SA Journal of Demography :: Guidelines for Authors
Scope of the Journal
The journal publishes papers, scientific letters
and review articles on the demography of Southern African countries, and
other articles of relevance to demographers in the region. Its focus is on
the application of mathematical and statistical techniques to the analysis
of the population dynamics of the region and on the study of the populations
of Southern Africa. Derivations of demographic estimates from Southern
African data and their interpretation and contextualisation are welcome, as
are submissions that address methodological questions of the measurement of
demographic data in African settings.
Refereeing process
All submissions are read by the editors. If a
submission is deemed to be potentially publishable, it is then sent to two
(anonymous) referees for further peer review. Once the referees reports are
returned, an editor will inform the designated author whether or not the
paper has been accepted, accepted subject to revision, rejected with
suggestions for resubmission, or rejected. In all instances, a synopsis of
the referees comments will be provided.
Where a paper has been accepted, the editors may request the author(s) to
make other changes (e.g. to the formatting or style) simultaneously so as to
expedite the publishing process. Requests of this nature notwithstanding,
the editors reserve the right to make minor editorial changes to suit the
style of the journal.
Rules for submission
Contributions should be submitted in electronic
format as an attachment to an email to the editors (sajd@commerce.uct.ac.za),
or on 3.5 disk by mail to
The Editors
Southern African Journal of Demography
Centre for Actuarial Research
University of Cape Town
Private Bag
Rondebosch
7701
South Africa
Note, however, that postal systems in Southern Africa are frequently
erratic, and the Editors can take no responsibility for non-receipt or
non-delivery of postal submissions. Also, postal submission will mean a
longer delay in the review, and possible acceptance of your submission for
publication. A manuscript will not be returned unless this is specifically
requested by the author. Original artwork will normally be returned.
Writing, formatting and citations
In the first instance, submissions to the Journal
should conform to the standards of writing, analysis and presentation
appropriate to an international peer-reviewed journal.
1.
Submissions should be written in acceptable English of an
academic quality, and saved in a word processing format compatible with Word
97 (or later). There is no specified upper limit to the length of articles
that will be published, but submissions of more than 7 000 words are less
likely to be accepted for publication. The overall structure of any
submission should include an introduction setting out the scope of the
paper, sections dealing (where necessary) with sources of data, and
analytical techniques; presentation of results and their interpretation;
conclusions setting out what the submission adds to our knowledge of the
subject matter.
2. Submission
of a paper will be held to imply that it contains original unpublished work
which is not being (nor has been) submitted for publication elsewhere.
Submission will also be held to imply that no copyright material is being
reproduced, nor is the submission libellous. On acceptance of a paper,
authors are asked to assign copyright to the publisher.
3. All
manuscripts must be at least one-and-a-half spaced. The only exceptions
permitted are footnotes and extended quotations, which may be single spaced.
Styles and templates must not be used, nor should outline numbering (i.e. 1,
1.1, 1.1.1 etc). Major headings should be indicated by being bold. Secondary
headings should be normal and underlined. Tertiary headings (which are
discouraged) must be italicised and underlined.
4. If
possible, the font used should be Garamond. Should Garamond not be
available, Times New Roman is an acceptable substitute. Emphasis in the
text, which is again discouraged, should be achieved through the use of
italicisation, not underlining.
5. Paragraphs,
other than the first after a heading, should be indented. No line breaks
should be inserted between paragraphs, or between headings and the text.
6. Pages
must be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals. The first page should
contain only the title, the authors name(s), and an address for
correspondence by both email and post. The second page should have only an
abstract of approximately 150 words.
7. Spelling
and Grammar must be set to UK English. Particular attention should be paid
to using the word data as a plural noun. (e.g. The data show , not The
data shows .
8. Endnotes
should not be used. Footnotes should be avoided unless their inclusion is
essential to the text but not suitable for inclusion in the main body of the
article.
9. References
must be included in the text, in parentheses, and indicate the author, year
and if a direct quote is used the page number. The authors name may be
omitted if the context is sufficiently clear. For example, Lesthaeghe
(1996) argues that . Extended quotations (i.e. more than four lines)
should be single spaced and indented from both sides. The use of Endnote to
insert and format citations is encouraged. If used, a library file (*.enl)
containing all citations must be submitted with the paper.
The referencing system adopted is that used by Population Studies. Examples
of references from different sources are given below:
[Book]
Anderson, Benedict. 1991. Imagined
Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism.
London: Verso.
[Journal article]
Caldwell, John C., Israel O. Orubuloye and Pat
Caldwell. 1992. Fertility decline in Africa: A new type of transition?,
Population and Development Review 18(2):211-242.
[Chapter in book]
Cohen, Barney. 1993. Fertility levels,
differentials, and trends, in Foote, Karen A., Kenneth H. Hill and Linda G.
Martin (eds.), Demographic Change in Sub-Saharan Africa. Washington
DC: National Academy Press, pp. 8-67.
[Thesis]
Greene, Diana Lauren. 1998. Contraceptive Use
for Birth Spacing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Unpublished PhD thesis,
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University.
[Conference paper]
Preston-Whyte, Eleanor. 1994. Qualitative studies of fertility and family
planning in South Africa, Paper presented at Population Association of
America 1994 Annual Meeting. Miami, Florida, May 5-7, 1994.
Figures, Tables and Equations
1. Only
those figures and tables deemed essential to the substance of the article
should be included. Tables should be formatted in Word and numbered
consecutively with Arabic numerals (e.g. Table 1; Table 2). All Tables must
have appropriate captions. Units should appear in the column headings and
not in the body of the table. A word or number should 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.
2. Figures
should be formatted in Excel or a similar programme, and included as an
insert in a Word document as a metafile. Again, figures should be
appropriately captioned, and numbered in the text with Arabic numerals
(Figure 1; Figure 2 etc). Please do not paste graphs directly from Excel
into Word, as the Word file ends up being very large. The underlying data
should also be included in a separate file to facilitate reproduction. The
presentation of graphical material may be changed at the editors
discretion, subject to approval from the authors.
3. Equations
should be inserted with Equation Editor. Please do not use MathType or
Latex. The use of standard definitions (e.g. nqx) is
strongly encouraged, while acronymic representation is strongly discouraged.
Where the derivation of formulae has been abbreviated, the full derivation
should be presented on a separate sheet to facilitate checking.
4. Where
necessary, original artwork can be sent to the editors separately provided
that a reasonable copy is included in the completed submission.
Proofing and offprints
Proofs will be sent by post and/or email in PDF
format for final checking by the authors, and must be returned by the date
specified by the editors. Corrections must be clearly marked, and must
relate solely to typographical, and not substantive, errors.
A PDF file of the published article will be sent to the author(s).
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