JBF Workflow Router (jbf-workflow)

Use this skill to decide which JBF sub-skill to invoke next for a Journal of Banking & Finance manuscript. JBF is an Elsevier journal (est. 1977, monthly, ISSN 0378-4266) for empirical and theoretical research on banking, financial intermediation, financial institutions, capital markets, investments, corporate finance, and financial regulation — with a strong empirical, bank-focused orientation. This pack is tuned to that nature, not to generic finance writing.

Default order

1. jbf-topic-selection — is the question a fit for a bank/intermediation-focused finance journal?
2. jbf-literature-positioning — stake the contribution against the banking/finance frontier.
3. jbf-identification-strategy — credible causal/empirical design for this field (bank panels, policy shocks, IV, event studies).
4. jbf-data-analysis — sample construction, estimation, and the robustness JBF referees expect.
5. jbf-tables-figures — clear exhibits with self-contained notes.
6. jbf-contribution-framing — make the "so what" land for banking/finance readers and policy audiences.
7. jbf-writing-style — concise, results-forward prose plus numbered-reference readiness.
8. jbf-replication-and-data-policy — Elsevier Option C data statement plus deposit/link-or-explain package.
9. jbf-review-process — what double-anonymized review and the desk screen involve.
10. jbf-submission — Editorial Manager preflight: USD 350 fee, anonymized manuscript + title page, 250-word abstract, keywords, Highlights, AI declaration, data statement.
11. jbf-rebuttal — response-letter strategy for an R&R.

Quick routing

• Brand-new idea → jbf-topic-selection
• "Why JBF over a top-3 finance journal?" → jbf-contribution-framing
• Worried about endogeneity in a bank panel → jbf-identification-strategy
• Submitting this week → jbf-submission (then jbf-review-process)
• Got an R&R → jbf-rebuttal

Verify volatile specifics (fee, editor roster, special-issue instructions) on the official ScienceDirect Guide for Authors — see resources/official-source-map.md.

Router diagnostics

• Scope is generic finance, not banking/intermediation -> jbf-topic-selection.
• Endogeneity or bank-panel design is weak -> jbf-identification-strategy.
• Licensed-data path is not reproducible -> jbf-replication-and-data-policy.
• Tables omit units, clustering, or economic magnitudes -> jbf-tables-figures.
• Results read as significance-only -> jbf-writing-style.

Stage gates for a JBF lifecycle

Place the manuscript at a gate before routing; do not advance until the exit condition holds.

Illustrative routing pass

A draft asks whether the Basel III liquidity coverage ratio shifted bank lending toward short maturities, using a bank-quarter Call Reports panel.

• The question is squarely bank-regulatory, so G0 passes without rerouting.
• The introduction cites a broad liquidity literature but no closest paper on the LCR and credit supply — route to jbf-literature-positioning.
• Identification leans on plain TWFE around a single adoption date with no untreated banks; jbf-identification-strategy flags the missing size-threshold contrast (the rule binds for large banks first) before any table work starts.
• Only after G2 holds does the pipeline-to-exhibit chain (jbf-data-analysis → jbf-tables-figures) begin; running it earlier wastes a robustness battery on a design that will change.

Common misroutes

• Sending an R&R straight to jbf-writing-style: triage with jbf-rebuttal first — prose fixes cannot answer identification comments.
• Building exhibits before G2 holds: staggered-DID corrections re-cut every table.
• Treating the data statement as submission-day paperwork: licensed bank-data documentation starts at G3, not G6.
• Pitching breadth ("banking and markets and fintech"): JBF rewards one anchored intermediation margin per paper.

Routing output

[Gate] G0-G7 position
[Blocking symptom] ...
[Route] jbf-... sub-skill
[Re-entry check] which gate to re-test after the fix
[Volatile facts] fee / editor roster / calls — re-verify via official-source-map