The Editors welcome submissions that contribute to the scientific literature and that are of general interest to population scientists. Demography publishes research conducted in several disciplines, including the social sciences, geography, history, biology, statistics, epidemiology, and public health.
The journal gives priority to the publication of articles reporting on original research, including theoretical developments, improvements in models or methods, policy evaluations, applications of demographic principles or techniques, assessments of demographic data, comparative studies, and historical studies. Manuscripts submitted to Demography will be judged, in part, by whether they have reconciled their results with previously published research on the same topic. The editors will also consider review articles on appropriate topics.
- Research articles should not exceed 8,000 words in the main text (i.e., excluding the abstract, keywords, footnotes, and acknowledgments). All newly submitted papers should include a total of no more than 8 tables and figures of reasonable length, and we recommend no more than 75 references. (Authors are welcome to include up to 15 additional tables and figures and up to 2,500 words of supplemental text in an online appendix; please submit this as a separate PDF.) Demography accepts submissions of papers that have been posted on preprint servers; please alert the Editorial Office in the submission letter. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the journal. If the article is accepted for publication, the author must include a link on their preprint to the final posted Demography version. Manuscripts submitted to Demography cannot be under review by another journal.
- Research notes are short reports providing new empirical evidence on or a novel methodological approach to an important demographic topic, and they should not exceed 4,000 words in the main text (i.e., excluding the abstract, keywords, footnotes, and acknowledgments). They should include “Research Note” as part of the paper’s title and should be identified as such in the abstract. Notes should include a total of no more than 4 tables and figures of reasonable length, and we recommend a maximum of 15 references.
- Demography now publishes two types of commentary: the regular commentary and a new invited commentary. Each type should not exceed 2,000 words in the main text and a total of 4 tables and figures; we recommend a maximum of 15 references.
- Commentaries on articles previously published in Demography will be considered if they seek improvements in methodology or theory that would generate new substantive conclusions.
- Invited commentaries are peer commentaries and author responses for potentially high-impact and controversial papers that may emerge from the review process. Peer commentaries should provide a concentrated and constructive interaction between the author of an article and commentators on a topic judged to be of profound and broad significance to the population science community.
Demography is a peer-reviewed journal. All manuscripts considered appropriate for the journal are reviewed externally. To preserve anonymity, authors and referees should avoid self-identifying references. Submission of a manuscript to Demography is taken to indicate the author’s commitment to publish in the journal.
A nonrefundable $35.00 submission fee must accompany all manuscripts. Sole student authors are exempt from this requirement.
Authors of manuscripts selected for publication will be asked to pay a standard $1,000 per-article editorial management fee to help PAA offset the cost of our editorial and management services. See the fees and funding page. Authors will receive an invoice for this amount upon their paper’s acceptance. However, our primary goal is to publish the best demographic research, and we understand that some authors may not have the funds for this offset. For those who do not have institutional or grant support, PAA will waive the fee or negotiate a reduced fee. Instructions on requesting a waiver will be on the invoice. Please direct any questions to the PAA office via email at john@popassoc.org.