The Editor‑in‑Chief, Klaus F. Zimmermann, and the entire editorial team express their sincere appreciation for this recognition of their substantial daily editorial efforts. JOPE handled more than 1,200 submissions in 2025, publishing 88 manuscripts, and anticipates approximately 1,500 submissions in 2026.

As Springer Nature Chief Scientific Officer Ritu Dhand writes on May 26, 2026:

“Dear Klaus F Zimmermann,

Your dedication to your journals and research communities is truly inspiring. By expanding your journal’s network, supporting your authors, and advocating for your communities, you play a vital role in advancing discovery.

This outstanding contribution deserves recognition, and you are being honoured through the Springer Nature Editor of Distinction Awards…

By rewarding you, we recognise the vital role you play in managing the peer review process and demonstrate our commitment to showcasing these activities. We greatly appreciate the time and expertise you dedicate to helping authors improve their manuscripts and are proud to work with you to build successful journals.

Congratulations and thank you for your dedication to your authors and advancing discovery!”

Klaus F. Zimmermann (Professor Emeritus of Bonn & Maastricht Universities) and affiliated with UNU-MERIT, Maastricht, is the Editor-in-Chief of JOPE, which he created 40 years ago. It is published by Springer Nature.

In March 2026, JOPE was ranked A* on the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) Journal Quality List.  This is the highest ranking a journal can achieve, reserved for a select group of journals demonstrating truly exceptional global impact.

In 2025, JOPE’s Editor-in-Chief had received for his work two Springer Nature Editor of Distinction Awards. 

While in 2025, 84% of authors rated their publishing experience with Springer Nature as excellent or good, the figure was 93% among JOPE authors suggesting that the journal provides excellent services to its authors.

JOPE expects to receive about 1,500 submissions in 2026.

From: Springer Nature 
Date: Thu, May 21, 2026 at 11:02 AM
Subject: Celebrating your journal’s contributions to the SDGs

Dear Klaus F Zimmermann,

We are delighted to let you know that in 2025, over half of the articles you published in Journal of Population Economics  related to one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals. 

In celebration of this important contribution, we want to acknowledge your journal’s significant impact on SDG-related research with your community. The journal website now displays our SDG badge along with the following text: 

“We are proud to acknowledge that over 50% of the articles published in Journal of Population Economics  in 2025 were related to one or more of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Springer Nature supports the SDGs through a dedicated SDG Programme and is a signatory of the SDG Publishers Compact.” 

See Journal of Population Economics updates →

Your journal’s contribution to advancing the SDGs deserves recognition, and you can take pride in seeing this impact acknowledged publicly.

Congratulations and thank you for your continued support! 

Best regards, 

Nicola Jones  
Director, Springer Nature SDG Programme  

The academic conference is on November 1-2, 2025; it is the 8th Renmin University & GLO Annual Conference (see detailed program).

Some impressions from the trip:

First Call for Papers. The Global Labor Organization (GLO), a large international network of economists and related disciplines, invites contributed papers on all areas of applied human resources issues to its annual hybrid global GLO-JOPE 2025 conference (3-5 December 2025). Supported by the Journal of Population Economics (JOPE), it organizes online sessions for this period, and on December 4-5 a connected in-person event in the Science Center Bonn. Submissions are open, and the submission deadline is October 23, 2025. For further details (continuously updated) see 

https://glabor.org/global-glo-jope-conference-2025-december-3-5-bonn/

The intensive week started on July 7 with participating in a public lecture of Nobel Prize Laureate Joshua D. Angrist of MIT on “Intentions are Good but Instrumental Variables is Better: Rescuing Real-World Randomized Trials”. What an impressive and insightful talk!

On July 8, Zimmermann gave a lecture to IESR junior faculty and students on “Publishing in International Research Journals” and interacted with IESR senior faculty including IESR Dean Shuaizhang Feng. On July 9 and 10 followed meetings with GLO Fellows Shu Cai, Qing Pei and Max Tani.

The 8th IESR-GLO joint workshop on “Fertility decline and family policies” takes place on July 10-11, 2025, in Jinan University, Guangzhou, China. It is organized in co-operation with the Journal of Population Economics.

Program

Day 1, July 10
12:00-13:30 PM Lunch

13:30-13:45 PM Welcome
Journal of Population Economics (JOPE) & IESR-GLO Collaboration
Shuaizhang Feng, Jinan University and GLO, JOPE Editor
Klaus F. Zimmermann, UNU-MERIT and GLO, JOPE Editor-in-Chief

Session I
Chair: Shuaizhang Feng

13:45-14:30 PM
Title: The Economics of Fertility Decline
Author(s): Klaus F. Zimmermann (Free University Berlin & GLO)

14:30-15:15 PM
Title: Migration Reform and Fertility: Causal Evidence from Rural China
Author(s): Zhangfeng Jin (Zhejiang University of Technology & GLO)
         Wenchao Jin

15:15-15:45 Group Photo & Break

15:45-16:30 PM
Title: Catholic Missionary Presence and Fertility in India
Author(s): Shampa Bhattacharjee (Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence & GLO)
Roopal Jain & Priyoma Mustafi

16:30-17:15 PM
Title: Automation and Fertility Transitions in China
Author(s): Yue Wang (Peking University and GLO)
Chen Kang (Tongji University) & Xiaobing Wang (Peking University)

17:30-19:30 PM Dinner

Day 2, July 11

Session II
Chair: Klaus F. Zimmermann

9:00-9:45 AM
Title: Background Risk and Fertility
Author(s): Massimiliano Tani Bertuol (School of Business, UNSW & GLO)

9:45-10:30 AM
Title: Sex Ratio, Commitment and Power Distribution Within the Household: An Empirical Investigation of China’s One Child Policy
Author(s): Xiao Liu (Capital University of Economics and Business)
Pierre-André Chiappori (Columbia University) & Yaohui Zhao (Wuhan University & Peking University)

10:30-11:00 AM Break

11:00-11:45 AM
Title: Family Planning Policy and Intimate Partner Violence
Author(s): Rufei Guo (Wuhan University and GLO)
Jiawei Sheng (Wuhan University), Ying Wang (Wuhan University) & Jingyuan Yang (Hong Kong Baptist University)

11:45-12:30 PM
Title: Climate Change and Migration across the Great Wall of China during the Little Ice Age
Author(s): Qing Pei (Hong Kong Polytechnic University & GLO)

12:30-14:00 PM Lunch

RELATED:

– Seventh Renmin University & GLO Annual Conference 2024 on Low Fertility & Population Aging. In collaboration with the Journal of Population Economics. LINK

– Hart, R.K., Bergsvik, J., Fauske, A., Kim, W. (2024). Causal Analysis of Policy Effects on Fertility. In: Zimmermann, K.F. (ed.) Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. Springer, Cham.
https:/doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_451-1

– CALL FOR PAPERS: Collection Understanding Fertility Decline of the Journal of Population Economics. Details. See more related papers there.

– Costanzo, C. Robots, jobs, and optimal fertility timing. Journal of Population Economics 38, 51 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-025-01105-3. Free to read: https://rdcu.be/eubHU
– Huang, W., Wang, Y., Wu, H. et al. The motherhood penalty and low fertility in China: a pseudo-event study. Journal of Population Economics 38, 28 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-025-01078-3. Free to read: https://rdcu.be/eubJs
– Li, H., Shi, X. The effect of the one-child policy on fertility in China: identification based on difference-in-differences. Journal of Population Economics 38, 2 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-025-01061-y. Free to read: https://rdcu.be/eubJ4
– Luo, W., Zou, X. Demographic impacts of China’s trade liberalization: marriage, spousal quality, and fertility. Journal of Population Economics 37, 63 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-024-01040-9. Free to read. https://rdcu.be/eubKD

– Victoria Vernon and Klaus F. Zimmermann (2021), “Walls and Fences: A Journey Through History and Economics”, in: Kourtit, K., Newbold, B., Nijkamp, P. and Partridge, M., The Economic Geography of Cross-Border Migration, Springer, Heidelberg et al., pp. 33-54; GLO Discussion Paper No. 33o, 2019. Pre-publication version. Published. More info on book.

EBES team from the left: Mehmet Bilgin, Klaus F. Zimmermann, Hakan Danis & Ugur Can

Highlights of the conference included:

Ends;

Left: EBES & GLO President Klaus F. Zimmermann arrived in Istanbul. Right: Preparing the day: Zimmermann with Justin Lin (Peking University) & Wolfgang Härdle (Humboldt University Berlin)

Highlights of the conference include:

Ends;

Zimmermann has already met with Skúli Magnússon, the “father of modern Reykjavík” (see picture). Skúli played a key role in developing Reykjavík in the 18th century. As Iceland’s first treasurer, he established industries that helped transform the settlement into a growing city. Ingólfur Arnarson is considered the first settler of Reykjavík. He arrived in Iceland around 874 AD, making him the city’s founding father. The name Reykjavík (“smoky bay”) relates to the steam rising from the area’s geothermal activity, which he likely saw upon arrival.

Klaus F. Zimmermann, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Population Economics and President of the Global Labor Organization (GLO) attended the conference as a discussant and member of the research group.