Ethics & Disclosures

Demography joined the Committee on Publications Ethics (COPE) in our endeavor to preserve and promote the integrity of the scholarly record through policies and practices that reflect the current best principles of transparency and integrity. Demography considers COPE’s Core Practices alongside specific national and international codes of conduct for research.

Conflict of Interest Practice for Editorial Handling of Manuscripts

A conflict of interest (COI) occurs when a manuscript is submitted by a current or recent research collaborator, current or recent doctoral student, current or recent colleague, or current or recent postdoctoral mentee of the Editor or a Deputy Editor. A COI also occurs when an author is a former advisor to the Editor or a Deputy Editor or when an author and either the Editor or a Deputy Editor have a close personal relationship.

The current editorial structure enables Demography to handle COI cases efficiently. Although the majority of Deputy Editors are typically at the same institution as the Editor, several more are from other institutions and are termed “outside” or “external” Deputy Editors.
  • First, the Editor-in-Chief is barred from submitting a manuscript to Demography during his or her term.
  • In the case of a submission authored by a Deputy Editor, the Editor either serves as Deputy Editor (if she or he does not have a COI with the submission) or selects a Deputy Editor from a different institution than that of the author, which is most often an outside Deputy Editor. The submitting Deputy Editor has no access to confidential editorial information (e.g., names of reviewers, name of assigned Deputy Editor) related to his/her submission.
  • If a manuscript is submitted by any author (as either sole author or a coauthor) from Demography’s then home, the Editor has a COI, and hence one of the outside Deputy Editors is asked to serve as Acting Editor as well as to assume the responsibilities of Deputy Editor. Thus, the final editorial decision is made by the outside Deputy Editor. An identical procedure is used when there is a potential COI with the Editor. If there is no Editor or Deputy Editor without a COI, the immediately preceding Editor is asked to take on responsibility for the review process.


Contact the Journal

Sara R. Curran
Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology
University of Washington
Box 35-3412
206 Raitt Hall
Seattle, WA 98195-3412
demography@uw.edu