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Health Affairs’ Initiative To Promote Equity Highlighted By Learned Publishing

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WASHINGTON (PRWEB)

Learned Publishing recently published a brief authored by several Health Affairs staff members on the subject of advancing health equity through scholarly publishing. The brief highlights Health Affairs’ work on health equity since launching its Equity Project in 2020. The program includes efforts in education, tracking demographics of journal contributors, marketing, communication, and promotion.The goals of the initiative, as stated in the brief, are to:


  • Address racial biases, whether done consciously or unconsciously, within scholarly publishing through the creation of a thoughtful and sustainable strategy to course correct such bias.

  • Advance and sustain aspects of equity or health equity via time and financial allocations and social accountability.

  • Build a foundation for health services and health policy scholarly publishing that represents the perspectives of all cultures.

“Health Affairs has made a commitment to advance equity in scholarly publishing and will honor this commitment by improving journal procedures and practices that will provide equitable opportunities for all who engage with the journal,” writes Vabren L. Watts, PhD, the articles’ first author and the program director. “Since 2020, Health Affairs has worked to articulate organizational values to achieve the goals outlined in the Equity Project.” As the brief notes, the key accomplishments of the equity initiative have been:

  • Tracking author and reviewer demographics in a continued effort to increase equitable participation.

  • The launch of the Health Affairs’ Health Equity Fellowship for Trainees program.

  • The release of two Health Affairs journal theme issues: Racism And Health and Disability And Health. They feature the latest scholarship in health equity, and their contributors reflect an inclusive list of the voices and viewpoints of those who experience some of these issues in their own lives.

Health Affairs’ work continues to uphold three guiding principles: equitable participation by increasing diversity among authors, reviewers, and editors; elevating new voices from those who have been historically marginalized; and introspection to address our own biases as part of the publishing enterprise.

The authors of the brief are Vabren L. Watts, PhD, director of health equity; Patti (Sweet) Kurtz, director of digital strategy; Patrick Odai-Afotey, program manager of equity fellowships; Arronoel Ashby-Rosellon, marketing and communications manager; and Annessa Day, Health Affairs’ Health Equity 2022 summer intern.

Health Affairs’ health equity project is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Colorado Health Foundation. Check out the latest Forefront article about our progress since 2020. Updates to the project and to Health Affairs’ health equity content can be found on its health equity webpage.

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Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewed journal at the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Published monthly by Project HOPE, the journal is available in print and online. Late-breaking content is also found through healthaffairs.org, Health Affairs Today, and Health Affairs Sunday Update. Health Affairs podcasts go beyond the journal’s pages to bring you insightful discussions on the latest news and research affecting health policy. On our flagship podcast, A Health Podyssey, Editor-In-Chief Alan Weil interviews the leading researchers and influencers shaping the field’s big ideas. Join Health Affairs editors on Health Affairs This Week as they discuss the week’s most pressing health policy news. All in 15 minutes or less.

Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has published Health Affairs since 1981.

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