PCD News & Updates

Call for Papers on Population Health, Place, and Space: Spatial Perspectives in Chronic Disease Research and Practice

PCD welcomes submissions for this upcoming collection, which highlights the variety of ways in which geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial analyses are being applied to enhance chronic disease research and public health practice. Manuscripts must be submitted by August 31, 2018. Additional information is available here.

Call for Papers on Population Health, Place, and Space: Spatial Perspectives in Chronic Disease Research and Practice

Announcement posted 2/13/18

Deadline for Submission: August 31, 2018

Background

Understanding the role of place and space in shaping the distribution of chronic disease is critical to informing appropriate public health responses for chronic disease prevention and treatment. Advances in the application of spatial statistics, spatial epidemiology, and GIS have provided opportunities for public health professionals to explore and address the spatial variation in a wide range of chronic disease-related outcomes, risk factors, and their correlates. Many place-based factors, including social, economic, environmental, and health care-related conditions of communities, have been associated with chronic disease in both theory and research. Research into the contributions of these contextual, community-level factors moves beyond a narrow focus on individual-level risk factors and enables public health professionals to address underlying causes and to advance health equity. Furthermore, advances in the delivery of place-based chronic disease data and maps, via interactive websites and other spatial tools, provide public health professionals with opportunities to develop programs and policies tailored to the needs of specific communities. Understanding how to evaluate data from these sources is important as public health professionals navigate this burgeoning world of local-level chronic disease-related data. This PCD special collection documents research, translation, case studies, and analytic tools that have a spatial perspective and highlights the innovative and effective incorporation of place and space into chronic disease surveillance, prevention, and treatment.

Submission Guidelines

Manuscripts submitted in response to this call for papers will be reviewed and, if accepted, published on a rolling basis. Articles will be assembled into a PDF collection accessible on the PCD website after all accepted papers have been published. PCD welcomes submissions that address a broad range of chronic disease conditions (including injury, mental health, maternal and child health) and their risk factors, with application to a wide range of settings (access to care, health equity, policy and program development, evaluation).

PCD encourages the submission of manuscripts in a variety of article types. Illustrative examples are included below but are not intended to exclude other topics relevant to the collection. Please refer to the Types of Articles page on PCD’s website for specifications of each article type.

Original Research or Research Brief

Descriptive epidemiology of the spatial and/or spatio-temporal distributions of chronic disease outcomes
The association of neighborhood or community attributes with chronic disease outcomes

GIS Snapshots

Maps that describe geographic variation in chronic disease outcomes and/or risk factors
Maps that inform chronic disease-related policies, interventions, and/or programs

Special Topics

Theoretical or conceptual development of the importance of place and space for chronic disease prevention and treatment
Review of methodological considerations for using spatial statistics and techniques from an applied perspective for chronic disease
Tutorial-style paper that instructs readers in the use of a spatial method
Theoretical or conceptual development and extension of the meaning of space and place in chronic disease epidemiology
Applied spatial analysis in chronic disease research and practice

Tools and Techniques

Descriptions of the following:
- Methods for spatial data collection
- Existing data sources that are not well-known
- Data analysis methods, etc, and the corresponding benefits and challenges
Review of websites with small area chronic disease-related data and mapping capabilities
Tools that support the use of small area chronic disease-related data