IPUMS Research Awards

The IPUMS Research Awards honor outstanding research using IPUMS data to advance or deepen our understanding of social and demographic processes. We look for papers that use innovative approaches, comparative analyses, and showcase the power of the IPUMS data collections. Cash prizes are awarded for best published work* and best graduate student work** (published or unpublished) in eight categories.

The 2023 IPUMS Research Awards Competition has closed for submissions. We look forward to announcing the winners later this spring.

Award Categories

Please select the category that is most appropriate for your research; each category includes an award for published work and student work (published or unpublished). The submission form includes an option to specify if the paper should be also considered for the IPUMS Excellence in Research Award (one published and one student submission will be selected).

 

IPUMS Excellence in Research Award

The IPUMS mission of democratizing data demands that we increase representation of scholars from groups that are systemically excluded in research spaces. This award is an opportunity to highlight and reward outstanding work using any of the IPUMS data collections by authors who are underrepresented in social science research. Researchers submitting their work (or nominating the work of a colleague) for consideration in one of the IPUMS data collection categories will be asked to indicate if their work should also be considered for the IPUMS Excellence in Research Award.
 

View past IPUMS research award winners.

 


* Published research criteria stipulate use and citation of one of the eligible IPUMS data collections in a 2023 refereed publication.

** Student research award criteria stipulate use and citation of one of the eligible IPUMS data collections in a paper written in 2023 whose lead author is a student; published student work must be in a 2023 publication. We strongly encourage that unpublished research be submitted to SocArXiv, an open archive for the social sciences, or another open archive or paper repository.

To be considered for the IPUMS Excellence in Research Award, the lead author of a paper must self-identify as belonging to one or more groups that are systemically excluded in research spaces. Because IPUMS is based in the United States, we often include persons who identify as Black/African American, Indigenous, Hispanic/Latino/a/x, Asian American, first-generation college graduates or students, LGBTQ+ persons, or persons with disabilities in our definition of systemically excluded groups. We recognize for scholars outside of the U.S., in particular, this list may not capture discrimination in their social contexts, and encourage submissions from persons who identify with a group that has been systemically excluded even if it is not explicitly listed here.