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Edition

An Introduction to the Journal of Risk and Insurance

By Joan Schmit

Expanding Horizons, August 2022

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The Journal of Risk and Insurance (JRI), the flagship journal for the American Risk and Insurance Association, is the premier outlet for theoretical and empirical research on the topics of insurance economics and risk management. Research published in JRI informs practice, policy making and regulation in insurance markets as well as corporate and household risk management. JRI’s editorial team members provide scholarly excellence spanning many fields and countries, and its research influences policies around the globe.

This article provides a general introduction to JRI, including details about the types of research areas it highlights, an explanation of its prior review policy, current calls for papers and its social media efforts.

Topics of Interest

In addition to JRI’s traditional research areas, the editorial team highlights the following areas of special interest, which have current relevance for the actuarial field:

  • Health Insurance: JRI welcomes submissions on a range of topics related to the economics, market dynamics and regulation of health insurance—and more broadly to the financing and management of health care risk. The editorial team has a depth of knowledge in and familiarity with institutional issues that are often important for assessing research in health insurance and health care in general.
  • Behavioral Research in Risk and Insurance: JRI encourages research on behavioral aspects of risk and insurance, especially those that contribute to or are grounded in behavioral economic theory. The editorial team is particularly interested in applied behavioral research that informs practice, policy making or regulation in insurance markets and broader risk management activities.
  • Quantitative Risk Management: JRI invites papers on risk management and modeling techniques, provided that the focus is on their relevance and application in insurance practice and policy rather than the techniques themselves. Examples may include the modeling of operational risk in an enterprise context, advances in measuring company-specific and systematic insurance risk, or valuation approaches for nontraded long-term insurance liabilities in economic capital models.
  • Big-Data Techniques, Digitalization and Insure-Tech: The rapid expansion of data and advances in computing are transforming risk management and insurance. Predictive techniques are expanding and changing the ability to classify risk, but they also raise new regulatory and ethical issues. New technologies are also enabling new methods of transferring risk and changing the nature of traditional insurance products and practices. JRI encourages research that focuses on the relevance and impact of these trends on risk management and insurance activities.

JRI welcomes papers using a diverse set of theoretical and empirical methods, as long as those methods are appropriate for the research question of interest. Empirical research that establishes important causal relationships using careful identification strategies is encouraged. The editorial board also appreciates the value of empirical contributions that are more fundamentally descriptive in nature. Novel and informative descriptive findings on important topics are often more valuable than causal analysis that is narrow or relies on weak identification, although such findings should be identified accordingly.

Submission and Prior Review

Authors may submit papers to JRI through ScholarOne. For a simplified and streamlined submission process, free format submission is also available.
The journal has begun a “prior review process” by which authors are invited to submit reviews and decision letters from manuscripts they have previously submitted to top journals in economics, finance, statistics and business (e.g., American Economic Review, Journal of Finance). The JRI editorial team will consider all of the materials provided for these submissions and decide the extent to which additional reviews are needed before making a decision for JRI.

Calls for Papers

JRI is currently promoting two calls for papers:

  • Climate Change and Natural Disasters (deadline: September 1, 2022)
  • The Economics of Emerging Insurance Technologies: Theory and Early Evidence (deadline: January 15, 2023)

Accepted papers in these disciplines will be published in upcoming special issues of the same names.

JRI on Social Media

JRI is interested in expanding its social media audience. Its Twitter account has a scholarly focus, while JRI appeals to industry professionals through LinkedIn. Become part of the conversation by joining one or both of these platforms.

Visit the journal’s website for more information on all of these topics.

Statements of fact and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of the Society of Actuaries, the editors, or the respective authors’ employers.

Joan Schmit is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Risk and Insurance and the American Family Insurance Distinguished Chair in Risk Management and Insurance at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Joan can be reached at jri@wsb.wisc.edu.