Author guidelines

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General information

The Vienna Yearbook of Population Research welcomes empirical, theoretical and methodological contributions focused on population changes, structures and processes. Contributions in the journal are divided into six main categories:

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Submission procedure

Original work

Submissions should contain original research, that has not been published before, has not been and will not be submitted for review to another journal while under review by the Vienna Yearbook of Population Research.

Submissions that have been published as working papers, in conference proceedings or which have been uploaded to institutional or public pre-print repositories are accepted, but it should be indicated in a note to the editors at submission.

Permissions

Authors wishing to include figures, tables, or text passages that have already been published elsewhere must obtain permission from the copyright holder(s) and provide evidence of such permission when submitting their work.

Peer review

Submitted manuscripts (except invited Debate contributions) are first assessed by the editors or guest editors, who desk reject submissions which do not fit the topic of the current special issue or do not meet the quality criteria of the journal. The remaining submissions are subject to double-blind peer review by at least two reviewers who are not based at the same institution as the authors, have not recently collaborated with the authors and do not have other potential conflict of interest. In exceptional cases, one of the editors may serve as an additional reviewer, but she/he is then no longer included in the editorial decision process. The names of reviewers are not disclosed to the authors of the manuscript under review.

The reviewing process usually takes up to three months and includes the use of the plagiarism detection and other appropriate checks as required (see below). The editors rely heavily on the judgments of the reviewers, although they are not bound by them and can summarise, restate, or elaborate the reviewers’ assessments in their recommendations to authors. The authors are informed of the board’s decision. In case of rejection or request for modifications, the authors receive an explanation or a specification of the modifications suggested by the reviewers and editors. Resubmissions should address comments provided by the reviewers and the editors. The editors may contact initial reviewers or contact new external reviewers to assess resubmissions if necessary.

Plagiarism is not accepted by the Vienna Yearbook of Population Research and will be considered as academic misconduct. Please see the definition of plagiarism in the VYPR Editorial Policies & Ethics Guidelines (https://viennayearbook.org/editorial-policy-publication-ethics).

The Vienna Yearbook of Population Research screens all submitted manuscripts using plagiarism detection software, PlagScan (https://www.plagscan.com) and iThenticate (https://ithenticate.com), and other appropriate checks as required.

In cases of suspected plagiarism, the VYPR will follow the COPE guidelines, which may result in the rejection of the submitted manuscript during peer review, or the correction or retraction of the published article, as appropriate.

Use of Artificial Intelligence tools

Authors are expected to comply with the publishing house’s AI policy. This policy will be reviewed periodically and updated as necessary.

Preparing the manuscript

All submissions except invited Debate contributions will be subject to external double-blind peer review. Please ensure that any identifying information is removed from the manuscript.

Online submission

Please select SUBMIT in the navigation menu and upload all manuscript files according to the on-screen instructions.

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Style and Layout

Upon acceptance, the authors are required to submit the final manuscript prepared in accordance with the guidelines below. Strict adherence to these standards facilitates efficient production and typesetting. The editorial board reserves the right to edit all accepted contributions. Manuscripts requiring extensive editing will be returned to the author for approval prior to typesetting. Final pagination is handled by the publisher.

For manuscripts typeset in LaTeX, please download our style files here: Template for main text | Bibtex

Manuscript structure

Language and style

• Use British English spelling, e.g. labour, modelling, centred, ageing, analyse.
• Spell out all acronyms and abbreviations at their first occurence, e.g., “TFR (period total fertility rate)”.
• Use sentence-case capitalisation in headings and subheadings, tables and figures (only the first word is capitalised, except for proper nouns).
• Italicise foreign-language phrases (but not “et al.”)
• In geographical references, the points of the compass are typically not capitalised unless part of a proper name, e.g. South Africa but southern Africa.
• Capitalise the term EU Member States.
• Do not use comma after (but usually before) “i.e.” and “e.g.”
• Do not use comma or dot as a thousands separator.
• Do not use comma in enumerations before the final “and/or/nor” and also before “etc.”, except to avoid ambiguity
• Do not use the ampersand to replace “and” except when part of a proper name.
• Footnote numbers (superscripts) appear after punctuation marks.
• Dates take the format “day month year” (e.g. 20 December 2012).

Mathematical notation

• Displayed equations should be numbered consecutively, with the number set flush right and enclosed in parentheses, e.g.:
  \[\begin{matrix} \frac{\partial P}{\partial t} + \frac{\partial P}{\partial a} + \mu\left( a \right)P = \alpha\ \qquad \left( 1 \right) \\ \end{matrix}\]

• Short mathematical expressions should be run into the text unless they are referenced elsewhere in the text.
• Non-Greek variables should be italicized. Vectors and matrices should be set in bold.
• Use a multiplication symbol (×) or dot (·), not an asterisk.
• Theorems, lemmas, definitions, etc. should appear as separate paragraph, with one extra line of space above and below. They should be numbered consecutively within the contribution.
• Proofs. Proofs should conclude with box symbol (□).

Figures

Figures and illustrations should be numbered consecutively according to their appearance in the text. Insert figures at the nearest appropriate point following their first reference, or clearly indicate their intended position, e.g. “[Figure 5 about here]”. The format of the Yearbook allows a maximum size of 12.8 by 20.5 cm.

• Ensure consistent size and layout across figures, especially among similar graphs.
• Ensure clarity and readability in print when designing complex figures (maximum two columns of graphs, for more columns of graphs consider rearranging or splitting the figure.)
• Supply all figures in separate graphic files. Save or export your graphics in vector-based graphic files (e.g. EPS files) or in high-quality resolution graphic files (minimum resolution of 300 dpi). Do not convert graphic files.
• MS Excel graphics including source data are accepted.
• Colour figures are accepted; however, authors must ensure that all figures are colourblind-friendly and verify this using appropriate online tools.
• Lines, bars, and other graphical elements must remain distinguishable in black and white printing.

Each figure must have a self-explanatory caption and clearly labelled x and y-axes. Captions must be placed above the figure. Notes and data sources lists are aligned left and listed below the figure, where appropriate.

Author(s) are responsible to obtain permission from the copyright holder to reproduce figures (or tables) previously published elsewhere. Permission statements should appear in the figure caption, and the original source must be included in the reference list.

Figure 1 Total fertility rate (TFR) for selected countries from 1990 to latest year available.

Source: Human Fertility Database (HFD, 2024)

Tables

Tables should be numbered consecutively and inserted at the nearest appropriate point after their first reference (or their position clearly marked, e.g. “[Table 3 about here]”).

Tables must include self-explanatory captions and should fit within the Yearbook format (maximum size of 12.8 by 20.5 cm). Tables should preferably not exceed one printed page. Notes and data source lists should be aligned left and placed below the table.

Table 1 Marriage and divorce rates among women in countries A and B in t and t+5 (per thousand)

	Country A		Country B
	Marriage rates	Divorce rates	Marriage rates	Divorce rates
t	25	12	18	12
t+5	23	14	19	16

Note: Data for t+5 are preliminary estimates.

Sources: Carrot (2002) for marriage rates; Parsnip (2000) for divorce rates.

Footnotes

Use footnotes sparingly and only when essential. Footnotes appear at the bottom of the page and are indicated by superscript Arabic numerals placed after punctuation marks.

Citations

Use author-date in-text citations following APA Style without ampersand:

• Use a comma between author(s) and date in parenthetical citations, e.g. (Esping-Andersen and Billari, 2015).
• Separate multiple references with semicolons, e.g. (Sussman, 2019; Sobotka and Beaujouan, 2018; Hellstrand et al. 2008).
• For more than two authors, use “et al.” throughout the text, e.g. (Neyer et al., 2013). List all authors in the reference list.
• For quotations, add quotation marks and include page number(s) after the year and a comma, e.g. Coleman (1998, p.19) argued that the basic question is “whether there is any imaginable reason why the average should be two.”
• For unpublished materials scheduled for publication, use “forthcoming”, e.g. (Johnson, forthcoming).

References

All sources cited in the main text must appear in the reference list at the end of the article, and all references must be cited in the text. References cited exclusively in the online supplementary material should be inlcuded only in a separate list of references at the end of that material. Authors are responsible for verifying consistency between in-text citations and the reference list to avoid editorial delays and are strongly encouraged to use appropriate reference-management and citation-checking tools to ensure accuracy and completeness.

References are ordered alphabetically by authors’ names and chronologically per author. Publications by the same author(s) in the same year should include a lowercase letter after the year, corresponding to the order of the references in the reference list.

Format references according to APA style without ampersand.

• Invert authors’ names.
• For works with more than 20 co-authors, name the first 19 co-authors followed by “…” and add the final co-author.
• Italicise book titles and journal names in italics.
• Do not abbreviate journal names.
• Indlude a DOI for all references where available, formatted as URL (e.g. https://doi.org/10.1553/p-bkm5-7f3p). Authors are strongly encouraged to use tools such as Crossref Simple Text Query to obtain missing DOIs.
• For databases, provide the access date and full URL.
• Give page numbers in full; do not elide.

Please follow the examples below:

Please download reference manager style files here: Bibtex