France Prioux, Dominique Tabutin and Laurent Toulemon

The journal was founded in 1946, at the same time as INED. From the outset it has encompassed a wide range of subjects. Some articles are fairly technical, reflecting the demographic debates of the time, both French and international. When the journal opened up to other disciplines (sociology, history, public health, etc.), the project developed of creating a French school of demography. In 1989 we began publishing an annual selection of articles in English to reach readers in that language. And in 2002 we began publishing two quarterly versions, French (Population-F) and English (Population-E), one month apart—all articles are published in the two languages. Today Population is one of the most important international journals in the field of population studies and the only one to be entirely published in the two languages. It contains articles, working papers, two annual chronicles—The demographic situation in France and Demography of the world’s regions—and critical bibliographies on specific topics. 

The three editors-in-chief are seconded by an editorial board made up of nine members, most of whom are from outside INED, and a secretariat. The board selects articles in French and English on the basis of two or three anonymous evaluations. The strengths and limitations of each article are discussed and a collegial decision reached. The publication process is selective: one-fourth of articles are accepted without a request for changes; one-fourth are sent back to the author with improvement suggestions; half are rejected. Once an article has been accepted, the text is checked and harmonized with journal style byan editor working jointly with the author and the head editors. After page layout, the article is translated. As Population publisher, INED is heavily implicated in the journal production process.

Journal content will continue to be determined on the basis of unsolicited submissions in French and English. Our policy is to maintain approach and topic diversity, and we encourage colleagues in related disciplines to publish in Population. We will continue publishing specific articles on the demographic situation in France. With internet and digitalisation, journal diffusion has been evolving; most Population readers now access the journal as part of collective e-subscriptions to journal “bouquets.” We will be further developing free, immediate access to articles, while taking care not to undermine the journal’s financial equilibrium. We also plan to increase our English-language readership while maintaining our editorial specificity.