“Research in Health Services & Regions” offers researchers an open forum for knowledge transfer
01.07.2022 11:05
"Research in Health Services & Regions - Methods, Results, Implementation" - this is the name of the new English-language journal format of Springer-Nature Verlag, which wants to close a gap in the range of regionalized health services research. The first issue, which includes three specialist articles, has just been published online. The journal is funded by the Central Institute for Statutory Health Insurance (Zi).
Research in Health Services and Regions is an open access, electronic-only journal that publishes high-quality original scientific articles, reviews and short communications. A prerequisite for the publication of individual contributions is a successful professional assessment by other experienced scientists, an international so-called peer review process. The journal offers a forum for scientists who are researching which influences affect local medical care and which interventions can be used to successfully reduce undesirable variations in the quality of healthcare or to better achieve healthcare goals. This transfer of knowledge can provide many practice-relevant impulses for the further development of care structures and processes in Germany and other countries. Various health atlases worldwide have already shown that medical care in sparsely populated regions can be equal to or better than in metropolitan areas in many respects.
“Patients expect a comparable standard of care regardless of where they live. Yet significant disparities in the quality of care remain a reality in all healthcare systems around the world. In order to improve the quality and efficiency of care, we are constantly required to evaluate and address these differences. We can all continually learn from international experiences. We know from our own studies that Germany can also make interesting contributions to this. However, scientific publications in this area have not yet found a specific medium. That's why we're promoting the development of such a format," said Zi CEO Dr. Dominik von Stillfried, who is one of four editors of the journal. In addition to Stillfried, these are Dr. Stef Groenewoud (Radboud Institute for Health Sciences; Nijmwegen, The Netherlands), Dr. Daniela Koller (LMU Munich) and Dr. Thérèse Stukel (IC/ES; Toronto, Canada). The editors are also scientifically advised and supported by an equally international, currently nine-strong Editorial Board.
The original articles, reviews and short communications, which have been reviewed as part of a standardized peer review process, will be published online in English as Open Access. They are published under a Creative Commons license, whereby the authors retain the copyright to their contributions. The Zi supports the start-up phase of the journal by covering the publication costs and article processing fees for up to 30 articles per year. In this context, there are no article processing charges or fees for authors. Articles will be freely and permanently accessible online, with no subscription fees or registration hurdles.
“We accept qualified submissions on an ongoing basis. The call for papers on the subject areas 'Lessons of the Pandemic - How the pandemic affects our health care system' and 'The Future of Health Care Atlases' is currently running. We welcome sound research that directly addresses geographic disparities in healthcare, benchmarking based on best practices, and healthcare system improvements, taking into account regional specificities. We are also interested in reports on the implementation of relevant health policy measures or local initiatives to improve patient care," says von Stillfried.