Aims & Scope

Journal Scope
Aims & Scope

Horizon of Public Health Sciences (HoPHS) publishes scientifically rigorous and policy-relevant research that advances understanding of population health, disease distribution, health determinants, health systems, prevention, equity, resilience, and the translation of evidence into public-health action.

Journal Aim
Connecting population evidence with public-health practice and policy

HoPHS aims to provide an international forum for original research and evidence synthesis addressing the health of populations and communities. The journal welcomes quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, implementation, evaluation, policy, systems, economic, spatial, and interdisciplinary approaches when they make a clear contribution to public-health knowledge.

Scope principle: manuscripts should address questions with relevance beyond an isolated clinical encounter or laboratory finding and should demonstrate a meaningful connection to population health, prevention, health systems, community health, health equity, policy, or public-health practice.
01 · Population Health & Epidemiology
Distribution, determinants, surveillance, and prevention of health outcomes

HoPHS welcomes epidemiological research that improves understanding of disease patterns, risk and protective factors, population health trends, prevention strategies, surveillance, and the distribution of health outcomes across communities and populations.

Communicable diseases Non-communicable diseases Injury epidemiology Maternal & child health Reproductive health Social epidemiology Disease surveillance Screening & prevention Outbreak investigation Spatial epidemiology Population risk modelling Health inequalities
02 · Environmental & Occupational Health
Environmental exposures, workplaces, climate, and population risk

The journal publishes research examining how environmental, occupational, built-environment, climatic, chemical, physical, and biological exposures influence health and how these risks can be prevented, monitored, regulated, or reduced.

Air quality & pollution Water, sanitation & hygiene Waste & environmental sanitation Climate-related health risks Environmental toxicology Exposure assessment Occupational disease & injury Workplace safety Industrial hygiene Built environment & health Environmental justice
03 · Health Systems, Policy & Economics
Organization, financing, governance, access, quality, and performance

HoPHS publishes studies on the design, financing, governance, delivery, utilization, quality, equity, efficiency, and evaluation of health systems and services, including evidence relevant to policy formulation and implementation.

Health policy analysis Health financing Health insurance Universal health coverage Primary health care Health-service quality Health workforce Health information systems Digital health systems Economic evaluation Implementation research Program evaluation
04 · Health Promotion & Community Health
Behaviour, communication, prevention, participation, and community action

Research in this area should advance understanding of individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, cultural, and structural influences on health behaviour and evaluate strategies for improving health literacy, prevention, participation, and community wellbeing.

Health promotion Health education Health literacy Behaviour-change interventions Risk communication Community engagement School health Adolescent health Mental-health promotion Community-based prevention Participatory public health
05 · Nutrition & Life-Course Health
Nutrition, growth, development, and health across the life course

HoPHS welcomes research on population nutrition, food environments, nutritional epidemiology, growth and development, maternal and child nutrition, ageing, and other life-course determinants of health and disease.

Public-health nutrition Nutritional epidemiology Food environments Maternal nutrition Infant & child nutrition Adolescent nutrition Obesity & metabolic risk Food security Healthy ageing Life-course epidemiology
06 · Global Health, Equity & Resilience
Health across borders, inequalities, emergencies, and resilient systems

HoPHS publishes work examining health challenges that cross geographic, social, economic, and political boundaries, with particular interest in health equity, vulnerable populations, preparedness, disaster risk reduction, emergency response, climate resilience, and resilient health systems.

Global health Health equity Social determinants of health Vulnerable populations Migration & health Humanitarian health Disaster epidemiology Emergency preparedness Disaster risk reduction Climate resilience Health-system resilience
Cross-Cutting Themes
Topics that span the six scientific domains

HoPHS also welcomes manuscripts that integrate multiple domains or use emerging public-health methods, provided the work has a clear population-health contribution.

Biostatistics Public-health informatics GIS & spatial analysis Digital health Implementation science Health-services research Mixed-methods research Community-based research Health equity analysis Public-health intervention evaluation
Accepted Article Types
Current submission categories
Original Research Article

Reports original empirical research using quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, implementation, evaluation, policy, economic, spatial, or other appropriate public-health methods.

Main text: up to 6,000 words · Structured abstract: up to 300 words · 3–6 keywords
Review Article

Includes systematic reviews, meta-analyses, scoping reviews, and other evidence syntheses using transparent and reproducible methods.

Main text: up to 8,000 words · Abstract: up to 300 words · 3–6 keywords
Authors should consult the Author Guidelines for complete formatting, reporting, ethics, data, and submission requirements.
Out-of-Scope Submissions
Manuscripts must make a clear public-health contribution

HoPHS may decline a manuscript at editorial screening when its principal question, methodology, or contribution falls outside population and public-health science.

Purely clinical or case-based work
Case reports, case series, treatment comparisons, surgical techniques, or disease-management studies without a substantive population-health, prevention, health-system, epidemiological, or policy dimension.
Basic laboratory or mechanistic research
Molecular, cellular, pharmaceutical, or laboratory investigations that do not demonstrate a clear and direct connection to public-health questions or population-level implications.
Purely technical development without public-health evaluation
Software, engineering, diagnostic, device, or algorithm development without appropriate validation, implementation, population-health relevance, or public-health interpretation.
Descriptive local reports with limited scholarly contribution
Routine institutional reports, simple prevalence descriptions, or local service summaries that do not offer adequate methodological rigor, analytical depth, contextual interpretation, or lessons transferable beyond the immediate setting.
Non-scholarly advocacy or opinion submissions
Material primarily promotional, partisan, commercial, or advocacy-based without a transparent scholarly method or evidence base appropriate to the journal's accepted article types.
Submissions outside the current article categories
Manuscripts that do not fit the journal's current Original Research Article or Review Article categories may be returned unless the editorial office has explicitly invited or approved another format.
Editorial Fit
What editors look for at initial screening

Scope fit is determined by the manuscript's central research question and contribution, not merely by the presence of a public-health keyword in the title or abstract.

Clear population-health relevance Methodological appropriateness Ethical acceptability Analytical depth Transparent reporting Transferable scientific insight Policy / practice relevance where applicable Contribution beyond routine local reporting
Geographic Scope
Local evidence is welcome when it addresses broader public-health questions

HoPHS welcomes studies from all countries and settings, including local and subnational research. Geographic scale alone does not determine suitability. Locally conducted studies should clearly explain their scientific, methodological, policy, implementation, equity, or comparative significance and the lessons they contribute to public-health knowledge.

HoPHS Scientific Scope
Population evidence. Public-health relevance. Transferable knowledge.

HoPHS prioritizes research that improves understanding of population health, identifies preventable risks and inequities, strengthens health systems and communities, and informs effective public-health action across local, national, and global contexts.