The Wirtschafts- und Sozialstatistisches Archiv sees itself as the central German-language organ for the publication of economic and social statistical works. These papers deal with substantial questions of economics and social sciences using a methodology that combines concepts of classical economic statistics with modern mathematical statistical approaches. Methodologically sound, problem-oriented papers are published. The focus is on topics that are of interest to a broader scientific and also non-scientific community.
The quality of a paper is not determined by its mathematical level, but by its originality, its substantive scientific insight, and its economic or sociological relevance. This does not necessarily require a high degree of mathematical abstraction. On the other hand, a concrete practical problem can quickly lead to a comparatively high mathematical level. Particular importance is attached to the readability of the published contributions.
The Wirtschafts- und Sozialstatistisches Archiv aims to close the gap between the multitude of purely methodologically oriented, mostly English-language statistical journals and the general German-language press, especially the business press. Published are articles
- which deal with statistical problems from the field of economics and business administration, especially finance, as well as from the field of social sciences,
- that provide scientific analyses of economic, social, and population statistical problems,
- in which political, institutional, or organizational aspects or quality standards of public statistics are discussed,
- in which the role of statistics in society is addressed,
- which examine the relationships between producers, users, and respondents of statistics,
- which deal with ethical questions of statistics as well as problems of data protection,
- which discuss questions concerning the profession of statistics, in particular those of statistical education,
- which provide an overview of the state of research in subfields of statistics,
- which raise open questions of statistical methodological research.
The goal of the Wirtschafts- und Sozialstatistisches Archiv is to create a scientific forum that adequately reflects the growing social and political importance of statistics.