Health Systems and Services

Dear Colleagues,

Health Systems Research: New and Innovative Methods for Exploration and Implementation

Health systems research is a growing area of interdisciplinary endeavour aimed at better understanding the complexity of healthcare and utilising that understanding to improve the health of the population. Ever changing population demographics, shifts in patterns of disease burden and exciting advances in medicines and treatment regimes create new and diverse demands on health systems. Health systems researchers work to develop a robust evidence base to support new and innovative models that address all aspects of maintaining health and well-being.

Health systems research brings particular challenges and opportunities: interdisciplinary working; collaborating with clinical and other healthcare staff; simultaneously working at different levels of a system or organisation; designing/co-designing interventions; constructing studies that can rigorously test such interventions; and working closely with the potential beneficiaries and end users of research throughout the process, be they patients, carers, clinicians or managers. As researchers we are being pushed to step outside of our comfort zones and find new methods to explore and understand the complexity of health systems and new designs to implement and test interventions in this dynamic environment. 

This special issue has a focus on new methodologies in research and implementation of health systems interventions. Papers that describe research and evidence-based interventions in the hospital or at the hospital-community care interface and utilise novel or complex methods are invited. Papers focusing on research that is co-designed by researchers, healthcare staff and patients would be particularly welcome.

Prof. Dr. Eilish McAuliffe
Dr. Aoife DeBrun
Prof. Dr. Graham Martin                                                 
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 short 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. 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.