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The Journal of Human Resources (JHR) is a leading peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to empirical microeconomics. Founded in 1965 and published bimonthly by the University of Wisconsin Press, the journal features econometric research on labor markets, education, health, and social welfare policy. Researchers evaluating submission targets or citing microeconomic literature must navigate the journal’s methodological focus, strict replication rules, and nonrefundable submission fee.
What It Is
The Journal of Human Resources is an international scholarly journal publishing applied microeconomic studies that inform public policy. The journal emphasizes empirical papers applying modern econometric techniques to observational, experimental, and administrative datasets.
Cataloged under print ISSN 0022-166X and electronic ISSN 1548-8004, the journal publishes six issues per year. In Clarivate’s 2024 Journal Citation Reports (JCR), JHR achieved a Journal Impact Factor of 6.0, ranking 37th out of 617 journals in Economics and 2nd out of 52 journals in Industrial Relations and Labor. JHR is indexed in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, EconLit, RePEc, and selectively in MEDLINE/PubMed for health economics.
Who Runs It and What It Covers
The journal is published by the University of Wisconsin Press on behalf of the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. Editorial leadership is directed by Editor Michael Lovenheim of Cornell University, supported by a board of specialized coeditors across international research institutions.
Disciplinary Scope
JHR focuses on applied microeconomics, specifically:
- Labor Economics: Wage determination, labor supply, minimum wage dynamics, unionization, and employment transitions.
- Economics of Education: Early childhood interventions, school quality metrics, higher education financing, and human capital accumulation.
- Health Economics: Healthcare access, health insurance design, maternal and infant outcomes, and mortality determinants.
- Development Economics: Household income, cash transfers, agricultural labor, and micro-mechanisms in developing regions.
- Discrimination and Retirement: Demographic wage gaps, workplace barriers, pension policy, and population aging.
Scope Clarification: The “Journal of Human Resource” Query
Prospective submitters frequently search for the publication under the singular phrase journal of human resource or confuse its title with personnel management. The editorial board emphasizes that JHR is not a business management journal. It does not publish research on corporate human resources, personnel administration, recruitment strategy, or organizational behavior. Submissions addressing personnel management rather than formal empirical economics are promptly desk-rejected.
How to Search or Use It
Researchers access the Journal of Human Resources via the publication site (jhr.uwpress.org) and the author submission portal (jhr.msubmit.net). Follow these operational procedures to discover content or submit a manuscript:
- Locate Articles and Data Archives: On the publication site, use the search toolbar for keyword queries or select “Advanced Search” to filter by author, date, and DOI. Under the “Supplementary Material” menu, researchers can download data appendices and replication files associated with published articles.
- Register on the Submission Portal: Submissions must be uploaded via jhr.msubmit.net; email submissions to editors are refused. First-time authors click “New Users: Please Register Here”, entering their Last Name, Email, and Phone Number to verify existing accounts and avoid duplicates.
- Screen Disciplinary Purview: Verify that the paper employs empirical microeconomic methods with clear public policy relevance, excluding business or personnel management topics.
- Nominate a Coeditor in the Cover Letter: Authors may state in their cover letter which active Coeditor possesses the closest subject-matter expertise to evaluate their manuscript, assisting initial editorial routing.
- Submit Co-author Disclosures: Upload disclosure statements for all co-authors detailing financial support, potential conflicts of interest, and Institutional Review Board (IRB) review status.
- Confirm Data Replication Compliance: Authors must agree to provide all estimation data, cleaning routines, and computer code (such as Stata do-files or R scripts) required to reproduce empirical findings. Authors facing legal or proprietary data restrictions must formally request a replication exemption at initial submission with documented justification.
- Remit the Submission Fee: Pay the nonrefundable $175 submission fee during the online checkout step (invited revisions are fee-exempt). Authors experiencing documented financial hardship may petition for an economic hardship fee waiver.
- Track Editorial Review: Monitor manuscript progress via the author dashboard. Over half of all submissions are desk-rejected during editorial screening. Manuscripts advancing past triage undergo single-anonymized peer review with specialized external journal reviewers.
Strengths and Limits
Evaluating JHR requires balancing its disciplinary standing against procedural hurdles.
Strengths
- Prestige in Applied Microeconomics: JHR is an internationally respected venue widely recognized by economics hiring and tenure evaluation committees.
- Policy Relevance: Studies feature actionable empirical findings frequently consulted by policymakers, legislative bodies, and international agencies.
- Rigorous Replication Standard: A mandatory code and data deposit policy enhances citation credibility and empirical reproducibility across the discipline.
- Academic Press Governance: University press oversight ensures transparent editorial handling free from commercial open-access monetization pressures.
Limits
- High Desk-Rejection Rate: More than 50% of submissions are desk-rejected without external peer review, meaning authors risk losing the $175 fee without reviewer feedback.
- Narrow Methodological Scope: Pure macroeconomic theory, qualitative sociological studies, and business management papers are excluded.
- Subscription Barriers: JHR operates under a hybrid open access model. While supplementary data files are public, full articles require institutional subscriptions or individual purchase unless authors sponsor hybrid open access.
- Documentation Burden: Compiling the required data availability statement, author disclosures, and replication packages requires significant administrative effort.
Alternatives
Researchers evaluating publication options for empirical microeconomic studies can compare JHR with the established peer-reviewed journals listed below:
| Journal | Publisher | Primary Scope | Submission Fee | Review and Replication Policy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Journal of Human Resources (JHR) | University of Wisconsin Press | Empirical microeconomics (labor, education, health, development) | $175 nonrefundable (hardship waivers available) | Single-anonymized review; mandatory data and code replication package. |
| Journal of Labor Economics (JOLE) | University of Chicago Press / SOLE | Theoretical and empirical labor economics, compensation, mobility | Fee required ($150 for non-SOLE members) | Single-anonymized review; data archive deposit required via Dataverse. |
| American Economic Journal: Applied Economics | American Economic Association (AEA) | Applied microeconomics, labor, education, health, industrial organization | $100 (AEA members) / $200 (non-members) | Double-anonymized review; mandatory AEA Data Editor replication verification. |
| Journal of Public Economics (JPubE) | Elsevier | Public policy, taxation, public expenditure, social insurance | Author submission fee charged | Single-anonymized review; research data availability statement required. |
| Journal of Development Economics (JDE) | Elsevier | Empirical and theoretical economic development and growth | Author submission fee charged | Single-anonymized review; offers registered reports track and data deposit. |
FAQ
Is the Journal of Human Resources a management or HR journal?
No. Despite “Human Resources” in its name, JHR is an empirical microeconomics journal. It does not publish corporate personnel management, employee recruitment, or organizational behavior research. Submissions must address empirical economic questions.
What is the submission fee for the Journal of Human Resources?
JHR charges a nonrefundable $175 submission fee for all initial manuscripts. Invited revisions are exempt from fees. Authors experiencing verified economic hardship may request a fee exemption prior to submission.
Does paying the submission fee guarantee external peer review?
No. Over half of all manuscripts submitted to JHR are desk-rejected by the Editor or Coeditors without external review. The nonrefundable fee covers initial administrative and editorial processing.
What are the data replication requirements for JHR?
JHR requires authors of accepted empirical papers to provide all datasets, cleaning routines, and computer programs necessary to reproduce published results. Authors facing legal or confidentiality constraints must request an exemption at initial submission.
Is the Journal of Human Resources open access?
JHR is a subscription journal with hybrid open access options. While supplementary materials and replication packages are openly accessible, reading full articles requires an institutional subscription or pay-per-view access unless authors pay an open-access fee.
Sources
- University of Wisconsin Press, “About The Journal of Human Resources,” accessed November 9, 2026, https://jhr.uwpress.org/content/about-journal-human-resources.
- University of Wisconsin Press, “Journal of Human Resources Author Guidelines and Submission Requirements,” accessed November 9, 2026, https://jhr.uwpress.org/content/authors.
- eJournalPress / mSubmit, “Journal of Human Resources Author Instructions and Manuscript System Requirements,” accessed November 9, 2026, http://jhr.msubmit.net/cgi-bin/main.plex?form_type=display_auth_instructions.
- National Library of Medicine (NLM), “The Journal of Human Resources (NLM Catalog ID 0235700),” accessed November 9, 2026, https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/esummary.fcgi?db=nlmcatalog&id=235700.
- Clarivate, “Journal Citation Reports 2024: The Journal of Human Resources,” accessed November 9, 2026, https://jhr.uwpress.org/content/about-journal-human-resources.
