The Journal of Economic Methodology is a peer-reviewed research journal in economic methodology and philosophy of economics as well as cognate areas of inquiry related to these fields. The Journal distinguishes between methodology (which concerns the relationship between economics and broad questions about scientific knowledge) and methods (which involve particular techniques relevant to practitioners in a specific field of economics) and reserves the pages of the Journal for authors and readers with broader epistemic interests.
The scope of The Journal of Economic Methodology covers economic methodology and philosophy of economics, but within this scope it encourages diversity in approach and in topic. The Journal considers research from a number of different perspectives, including historical and sociological, and publishes work from any area of economic inquiry as long as it contains a significant epistemological or methodological component. The Journal carries articles on traditional topics within economic methodology and philosophy of economics but also encompasses various subjects from the philosophy of natural or social science to areas of philosophical inquiry such as ethics, as long as they have a direct bearing on debates within the two primary fields of inquiry.
The aim is to publish significant research in these fields and to stimulate, as well as serve as a forum for, substantive discussion of recent developments. For example, The Journal of Economic Methodology has published papers that address key issues such as:
- methodological analysis of the theory and practice of contemporary economics;
- topics in the philosophical foundations of economics (either traditional or recent);
- the methodological writings and practice of early economic theorists;
- original contributions and new interpretations of traditional debates in economic methodology;
- traditional topics in the philosophy of science (e.g. causality, explanation, testing, confirmation, etc.) that are relevant to debates within economic methodology;
- recent developments in the philosophy of science, science studies or other scientific disciplines that have significant bearing on economic knowledge;
- studies that take a rhetorical, sociological, science studies or economic approach to methodological questions about economics;
- developments in the tools, instruments and technologies of research in economics that have potential methodological implications.
Peer-reviewed research articles constitute the core of the Journal, although some issues contain symposia on topics of particular interest. Some symposia fill an entire issue, but there are mini-symposia made up of regular submissions. Some symposia are organized by guest editors and some are organized by members of the editorial team. The Journal has a Book Review Editor and a regular book review section. In addition to reviews of books on economic methodology and related topics, the Journal also publishes book review symposia on titles of particular importance to the field.
