Disparities in Cancer Care: Advancing Equity Across the Cancer Continuum

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute a manuscript to a forthcoming Special Issue of Cancers entitled “Disparities in Cancer Care: Advancing Equity Across the Cancer Continuum.”

As Guest Editor, I am curating this Special Issue to highlight the latest research, perspectives, and innovative interventions addressing inequities across the cancer continuum. Cancer remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, yet not all populations experience its burden equally. Profound disparities in incidence, stage at diagnosis, treatment access, and survival outcomes persist across racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, geographic, and gender-based groups. These inequities are mirrored globally, where structural, cultural, and economic barriers contribute to delayed diagnoses, limited treatment options, and worse outcomes for historically marginalized populations.

The drivers of these disparities are multifaceted, spanning social determinants of health, structural racism, health system fragmentation, and unequal distribution of resources. Even as precision oncology and innovative therapeutics advance rapidly, such innovations are not equitably accessible or implemented, risking the widening of existing gaps in cancer outcomes. At the same time, survivorship research demonstrates that underserved patients are more likely to face financial toxicity, inadequate psychosocial support, and lower quality of life during and after treatment. By systematically studying these strategies, the cancer research community can accelerate translation of evidence into equitable outcomes.

This Special Issue of Cancers seeks to bring together cutting-edge research, critical perspectives, and innovative interventions that address disparities across the cancer continuum. By showcasing multidisciplinary contributions, including epidemiology, community-engaged research, survivorship studies, health services research, and policy analyses, this collection aims to provide actionable insights to advance equity in cancer care globally. Also, this Special Issue will serve as a platform to advance understanding and promote actionable solutions for equitable cancer care delivery.

We welcome basic, translational, clinical, and population-based studies that address disparities across the cancer continuum, including but not limited to the following:

• Epidemiology and Outcomes: Disparities in cancer incidence, stage at diagnosis, treatment adherence, and survival across populations.
• Screening and Prevention: Barriers and facilitators to equitable uptake of screening, vaccination, and risk-reduction interventions.
• Treatment Access and Quality: Structural, institutional, and interpersonal factors influencing equitable cancer care.
• Survivorship and Quality of Life: Inequities in supportive care, survivorship planning, financial toxicity, and patient-reported outcomes.
• Community Engagement: Community-based participatory research, citizen science, coalition-driven strategies, and integration of community voices in cancer research.
• Policy and Systems-Level Change: Health policies, payment models, and system-level reforms aimed at reducing disparities.
• Artificial Intelligence and Innovations in Equity: Application of AI, digital health, precision oncology, implementation science, and culturally responsive interventions to close equity gaps.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: original articles, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, brief reports, commentaries, and perspectives.

All accepted papers will be published in Cancers, an open access journal of oncology, published semimonthly online by MDPI. If you are interested, I encourage you to submit your intent to contribute or reach out with any questions. Your expertise and insights would make an invaluable contribution to this Special Issue.

Thank you in advance for considering this invitation. I would be honored to include your work in this important collection.

Dr. Gladys Asiedu
Dr. Ernie Kaninjing
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.