leading corporate finance journal that publishes both theoretical and empirical papers. The Journal of Corporate Finance is receiving a large number of submissions and we have many high quality submissions. Thus, our rejection rate is now over 95% and we, and you, do not have the resources to work with any paper that while at some point may be publishable, would need significant work from the authors (and you). Empirical work that replicates earlier work for a new sample (or new international data) is generally not publishable unless the sample allows important new insights. Theoretical work needs important empirical implications, regardless of the quality of the technique, to be considered. We can not publish theoretical work where the contribution is the technique. Further, it is not a referee's job to work with a paper that is poorly executed or does not recognize the literature or in general is submitted too early. Of course, sometimes it is beneficial to work with a diamond in the rough but only if you recognize there could be a valuable diamond there, not some vague potential of a diamond. If you believe the paper is not publishable for any of the above reasons even a short note explaining your reasoning would be helpful.

Legal and Copyright
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all Authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the copyright holder.

Upon acceptance of an article, Authors will be asked to sign a 'Journal Publishing Agreement'(for more information on this and copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (for more information on this and copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail (or letter) will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement. Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations (please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions).

If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the Author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by Authors in these cases: please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions.

Wordprocessor documents
It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the wordprocessor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the wordprocessor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. Do not embed "graphically designed" equations or tables, but prepare these using the wordprocessor's facility. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier: http://www.elsevier.com/guidepublication). Do not import the figures into the text file but, instead, indicate their approximate locations directly in the electronic text and on the manuscript. To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the "spell-check" and "grammar-check" functions of your wordprocessor.

Article

Language. Articles must be written in good English

Title. Concise and informative. Avoid abbreviations and formulae.

Author names and affiliations. Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly using appropriate script (capital cases as first letter of authors' first and surnames followed by lower cases). The Present the Authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the Author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name, and, if available, the e-mail address of each Author.

Corresponding Author. Clearly indicate who is willing to handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that telephone and fax numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address.

Abstract. A concise abstract should briefly state the purpose of the research and the main results. An abstract is often presented separate from the article, so it must be able to stand alone.

Classification codes and keywords. Provide at least one standard JEL code http://www.aeaweb.org/journal/elclasjn.html and up to 5 additional keywords.

Illustrations. Graphics files can be uploaded via http://ees.elsevier.com/corfin . Please refer to http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructionsfor guidelines for the preparation of electronic artwork files.

Colour Illustrations Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in colour on the Web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate your preference for colour in print or on the Web only. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions .

Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting colour figures to "grey scale" (for the printed version should you not opt for colour in print) please submit in addition usable black and white versions of all the colour illustrations.

References
All citations in the text should refer to:
- Single Author: the Author's name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and the year of publication;
- Two Authors: both Authors' names and the year of publication;
- Three or more Authors: first Author's name followed by "et al." and the year of publication. Examples: "as demonstrated in (Allan, 1996a, 1996b, 1999; Allan and Jones, 1995). Lee et al. (2000) have recently shown"

In the references list references should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same Author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters "a", "b", "c", etc., placed after the year of publication. Examples:

Reference to a journal publication:
-Griffiths W, Judge G. Testing and estimating location vectors when the error covariance matrix is unknown. Journal of Econometrics 1992;54; 121-138 (note that journal names are not to be abbreviated).

Reference to a book:
-Hawawini G, Swary I. Mergers and acquisitions in the U.S. banking industry: Evidence from the capital markets. North-Holland: Amsterdam; 1990.

Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
-Brunner K, Melzer AH 1990. Money Supply. In: Friedman BM, Hahn FH (Eds), Handbook of monetary economics, vol.1. North-Holland: Amsterdam; 1990. p. 357-396.

Citing and listing of Web references. As a minimum, the full URL should be given. Any further information, if known (Author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.

Submission checklist

• One Author designated as corresponding Author:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address
• Telephone and fax numbers
• All necessary files have been uploaded
• JEL code(s) and keywords
• All figure captions
• All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
• Manuscript has been "spellchecked"
• References are in the correct format for this journal
• All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)

Offprints
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail or, alternatively, 25 free paper offprints. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use. Additional paper offprints can be ordered by the authors. An order form with prices will be sent to the corresponding author.

Funding body agreements and policies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors whose articles appear in journals published by Elsevier, to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies .

Language Services
Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission please visit http://www.elsevier.com/languagepolishing or contact authorsupport@elsevier.com for more information. Please note Elsevier neither endorses nor takes responsibility for any products, goods or services offered by outside vendors through our services or in any advertising. For more information please refer to our Terms & Conditions http://www.elsevier.com/termsandconditions .

For any further information please contact the Author Support Department at authorsupport@elsevier.com.