4th Edition: Social Determinants of Health

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past three years, we successfully launched the first, second, and third editions of this Special Issue, each of which garnered strong engagement and enthusiastic participation from a diverse group of scholars. Given the continued urgency and relevance of this topic, we are pleased to announce the fourth edition of this Special Issue to further advance this critical area of inquiry.

Despite decades of research and intervention, there has been modest progress toward eliminating health disparities to achieve health equity. Disparities in health outcomes across various populations are well-documented; however, root causes are insufficiently understood. Evidence increasingly points to the significant influence of the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age—commonly referred to as social determinants of health—on health outcomes. These conditions have emerged as important contributors to the persistence of health disparities in the past decade. However, there remains a need for deeper investigations into how these factors operate to shape the health of marginalized populations.

We invite researchers to submit original empirical studies, theoretical papers, and systematic reviews that deepen our understanding of the cultural, economic, political, and social drivers of health disparities—including strategies to mitigate them.

We welcome submissions employing qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods approaches, including studies that address the design, implementation, and evaluation of behavioral or policy interventions.

This Special Issue focuses on the role of social determinants in generating, maintaining, or reducing health disparities.

Potential topics of interest include, but are not limited to

• Theoretical or empirical papers that explore and test models linking social determinants, the health of marginalized populations, and health disparities;
• Studies that employ an intersectional lens (e.g., race, gender, or social class) to examine how multiple forms of inequality shape health outcomes;
• Research exploring how social determinants at the individual (e.g., discrimination), place-based (e.g., urbanicity), or community (e.g., segregation) levels influence health disparities;
• Epidemiological studies that explicitly examine associations between social determinants and health outcomes among marginalized populations;
• Intervention studies that evaluate how social determinants influence health or contribute to the reduction in health disparities.

We look forward to receiving your contributions and continuing this important scholarly conversation.

Dr. Roland J. Thorpe, Jr.
Dr. Marino A. Bruce
Dr. Paul Archibald
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2500 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.