General
The Journal seeks original papers that contribute significantly to knowledge in any of the various disciplines of population studies. Manuscripts that seem suitable for consideration are sent to two or more referees, who are asked to give priority in their assessments to the following criteria:
- Of interest to a significant proportion of the Journal's international readership?
- An original contribution of scholarly or policy significance?
- Shows adequate familiarity with relevant literature?
- Data, methods, and design are appropriate to objectives?
- Conclusions are convincingly justified?
- Structure, length, and quality of English are satisfactory? If the editors consider that a paper does not adequately satisfy these criteria, it may be declined without being sent to referees.
The papers should be of publication standard before submission-well structured, precise, and clear. They should be as short as practical. The length of the main text of most papers is in the range 5000-7500 words. Research notes of around 2000 words in length will also be considered.
All submissions should be made online at Population Studies' Manuscript Central site:
New users should first create an account. Once a user is logged onto the site submissions should be made via the Author Centre. If you need any assistance with this, or in case of difficulty, please contact the Population Studies office, at pic@lse.ac.uk .
To comply with the Journal's policy of anonymous review, authors should upload two versions of their manuscript: (i) An open version in which authors and their affiliations are identified in the normal way, and that will remain with the editors; (ii) An anonymized version to be sent to referees that does not include any clue (eg in the way previous publications are cited) to the author's identity, and the title page of which shows no authors' names, institutional affiliation, contact information, or other details that could identify the authorship of the paper.
It will be assumed that authors have observed the highest ethical standards in the collection and use of data, and they should be prepared to demonstrate that their research has been formally approved by relevant ethical committees. Any work by others that has contributed to the research must be explicitly and appropriately acknowledged. Submission of a paper will be held to imply that it contains original unpublished work and that it is not being submitted for publication elsewhere.
It will be assumed that the author owns the copyright of the paper or has the permission of the copyright owner to publish it. On acceptance of a paper, authors are asked to assign copyright to the Population Investigation Committee, London School of Economics.
Manuscripts
Manuscripts to be typewritten in double spacing. This applies to all text, including footnotes, references, extracts and quotations. Each page (starting with the first page of text) to be numbered consecutively, preferably with the author's name before the number on each page.
The cover page to contain the following information: the full title; a short title of not more than 45 characters (including spaces) suitable for use at the head of each page of the published version; names of authors, institutional affiliation of authors; and-in the top left hand corner-a name and address to be used for correspondence.
The second page to contain only an abstract, of not more than 150 words and up to 10 keywords. Authors may wish to consult the Popline Keyword Guide, but are not restricted to terms that appear there.
Headings. Section headings to be emboldened, sub-headings in italic, sub-sub-headings in italic on same line as first line of text. Headings of all three kinds to be in lower case
Quotations. Any deviation in wording, spelling or punctuation from the original to be explicitly indicated or explained. Where the original spelling or logic might seem questionable to the reader, the term 'sic' should be added in parentheses to indicate that the anomaly is in the original. Quotations of up to ten typed lines to be run into the text and enclosed within single quotation marks. Quotations of more than ten lines to be typed as an indented block, starting on a new line. Double quotation marks to be used for a quotation within a quotation.
Endnotes should be used rarely, if at all, and only to present information that the reader of the paper needs to know and that cannot be incorporated in the main text.
References. In the text, references to appear as follows: 'Sandor (1989, pp. 6-7) argues that ...'; 'It has been shown that a different interpretation is possible (Sandor 1989, p.25)'; 'Recent studies contradict this view (Sandor 1987; Watson 1989)'; 'See, for example, Sandor 1990'. If a cited work has more than two authors, the name of the first author only should appear in the text, followed by et al. Where two or more sources are cited together, they should appear in date order, earliest first.
Full references to be listed at the end of the manuscript in alphabetical order of first author's name and then by year.
Full references to have the elements shown below, in the order and with the punctuation shown.
Palloni, Alberto, Kenneth Hill, and Guido Pinto Aquirre. 1996. Economic swings and demographic change in the history of Latin America, Population Studies 50(1): 105-132.
Hajnal, J. 1965. European marriage patterns in perspective, in D. V. Glass and D. E. C. Eversley (eds.), Population in History: Essays in Historical Demography. London: Edward Arnold, pp. 101-143.
Basu, Aleka Malwade. 1992. Culture, the Status of Women, and Demography. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Brass, W. 1992. Child mortality improvement and the initiation of fertility falls in Kenya, International Population Conference, Montreal 1993,Volume 1. Liège: IUSSP, pp. 73-93.
Darskii, Leonard and Evgueni Andreev. 1991. Vosproiz vodstvo naseleniya otdel'nykh natsional'nostei v SSSR [Population reproduction among different nationalities in the USSR], Vestnik Statistiki 6:3-10
Note: Authors' names to be as they appear in the original, except family name first for first author only; titles of contributions to journals and books to be in roman and lower case except for first letter and proper names; titles of journals and books to have first letter of adjectives and nouns in upper case, and to be in italic. For titles of papers or books that are not in English, a translation should be given in square brackets after the actual title.
Spelling to be British English. The Journal uses the following as standard sources: Oxford English Dictionary, Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers (Oxford University Press), and the English version (published by Blackwell) of Roland Pressat's Dictionary of Demography.
Numbers. The Journal uses the forms shown in the following illustrations:
'28 December 1998' (not 'December 28, 1998'); '1920-29' (not '1920-1929'); '1999-2000' or 'from 1999 to 2000' (not 'from 1999-00'); 'eighteenth century' (not '18th century'); '12,489-99' (not '12,489-12, 499'). In the text, numbers up to twelve to be printed in full except where they are used in close proximity with numbers over twelve.
Tables. Only tables that are evidently essential should be included. As far as practical, the title, footnotes, and structure of the table should enable the reader to understand it without reference to the text. The information provided should include, where relevant, the country or area to which the table refers, method of analysis used, source of data, and date(s)/duration of data collection.
Tables to be typed on separate sheets and identified by Arabic numbers (e.g. 'Table 3'). Approximate position in text to be indicated in text. Units to appear in the column headings and not in the body of the table. A word or number to be repeated on a successive line rather than replaced by ditto marks. Decimal fractions to be shown as 0.1, 0.2, etc., not .1, .2. Footnotes to be indicated by 1,2, etc.
Illustrations and diagrams (only those that are clearly essential should be included)-to be described as 'figures'-and identified by Arabic numbers (e.g. 'Figure 3'). Titles should be clearly separated from legends, captions, or notes. Approximate position in text to be indicated in the text. Figures prepared by computer are acceptable, provided they are of a quality sufficiently good for reproduction. As far as practical, the title, footnotes, legend, and presentation of the illustration should enable the reader to understand it without reference to the text. The information provided should include, where relevant, the country or area to which the table refers, method of analysis used, source of data, and date/duration of data collection. Footnotes to be indicated by 1,2, etc.
Titles, captions, legends and notes for illustrations to be typed under the illustrations.
Formulae. Normally only one letter should be used to denote a variable, with subscripts if necessary. Acronymic representation is strongly discouraged. Where the derivation of formulae has been abbreviated, the full derivation should be presented on a separate sheet-not necessarily for publication.
Formalities and procedures
Formatting style:
- text files to be supplied in Word
- tables and figures to be in a separate file from text in Word or Excel. Table title should be above the table and aligned left. Title for a figure should appear below the figure, aligned left. The axes of graphs should be centred. Blocks and lines in graphs must be clearly distinguishable in black and white.
lower-case characters to be used for title and all text elements of a table or figure, except for the initial letter of the first word of the title or column heading or other element and proper names
- font changes (e.g. italic, bold, etc.) not to be applied to titles except to distinguish particular words from the rest of the title. In this case type only the word(s) to be different in bold/italic type only one variable space between words and at the end of sentences
- 'en' dashes (in Word: CTRL+NUM MINUS) to be used between numbers (e.g., 1950-54), closed up 'em' dashes-like this-for interruptions in sentences (in Word:ALT+CTRL+NUM MINUS)
- et al. after names and a and b, etc. after dates should be typed as roman
paragraphs to be tabbed, except for the first paragraph after a heading
underline to be avoided. Italic to be used instead tab key to be used for spacing tables
- standard Word symbol font to be used where possible
- equations to be typed in Word Equation Editor where possible.
Violation of copyright and libel. It will be assumed that authors have obtained written permission to use material (such as tables or extensive quotations) from work other than their own, and have made appropriate acknowledgements in the text. Similarly, it will be assumed that authors have ensured that there is nothing libellous in their papers.
Proofing. Two sets of proofs will be sent to the author. Any corrections should be marked in ink of a colour different to any already used on the proofs. Only essential amendments can be accepted at proof stage. Corrected proofs should be returned to the editor within three days of receipt.
Free article access: Corresponding authors can receive 50 free reprints, free online access to their article through our website (www.popstudies.net) and a complimentary copy of the issue containing their article. Complimentary reprints are available through Rightslink® and additional reprints can be ordered through Rightslink® when proofs are received. If you have any queries, please contact our reprints department at reprints@tandf.co.uk
House style
The editor may alter manuscripts to achieve conformity with the stylistic conventions of the journal, a number of which are listed below.
(i) The ungrammatical term 'per capita' is never used. 'Per head' or 'average' are the preferred alternatives.
(ii) The noun 'data' always takes the plural ('the data show ...').
(iii) The term 'methodology' is not used where 'method' is meant; the Oxford dictionary defines methodology as 'the science of method'.
(iv) 'Gender' is not used as a synonym for 'sex'.
(v) The term 'rate' is reserved for measures in which the denominator is a measure of exposure to risk. Thus 'total fertility' is used and not 'total fertility rate' to refer to the sum of age-specific or duration-specific fertility rates.
(vi) Where an acronym is used, its first appearance in the text should be in parentheses immediately after the first appearance in full of the term or expression to which it refers.
(vii) The use of the following is avoided:
- 'hypothesize' as a verb;
- proper names as adjectives except where usage has made the name an adjective; thus 'Brass's method' is preferred to 'the Brass method' but 'the Gompertz curve' is preferred to 'Gompertz's curve';
- 'developing countries'; 'less developed countries' is the preferred alternative;
- 'sex' as an abbreviation for 'sexual intercourse';
- 'male' or 'female' in the position of an adjective except for words representing persons;
- thus 'female child' but not 'male wages' ;
- 'utilize' instead of 'use';
- 'prior to' to mean 'before';
- 'and/or'; where this distinction is essential, an alternative such as 'x or y or both' is preferred-except in lists;
- 'percent' or '%'; 'per cent' is preferred.
(viii) Excessive use of the verb 'to have' is avoided. Thus 'fertility is high in this population' is preferred to 'the population has a high fertility'.
(ix) Action by a government is attributed to the government not to the country. Thus 'The French government ...' (not France) '... raised family allowances'.
(x) Where a sentence refers to a sequence of more than two items and the final item is preceded by 'and', this word is preceded by a comma. Thus 'wages, salaries, and benefits' not 'wages, salaries and benefits'.