Social Determinants of Health

Dear Colleagues,

The effort to eliminate health disparities has achieved modest progress over the past three decades. Over this period, health disparities research has documented differences between groups; however, explanations for these observed disparities remain elusive. Data from this line of research suggest that health outcomes at the individual or population -level are influenced by cultural, economic, political, and social factors that are classified as social determinants” Within the past decade, social determinants of health have been posited as a plausible explanation for most health disparities. Yet, little attention has been paid to the understanding how social determinants of health impact health disparities or minority health.

We invite investigators to contribute original research (empirical and theoretical) and systematic reviews that will further broaden our understanding of the cultural, economic, political, and social factors that contribute to, or may decrease, health disparities. Papers that include qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods are welcome, as are papers that discuss the design, implementation, and evaluation of behavioral and policy interventions. An important aspect of every manuscript selected for inclusion in the Special Issue will be a focus on social determinants of health disparities and/or applications of research findings reducing health disparities. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Papers that discuss, refine, or test theoretical models specifying the relationship between social determinants and health disparities.
• Papers that emphasize an intersectional approach (e.g., race, gender, and social class) in advancing our understanding of social determinants and health disparities.
• Papers that highlight how social determinants have implications for individual- (e.g., discrimination), place- (e.g., urbanicity), and community-oriented (e.g., segregation) factors and their contribution to health disparities.
• Descriptions of epidemiological studies explicitly examining social determinants and its association with health disparities.
• Descriptions of intervention studies that consider how social determinants of health affect health disparities.

Dr. Roland J. Thorpe, Jr.
Dr. Paul Archibald
Dr. Marino A. Bruce
Ms. Haley Barge

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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.