A Note from the New Editor

The transfer of the editorial office of Demography from UNC/Duke to Ohio State University has proceeded smoothly. As the new editor, I am thankful to follow in the footsteps of Barbara Entwisle and Phil Morgan, who have left the journal in good shape. Laura Tesch has also made the transition easy by continuing to serve as the managing editor. And I have enlisted the assistance of two esteemed colleagues at Ohio State University, Randy Olsen and Elizabeth Cooksey, who are serving as deputy editors. The new editorial board includes colleagues from my own institution (following the tradition of past editors), as well as demographers elsewhere who can fill holes in our expertise base. I will call on them mostly to help identify appropriate reviewers, adjudicate conflicting reviews, and provide advice on editorial decisions.

I am pleased to report that there has been no shortage of high-quality submissions. The basic editorial policies of the journal seem to serve the field well (see http://www.popassoc.org/dem_editorial.html). I do not anticipate major changes in the operation or the organizational content of the journal. As always, Demography seeks to publish the best research produced by our diverse community of scholars on population, regardless of academic discipline, mode of data collection, methodology, or theoretical or applied perspective. The journal is eclectic, inclusive, and multidisciplinary. I am sensitive to emerging substantive and technical themes in the field, including biosocial processes (e.g., reproductive aging and behavioral endocrinology), population-environment interactions, Geographic Information Systems, parenting and child development, anthropological demography, and ethnographic approaches. At the same time, the field has arguably strayed from its bread-and-butter topics and from traditional demographic approaches that can provide rich descriptive information about basic population processes. The field has moved increasingly toward statistical demography, with its emphasis on behavioral data. But there is still a prominent place in Demography for traditional approaches focused on populations and rates.

I encourage the submission of papers that take on exceptionally tough problems (that lack well-defined research protocols), that address important but unpopular topics, that approach subjects that have significant public policy implications, or that are unconventional or "outside the box." My experience so far is that these kinds of papers are often less likely to generate unanimity among the reviewers. I promise to take a second, hard look at such papers. The new evaluation forms (that accompany manuscripts sent out for review) now include items that judge a paper on such criteria, among others.

Over the next several months, I hope to speed up the review process by allowing authors to submit papers electronically through e-mail. Electronic papers (as PDFs) will be sent to reviewers for evaluation. This new submission policy will be posted soon on the PAA website. But first, we will be experimenting, on a case-by-case basis, with how best to handle electronic documents. Please be patient as we develop a workable approach that best serves the interests and needs of the authors, reviewers, and editorial staff. Over the next few years, it will be necessary to take full advantage of new information technologies, especially those that promise to make the peer review process less onerous and speedier. This will be especially important if Demography hopes to attract high-quality submissions and publish the best scholarship our field has to offer.

Finally, on behalf of the entire editorial staff, I want to express our collective enthusiasm about the opportunity and privilege to serve the PAA and its membership by providing a new home for Demography.