Editorial decisions at Populace are based solely on the scientific quality, originality and relevance of the work, and on the recommendations of peer reviewers.

Publisher and editors. Populace is published by Populace Publishing Ltd, an independent scholarly publisher registered in England and Wales (Company No. 17483684), dedicated to the publication of learned journals, research and education in public health. The publisher is responsible for the journal's operations, infrastructure and finances. It does not intervene in editorial decisions on individual manuscripts and cannot overrule them.

Editorial decisions. Associate Editors manage the peer review of manuscripts and recommend decisions. Final decisions to accept or reject manuscripts are made by the Editor-in-Chief or a Deputy Editor-in-Chief, on the basis of peer review.

Editorial Office Manager. The Editorial Office is managed by the director of Populace Publishing Ltd, who serves as Editorial Office Manager. The Editorial Office Manager handles technical checks of submissions (completeness, formatting, anonymisation and similarity checks), manuscript workflow, production and journal administration, does not take part in decisions to accept or reject manuscripts and does not assess their scientific merit. Any question about a submission's scope, or any scientific or ethical concern identified at the technical check, is referred to the Editor-in-Chief.

Submissions from editors and the publisher. Manuscripts submitted by a member of the editorial board or by the Editorial Office Manager follow the same peer review process as all other submissions. They are handled by an editor with no conflict of interest, and the submitting author has no access to the review process or to the identity of the reviewers. The author's role at the journal is stated in the published article's competing interests statement.

Editors' competing interests. All editors declare their competing interests when they join the journal and update them every year. An editor with a conflict of interest on a manuscript does not handle it. See our Conflicts of Interest policy.

Separation of finances and peer review. Article processing charges and waiver requests are handled by the Editorial Office, separately from peer review. Editors and reviewers have no access to payment information, and an author's ability to pay never influences an editorial decision.

Advertising and sponsorship. Any advertising, sponsorship or funding is kept separate from editorial content and has no influence on editorial decisions.

Appeals. Authors who disagree with an editorial decision may submit an appeal, as described in our Appeals and Complaints policy and in the Complaints and Appeals section of our Publication Ethics page.