Renewed Vision for the Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health: Advancing Rigorous Evidence for Policy and Practice

The Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health (JEGH) enters a new phase with a revised Aims and Scope and the appointment of new Editors-in-Chief, Dr. Shannon Farley and Professor Yousef Khader. This transition provides an opportunity to reaffirm the journal’s mission, clarify its scientific focus, and outline how JEGH will continue to contribute to the advancement of epidemiology and global health in an increasingly complex and interconnected context. Under the leadership of the new Editors-in-Chief, JEGH seeks to further strengthen its role as a forum for rigorous epidemiologic research that informs global health policy, programs, and system-level decision-making.

Epidemiology has long provided the scientific foundation for public health by offering methods to describe disease distribution, identify determinants of health, and evaluate preventive and therapeutic interventions. In the context of global health, epidemiology serves as the primary analytical framework for understanding transnational health patterns, inequities, and system-level drivers of health across diverse populations and settings. Over recent decades, the scope and expectations of epidemiologic research have expanded. Contemporary global health challenges—including pandemics, emerging and reemerging diseases, climate change, population displacement, demographic transitions, and the growing burden of noncommunicable diseases—extend beyond national borders, disease categories, and sectors [1].

Addressing these challenges requires epidemiologic approaches that incorporate social, environmental, political, and health-system dimensions alongside traditional measures of disease occurrence and risk.

In response to the evolving role of epidemiology in addressing complex global health challenges, JEGH has refined its Aims and Scope to better reflect the types of evidence required to inform contemporary policy and practice. This expansion reflects both the increasing complexity of global health challenges and the growing demand for epidemiologic evidence that informs governance, financing, and implementation across health systems. JEGH is an international, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to advancing rigorous scientific knowledge in epidemiology and global public health, with particular emphasis on research that informs decision-making at national, regional, and global levels.

JEGH prioritizes research that supports causal understanding and evidence-informed decision-making in real-world settings. The journal particularly welcomes manuscripts that:

• apply robust epidemiologic methods to examine the distribution and determinants of communicable and noncommunicable diseases;

• evaluate public health interventions, policies, and system-level reforms using robust observational or experimental designs;

• assess real-world impact, including effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, implementation feasibility, and scalability, using appropriate impact-evaluation and implementation-science approaches; and.

• translate epidemiologic findings into actionable implications for policy and practice.

Addressing current global health problems requires epidemiologic methods to be applied alongside insights from multiple disciplines. JEGH therefore encourages interdisciplinary research that integrates epidemiology with fields such as health systems and universal health coverage, health workforce development, health financing and governance, health promotion and disease prevention, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health, sexual and reproductive health, nutrition, mental health, environmental and planetary health, climate change and health, One Health, digital and data-driven health innovations, global health security, emergency preparedness and response, humanitarian and refugee health, migration and urban health, health equity, and implementation and policy sciences. In all cases, epidemiologic methods remain central, providing the unifying framework for generating valid, comparable, and policy-relevant evidence across domains.

JEGH is particularly interested in scholarship addressing priority global health challenges aligned with agendas and resolutions of international bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Health Assembly, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [2]. In line with these priorities, the journal values methodological innovation that supports valid inference in data-limited contexts, as well as transparent reporting and reproducible research practices.

Ongoing changes in global health governance further highlight the need for an integrated epidemiologic perspective. Contemporary global health architecture comprises a diverse set of actors, including multilateral organizations, national governments, philanthropic institutions, civil society, academic institutions, and the private sector. Despite aspirations for decentralized, multisectoral, and data-driven decision-making, the present global health architecture often falls short—with fragmented governance, variable data quality, and limited cross-sector coordination. Bridging this gap demands robust, comparable evidence to inform priority setting, resource allocation, and accountability across contexts [3].

Epidemiology plays a central role within this architecture by providing the methodological basis for surveillance systems, disease-burden estimation, health-equity monitoring, and evaluation of national and global responses to health threats. Global health decision-making increasingly relies on integrated data systems that capture not only disease outcomes but also health-system performance, social and environmental determinants, population vulnerability, and intervention impact across settings. As financing and governance mechanisms place greater emphasis on results, value for money, and equity, epidemiologic research is required to support these priorities through appropriate causal inference, implementation-focused analyses, and innovative use of diverse data sources.

At the same time, global health architecture is placing greater emphasis on preparedness, resilience, and sustainability. Experiences from recent pandemics, climate-related health shocks, humanitarian crises, and protracted emergencies have underscored the limitations of siloed approaches and the importance of linking epidemiologic evidence to health-system strengthening, emergency preparedness, and cross-sectoral policy responses. These developments require epidemiology to operate across temporal scales—from acute events to long-term population trends—and across geographic scales, from local settings to global comparative analyses.

Within this context, JEGH aims to serve as a platform for epidemiologic research that informs and critically examines global health architecture. This includes studies evaluating governance arrangements, financing mechanisms, programmatic coordination, and accountability frameworks, as well as research assessing how global and regional policies translate into population-level outcomes. Such work is essential to strengthening accountability within global health architecture and ensuring that policies and investments translate into measurable and equitable population-health gains. Through these contributions, JEGH seeks to support a more coherent, responsive, and equitable global health architecture grounded in rigorous epidemiologic evidence.

Consistent with its scientific mission, JEGH seeks submissions that make clear methodological, conceptual, or applied contributions to epidemiology and global public health. The journal welcomes original research articles, systematic reviews, and scoping reviews that advance epidemiologic knowledge and inform public health practice. Submissions that are primarily descriptive, lack methodological rigor, or do not articulate clear implications for policy or practice are unlikely to be considered for publication. Authors are encouraged to situate their findings within broader public health and policy contexts and to demonstrate the relevance of their work beyond a single setting.

Supported by a diverse and internationally representative Editorial Board, JEGH remains committed to maintaining high scientific standards while supporting authors across regions, disciplines, and career stages. By fostering multidisciplinary dialogue and emphasizing evidence that informs action, the journal aims to serve epidemiologists, public health professionals, policymakers, and researchers addressing both emerging and persistent global health challenges.

With its revised Aims and Scope and renewed editorial leadership, the JEGH reaffirms its role as a forum for rigorous, policy-relevant epidemiologic research. By strengthening the integration of epidemiologic methods with global health priorities and evolving governance structures, JEGH seeks to contribute to an evidence-driven global health enterprise capable of addressing both emerging risks and enduring health inequities worldwide.