Aims and Scope

Aims

Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health (JEPH) is an electronic open-access, peer-reviewed international journal. It aims at publishing papers in all areas of epidemiology and public health. The journal publishes epidemiological and public health research articles on the distribution and determinants of communicable and non-communicable diseases worldwide, that can be used to inform public health efforts to reduce the risk of those diseases in the human population in developing and developed countries. This journal seeks to contribute to new epidemiological knowledge and public health action to collectively with others help improve population health worldwide. All of the papers published are freely available and downloadable as pdf files.

At the JEPH we believe that epidemiology and public health are closely intertwined disciplines, both from scientific and health policy perspectives. Epidemiology is the core science of public health that studies disease distribution and investigates why and how it spreads among human populations, intending to use that understanding to help control the diseases in the populations. Public health is a pragmatic discipline, identifying causes of disease as potential targets for preventive intervention. Epidemiological research provides the scientific basis and causal reasoning for directing practical, appropriate, and effective public health action for preventing diseases, prolonging life, and improving population health.

Scope

The scope of research topics addressed in the JEPH is wide-ranging. The journal welcomes original research articles, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses, on all aspects of communicable and non-communicable diseases prevention. It also publishes discussions of research theory, methodology, or public health policy.

The JEPH is an interdisciplinary journal that encourages the use of an interdisciplinary framework for guiding epidemiological and public health research. The journal welcomes research papers on all branches of epide­mi­ology, including but not limited to lifestyle epidemiology, infectious disease epidemiology, chronic disease epidemiology, social epidemiology, life-course epidemiology, nutritional epidemiology, and environmental epidemiology.

The journal encourages the use of the multi-factorial concept of causation which recognizes that the occurrence of disease could not solely be attributed to the presence of a single factor operating at one level. We welcome researchers to articulate theories of the causes of disease that bring together factors defined at different levels.

We are particularly interested in research articles on social epidemiology that focus on the effects of social-structural factors on states of health. Health disparities, which contemporary public health aims to subside, are generally embedded in social or structural determinants of health, which cannot be effectively addressed at the individual level alone. We also welcome research papers on life-course epidemiology that studies the long-term effects of childhood and adolescent risk factors on later disease. Accordingly, we encourage the appropriate use of multivariate statistical data analysis approaches such as path analysis/ structural equation model and multilevel analysis.

The JEPH supports the use of randomized controlled trials to determine the efficacy and effectiveness of an intervention and allows the use of non-randomized controlled study designs to investigate community interventions. The journal welcomes observational studies using cohort, case-control, or cross-sectional designs, to examine the causal factors at various levels. The JEPH does not support submissions of papers purely focused on basic (bench) science and clinical medicine.