Call for Papers:International Studies of Economics (ISE)

Special Issue on Recent Developments in China’s Antitrust and Competition Policy

Guest Editors: Yonghong An (Texas A&M University) & Heng Ju (Shanghai University of Finance and Economics)

In recent years, antitrust enforcement and competition policy have played an increasingly important role in shaping market outcomes in China. Rapid technological change, the growth of digital platforms, the expansion of capital markets, and evolving industrial organization have raised new challenges for competition policy. At the same time, recent amendments to China’s Anti-Monopoly Law, relevant enforcement guidelines and a number of high-profile enforcement actions have made China an important setting for studying modern antitrust issues.

This special issue invites theoretical and empirical research that advances the economic analysis of antitrust and competition policy, with particular emphasis on the Chinese economy and other emerging markets.

Potential research directions include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Market definition and the measurement of market power across industries.  
• Antitrust issues in the platform economyand AI-based business, including network effects, data advantages, self-preferencing, exclusionary conduct, and algorithmic pricing.
• Merger control and merger-related competition issues, including horizontal and vertical mergers, theories of harm, coordinated and unilateral effects, and the assessment of efficiencies and remedies.
• Vertical restraints and distribution arrangements, including retail price maintenance, price parity (MFN) clauses, exclusive dealing, and other contractual restrictions in both traditional and platform-based markets.
• Competition and regulation in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, including pricing, innovation, and patent-related issues.  
• The design and effectiveness of remedies and enforcement policies in emerging competition matters.
• Comparative analysis of antitrust enforcement across China, the United States, the European Union, and other jurisdictions.  

To ensure its timely publication, the ISE will adopt an expedited review process for manuscripts submitted to this special issue. Specifically, the journal will guarantee a first-round decision on each manuscript within ten (10) weeks of initial submission. Moreover, there will be at most one round of revisions, after which the manuscript will be either accepted or rejected. This will ensure that authors will not be made to go through lengthy revision processes.  

To be eligible for the expedited review process, a manuscript must be submitted before July 31, 2026. To submit a manuscript, please go to: https://wiley.atyponrex.com/journal/ISE3 and choose Special Issue:Recent Developments in China’s Antitrust and Competition Policy.

Additional Submission Instructions:

1. We offer a full waiver of the APCs to the authors of all the papers accepted to this special issue.

2. Papers (in WORD or PDF) should be written in English and submitted online at https://wiley.atyponrex.com/journal/ISE3

3. Only original papers will be considered. Submission of the same paper to multiple journals is NOT permitted.

4. The journal offers Free Format submission for a simplified and streamlined submission process. For detailed instructions for submissions, please refer to: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/28313224/homepage/author-guidelines

5. Submission deadline is July 31, 2026.

If you encounter any difficulty during the online submission process, please contact the ISE editorial office (Lily Wenfeng Wei) for assistance: ise@sufe.edu.cn; 86-21-6590 2330.