Announcements

Call for Papers | Students Have Their Say: Novel Approaches and Solutions to Current and Emerging Public Health Problems

Announcement posted 4/26/24

Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD) is committed to developing the scientific writing skills of public health students. As part of that commitment, PCD is pleased to offer a new student paper publishing opportunity as a special feature of its 2025 Student Paper Contest. This new opportunity will allow high school, undergraduate, graduate, and recent postgraduate students, and medical students and residents to improve their scientific writing skills by serving as lead (first) authors, becoming familiar with a journal’s peer-review process, and receiving feedback from the journal on how to strengthen their submission regardless of whether it is accepted.

Students are invited to submit only one type of article: an Essay. The topic will be how to approach persistent or emerging public health challenges with new approaches and solutions. We believe that students are in a unique position to offer novel ideas and share fresh perspectives, and we want them to have their say!

For this Call for Papers, the journal will consider manuscripts only from students. The essay may be written and submitted to the journal by one student or more than one student. Manuscripts must not be published previously or submitted elsewhere for publication. Students must adhere to the journal’s submission requirements for essays (https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/for_authors/types_of_articles.htm#Essay) and follow this format:

Identify the public health challenge
Make the case for why it is a challenge
Discuss existing or historical approaches used to address the challenge
Identify innovative approaches and solutions
Describe what populations, groups, and/or organizations might benefit from the innovative approaches identified
Conclude by discussing what the future would look like as a result of the uptake of the proposed innovative approaches

Topics students can use to address persistent current and emerging public health challenges in the essay include but are not limited to the following:

Rural health
Emergency preparedness
Building the capacity of future public health experts
Communicable diseases
Reducing health disparities and inequities
Data modernization
Data privacy
Racism and health

All manuscripts accepted in response to this Call for Papers will be published in the journal’s collection on a rolling basis. All published essays will be included as a special section of the 2025 Student Paper Contest collection, which is scheduled for release in November 2025. Students may also submit a separate manuscript for the 2025 Student Paper Contest. See PCD’s Announcements page for more information on eligibility and requirements.

Although it is not required, interested students are encouraged to submit an inquiry to learn whether their essay idea aligns with the scope of the journal and the objective of this Call for Papers. These inquiries should be submitted by September 20, 2024. If the essay is to be written by several students, only the corresponding author should submit this inquiry. The corresponding author is the person who takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal during the submission, peer-review, and publication process. The corresponding author’s inquiry should include the following information:

Article title
Name of the corresponding author
Author name(s), degree(s), title(s), and affiliation(s)
Indicate that the inquiry is related to this Call for Papers
Abstract (300 words or less)

The deadline to submit a final manuscript is 5:00 PM EST on Monday, March 24, 2025. PCD requires a cover letter from the corresponding author of every paper submitted to the journal. Student corresponding authors are required to submit a cover letter indicating they (and their coauthors, if applicable) are currently matriculated in school. The letter must also identify educational level (high school, undergraduate, graduate or medical student, recent postgraduate, or medical resident), area of study (major), and minor (if applicable).

About the Journal
PCD is a peer-reviewed public health journal published by CDC and authored by experts worldwide. PCD was established in 2004 by the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion with a mission to promote dialogue among researchers, practitioners, and policy makers worldwide on the integration and application of research findings and practical experience to improve population health. PCD has a current Impact Factor of 5.5 (2022) and is ranked 21st of 180 journals in Journal Citation Reports. For more information about the journal, please visit https://www.cdc.gov/pcd.

Call for Papers | 2025 Student Paper Contest

Announcement posted 4/26/24

Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD) welcomes submissions from high school, undergraduate, graduate, and recent postgraduate students, and medical students and residents for PCD’s annual Student Paper Contest. PCD is interested in publishing papers relevant to the prevention, screening, surveillance, and population-based intervention of chronic diseases, including but not limited to arthritis, asthma, cancer, depression, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and COVID-19 and chronic conditions. The journal is also interested in research examining the role that social determinants exact on health, including the less explored determinant of racism.

For 2025, the Student Paper Contest collection will also include a special section, “Students Have Their Say: Novel Approaches and Solutions to Current and Emerging Public Health Problems,” featuring student essays. For more information on eligibility and requirements, see PCD’s Announcements page.

Contest Goals

Provide applicants with an opportunity to become familiar with a journal’s manuscript submission requirements and peer-review process
Assist applicants to connect their knowledge and training on conducting quality research with a journal’s publication expectations
Develop applicants’ research and scientific writing skills to become producers of knowledge in addition to consumers of knowledge
Provide applicants with an opportunity to become first author on a peer-reviewed paper
Promote supportive, respectful, and mutually beneficial author―mentor relationships that result in strengthening applicants’ ability to generate and submit future scholarly manuscripts

Eligibility

Student applicants must be currently enrolled in a high school, undergraduate, graduate, or medical degree program. Postgraduate applicants must have received their graduate or medical degree within the past 12 months and be participating in a medical residency, postdoctoral fellowship, or similar training program under the supervision of a mentor, advisor, or principal investigator.
Applicants should meet the standard to serve as first author. The first author is the person who conducted or led the topic being presented and prepared the first draft of the manuscript. The first author ensures that all other authors meet the criteria for authorship (Editorial Policy).
Applicants and coauthors are expected to demonstrate the highest ethical standards in scholarly work (Editorial Policy).
Applicants (not mentors) must serve as the corresponding author. No exceptions.
Manuscripts must report on research done while the corresponding author was a student in an eligible student category.
The research must have been completed within the last 12 months.
Manuscripts must not be published previously or submitted elsewhere for publication.

Cover Letter

At the time of submission, applicants must submit a cover letter indicating their interest in being considered for the Student Paper Contest. This cover letter must include:

Name and contact information of the student’s advisor.
Current level of academic enrollment: high school, undergraduate, graduate or medical degree, or applicable postgraduate residency, fellowship, or other training program.
All required disclosures (funding, conflicts of interest, and use of copyrighted material).

Learn more about general cover letter requirements on PCD’s How to Submit a Manuscript page.

Letter of Recommendation

At the time of submission, applicants must provide a letter of recommendation from their advisor confirming the following:

The student’s enrollment in a degree program or the postgraduate candidate’s residency or fellowship
The research was conducted while in training under the advisor’s supervision
The applicant conceptualized the analysis and was the primary author of the manuscript
No one other than the applicant can serve as corresponding author

Deadline
The deadline to submit a final manuscript is 5:00 PM EST on Monday, March 24, 2025. PCD requires a cover letter from the corresponding author of every paper submitted to the journal. Student corresponding authors are required to submit a cover letter indicating they (and their coauthors, if applicable) are currently matriculated in school. The letter must also identify educational level (high school, undergraduate, graduate or medical student, recent postgraduate, or medical resident), area of study (major), and minor (if applicable).

Manuscript Review Process

Not all manuscripts submitted for consideration will undergo peer review. The Editor in Chief determines which manuscripts advance to peer review on the basis of fit, quality, and available human capital to handle submission volume.
The decision-making process to identify which manuscripts will advance through the various stages of review is lengthy; applicants and advisors must have patience.
An applicant receiving comments and suggestions on a manuscript does not mean the manuscript will be accepted for publication.
Applicants interested information the status of a submission during the review process are encouraged to contact the journal. Such inquiries should come directly from the student applicant serving as corresponding author.

Recognition for Winners in Each Category

Acknowledgment in the Editor in Chief’s editorial
Special promotion on the journal’s social media platforms
A podcast discussion the article
Potential selection as a peer reviewer to determine next year’s winner

Call for Papers | Rural Health Disparities: Contemporary Solutions for Persistent Rural Public Health Challenges

Announcement posted 4/18/24

Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD) welcomes submissions for its upcoming collection, Rural Health Disparities: Contemporary Solutions for Persistent Rural Public Health Challenges. Public health challenges have been documented in rural geographical areas and remain persistent public health, medicine, and health services problems. These challenges include limited health care access, excessive tobacco use in poor counties, limited physical activities, socioeconomic inequities, behavioral and mental health conditions, and major chronic diseases. These persistent rural health challenges magnify and lead to racial and socioeconomic disparities. The goal of this collection is to capture current solutions to these challenges. Peer-reviewed articles appearing in this collection will help advance the discourse on rural public health beyond biomedical models for chronic disease prevention.

For this collection, PCD encourages the submission of manuscripts covering diverse topics using various article types. We encourage authors to explore the social determinants of health, environmental influences, policy interventions, and community-based initiatives contributing to chronic disease prevention in rural areas. Please refer to the Types of Articles page on the journal’s website for specifications for each article type. PCD is seeking submissions on topics including but not limited to the following:

Community─clinical linkages to improve population health in rural settings
Systematic reviews of effective chronic disease interventions in rural settings
Comparisons of health outcomes among rural population subgroups, emphasizing within-group analysis over rural─urban comparisons
Methodological solutions to common challenges with rural public health data analysis
Practical solutions to chronic disease prevention challenges faced by public health practitioners in rural areas
Community engagement approaches to address chronic disease prevention
Community health workers to address access to care in rural settings
Opportunities and challenges for rural local health departments to use evidence-based policies, implement practices to guide continuous quality improvement, and establish effective diverse partnerships to improve population health
Use of geographical information systems (GIS) to identify incidence of chronic disease, access to care, and resources contributing to or limiting population health in rural settings

Submission Guidelines

Corresponding authors are required to submit an inquiry to the journal to determine suitability in advance of submitting a manuscript. PCD asks that only the corresponding author submit an inquiry to the journal for review. The corresponding author is the person who takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal during the submission, peer-review, and publication process if the manuscript is accepted. The corresponding author’s inquiry should include the following information:

Article title
Name of the corresponding author
Author name(s), degree(s), title(s), and affiliation(s)
PCD article type (visit https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/for_authors/types_of_articles.htm)
Has the article ever been submitted elsewhere for consideration? If yes, please indicate the name of the journal, the date of that journal’s final decision, and an explanation of the decision
Indicate that the inquiry is related to this Call for Papers
Abstract (300 words or less)

The deadline to submit an inquiry is July 19, 2024. Submit your inquiry to the Editor in Chief at PCDeditor@cdc.gov for consideration. PCD will provide feedback to the corresponding author about the journal’s interest in the proposed manuscript and guidance on what information is needed.

The deadline to receive your final manuscript is January 24, 2025. If your inquiry is approved, your final manuscript will undergo internal review and external peer review. Manuscripts accepted for publication will be 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. Cover letters to the Editor in Chief are required and must state that the submission is for consideration in the PCD collection, “Rural Health Disparities: Contemporary Solutions for Persistent Public Health Challenges.”

About the Journal

PCD is a peer-reviewed public health journal published by CDC and authored by experts worldwide. PCD was established in 2004 by the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion with a mission to promote dialogue among researchers, practitioners, and policy makers worldwide on the integration and application of research findings and practical experience to improve population health. PCD has a current Impact Factor of 5.5 (2022) and is ranked 21st of 180 journals in Journal Citation Reports (JCR). For more information about the journal, please visit https://www.cdc.gov/pcd.

PCD Editor in Chief Receives 2 SOPHE Awards, Named SOPHE President

Announcement posted 3/27/24

The journal is excited to announce that PCD’s Editor in Chief, Leonard Jack, Jr, PhD, MSc, was named the newest President of the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE). Dr Jack was sworn in as President on Wednesday, March 20th. He was also awarded 2 of SOPHE’s most prestigious awards: the SOPHE Presidential Citation for outstanding contributions to advancing the field of health education, health promotion, and behavioral sciences and the SOPHE Trophy for demonstrating dedication and exemplary service in advancing the mission and vision of SOPHE. Please join us in congratulating Dr Jack on these exciting awards and achievements.

Call for Papers | Community Engagement and Population Health From Practice to Evaluation

Announcement posted 4/11/24

Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD) welcomes submissions for its upcoming collection, “Community Engagement and Population Health From Practice to Evaluation.” The burden of chronic disease continues to exact a tremendous impact on populations around the world. Health is shaped by many factors — psychological, physical, environmental, social, and economic — that cannot be improved by one or a few individuals, groups, and organizations. The complexity of what shapes health makes it important to establish and maintain community and the community’s engagement to increase supportive opportunities to improve health. Several terms and concepts over the years, such as community mobilization, community-based participatory research, and social engagement, have been used to describe the importance of different aspects of community engagement. Regardless of the terminology or concept, working collaboratively with communities to address factors affecting health is central to ameliorating persistent health challenges.

For this collection, PCD encourages submissions that reflect on how and where engagement has successfully occurred, including the populations engaged and geographical locations, types of partners involved, community engagement strategies used, and advances in measuring community engagement. PCD encourages the submission of manuscripts covering diverse topics using various article types. Please refer to the Types of Articles page on the journal’s website for specifications for each article type. PCD is seeking submissions on topics including but not limited to the following:

Defining communities — what to do when community definitions and available data (eg, geography, race/ethnicity) do not align or are missing
Editorials or essays on the evolution of community engagement: why it matters, theoretical underpinning, and application in diverse settings
Community engagement in data, analytics, and machine learning for chronic disease prevention and control
Factors that support and undermine effectiveness and impact of community health workers, champions, change agents, brokers, and/or navigators in community settings
Community engagement and artificial intelligence — benefits and risks
Social network analysis as an important tool for understanding communities, their structures, and strengths
The role of going to and listening to communities
Innovative examples of how groups have engaged communities to design, implement, and evaluate public health interventions
Community and/or patient engagement to address health inequities
Building and sustaining community trust and engagement
System barriers and system solutions to community engagement
Systematic reviews exploring the use and effectiveness of community engagement in public health interventions
Methods and models of community engagement
Tools and instruments to measure community engagement
Measuring and evaluating community engagement efforts
Long-term models and strategies that help sustain community engagement beyond funded project periods

Submission Guidelines
Corresponding authors are required to submit an inquiry to the journal to determine suitability in advance of submitting a manuscript. PCD asks that only the corresponding author submit an inquiry to the journal for review. The corresponding author is the person who takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal during the submission, peer-review, and publication process if the manuscript is accepted. The corresponding author’s inquiry should include the following information:

Article title
Name of the corresponding author
Author name(s), degree(s), title(s), and affiliation(s)
PCD article type (visit https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/for_authors/types_of_articles.htm)
Has the article ever been submitted elsewhere for consideration? If yes, please indicate the name of the journal, the date of that journal’s final decision, and an explanation of the decision
Indicate that the inquiry is related to this Call for Papers
Abstract (300 words or less)

The deadline to submit an inquiry is April 26, 2024. Submit your inquiry to the Editor in Chief at PCDeditor@cdc.gov for consideration. PCD will provide feedback to the corresponding author about the journal’s interest in the proposed manuscript and guidance on what information is needed.

The deadline to receive your final manuscript is September 16, 2024. If your inquiry is approved, your final manuscript will undergo internal review and external peer review. Manuscripts accepted for publication will be 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. Cover letters to the Editor in Chief are required and must state that the submission is for consideration in the PCD collection, “Community Engagement and Population Health From Practice to Evaluation.”

About the Journal
PCD is a peer-reviewed public health journal published by CDC and authored by experts worldwide. PCD was established in 2004 by the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion with a mission to promote dialogue among researchers, practitioners, and policy makers worldwide on the integration and application of research findings and practical experience to improve population health. PCD has a current Impact Factor of 5.5 (2022) and is ranked 21^st of 180 journals in Journal Citation Reports (JCR). For more information about the journal, please visit https://www.cdc.gov/pcd.

Call for Papers | Screen-Time Effects on Mental Health, Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Sleep Across the Lifespan

Announcement posted 2/22/24

Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD) welcomes submissions for its upcoming collection, “Screen-Time Effects on Mental Health, Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Sleep Across the Lifespan.” According to the Sedentary Behavior Research Network, screen time is defined as the amount of time spent engaging with screens — tablets, computers, or smart phones — while sitting, standing, or being physically active. Increased exposure to screen time has become an important public health concern for several reasons. Excessive screen-time exposure has been linked to poor health outcomes ranging from weight gain, physical inactivity, reduced sleep quality, poor body image perception, poor nutrition, and mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. Research indicates that the relationship between screen-time use and poor health outcomes exists among children through adulthood.

For this collection, PCD encourages the submission of manuscripts covering diverse topics using various article types. Please refer to the Types of Articles page on the journal’s website for specifications for each article type. PCD is seeking submissions on topics including but not limited to the following:

Epidemiological prevalence of excessive screen-time exposure on various health outcomes according to race, ethnicity, sex, geographical location, and level of education
Family-centered interventions to reduce excessive exposure to screen time among children, adolescents, and/or adults
Identification of signs indicating excessive screen time is occurring and strategies on prevention and early intervention strategies to eliminate excessive use
School system approaches to identify and reduce excessive screen-time exposure in school settings from elementary to high school
Clinical and health care interventions to treat excessive screen-time exposure among children, adolescents, young adults, adults, and/or older adults
Evidence-based strategies to prevent or reduce use towards improving mental health outcomes
The influence of social networks on excessive screen-time use and the role of social networks to address it
Clinical and/or public health interventions seeking to improve multiple health outcomes (eg, physical activity, nutrition, sleep quality, and/or mental health)
Strategies to disseminate and scale effective screen-time reduction interventions to increase diffusion to other settings and geographic locations
Strategies to sustain implementation of effective screen-time reduction interventions
Systematic reviews or scoping reviews examining the effectiveness of clinical, family-centered, or public health interventions related to the following:
- Longitudinal impact of social media on mental health
- Components of effective interventions to reduce screen time
- Evidence-based interventions to reduce screen-time exposure to increase levels of physical activity, improve nutrition, and improve sleep quality

Submission Guidelines
Authors are required to submit an inquiry to the journal to determine suitability in advance of submitting a manuscript. PCD asks that only the corresponding author submit an inquiry to the journal for review. The corresponding author is the person who takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal during the submission, peer-review, and publication process if the manuscript is accepted. The corresponding author’s inquiry should include the following information:

Article title
Name of the corresponding author
Author name(s), degree(s), title(s), and affiliation(s)
PCD article type (visit https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/for_authors/types_of_articles.htm)
Has the article ever been submitted elsewhere for consideration? If yes, please indicate the name of the journal, the date of its final decision, and an explanation of the decision
Indicate that the inquiry is related to this Call for Papers
Abstract (300 words or less)

The deadline to submit an inquiry is May 24, 2024. Submit your inquiry to the Editor in Chief at PCDeditor@cdc.gov for consideration. PCD will provide feedback to the corresponding author about the journal’s interest in the proposed manuscript and guidance on what information is needed.

The deadline to receive your final manuscript is November 29, 2024. If your inquiry is approved, your final manuscript will undergo internal review and external peer review. Manuscripts accepted for publication will be 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. Cover letters to the Editor in Chief are required and must state that the submission is for consideration in the PCD collection, “Screen-Time Effects on Mental Health, Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Sleep Across the Lifespan.”

About the Journal
PCD is a peer-reviewed public health journal published by CDC and authored by experts worldwide. PCD was established in 2004 by the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion with a mission to promote dialogue among researchers, practitioners, and policy makers worldwide on the integration and application of research findings and practical experience to improve population health. PCD has a current Impact Factor of 5.5 (2022) and is ranked 21^st of 180 journals in Journal Citation Reports (JCR). For more information about the journal, please visit https://www.cdc.gov/pcd.

PCD Celebrates 20th Anniversary in 2024

Announcement posted 12/19/23

Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD) is excited to celebrate 20 years of bringing you rigorous, timely, and relevant peer-reviewed chronic disease research. Over the past 2 decades, the journal has brought its diverse group of readers articles that have influenced policy changes, guided health care professionals in their fields of work, and informed the public on important chronic disease-related findings while offering actionable ways to make improvements in personal behaviors and foster community change. PCD is honored to be able to continue to provide its readers with articles that matter and help authors put their work into action.

PCD relies on the contribution of experts working in multiple fields who contribute their time and expertise to the journal as associate editors, editorial board members, Statistics Review Committee members, and most recently as members of the Student Scientific Writing and Review Training Committee. We look forward to recognizing these members, both past and present, and hearing what PCD has meant to them as part of our anniversary celebrations.

As we move into the new year, we will establish the “Dr. Lynne Wilcox Paper of the Year” honoring PCD’s founding editor. We look forward to announcing the winning paper in September 2024 and celebrating with a special ceremony. In addition, the journal will share the many transformations and successes it has seen and achieved over the past 2 decades, publish several important collections, including a special anniversary collection, and more. We hope you’ll join us here on our website and on our social media channels as we celebrate this milestone over the coming months.

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The opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors’ affiliated institutions.