Invitation to Submit Paper Proposals for a Proposed Special
Issue of Social Science & Medicine on: ‘Placing Health in
Context’
Guest Editor: James R. Dunn, Ph.D.
Centre for Research on Inner City Health
St. Michael’s Hospital
Toronto, ON M5B 1W8
CANADA
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel: (416) 864-6060 x. 3313
Fax: (416) 864-5485
In a number of disciplines, there has been a growth of
interest in the ‘effect’ that attributes of places have on
health. The argument has been that there are contextual
processes operating at the scale of whole communities or
geographical areas which are important for health and health
inequality. This kind of research has sought to understand
how, why and to what extent features of the local social
environment, shape individual outcomes over and above the
effect of individual-level factors. Attention has focused
for example, on collective social organization, the local
built environment and differences between areas in
facilities and services. This body of research has been
assisted by advances in methods for studying the effect of
contexts on health empirically, including marked innovations
through development of multi-level modelling and much more
attention to context in qualitative studies.
This perspective on health variation is now starting to be
subject to critical and sophisticated debate. Several
authors have enumerated many of the problems and challenges
of neighbourhood contexts and health research, but
researchers are now seeking more theoretically and
methodologically advanced approaches to answer the
unanswered questions about the importance of social and
geographical context for health variation. This special
issue will bring together a number of papers that
demonstrate the latest developments in research around this
theme and forge a new direction forward for future research
in the area.
Proposals for papers to an ‘agenda-setting’ special issue of
Social Science and Medicine are therefore invited from
interested authors. Please note that not all proposals will
be accepted and that the special issue has not yet been
confirmed. The special issue will be granted on the basis of
the quality of proposed papers. All papers will go through
the customary blinded peer review process at Social Science
and Medicine. Acceptance of a paper proposal, therefore,
does not guarantee your paper will be accepted.
The following factors that point to the timeliness of an
agenda-setting special issue on this topic from SSM:
· a very rapid recent growth of interest in the
‘effect’ that attributes of places (at multiple scales, from
the neighbourhood to the region) have on health and the
potential for place-based policy to address health disparities
· the contribution of several disciplines to this
burgeoning literature
· a relative lack of adequate theory to explain
neighbourhood effects
· significant differences between scholars in the
field on appropriate methods and the role and importance of
theory in explaining place effects (in part reflecting
disciplinary differences)
· a number of published commentaries that have
enumerated the limitations, shortcomings and obstacles to
understanding place effects, but relatively few creative
solutions to these problems
The intent is to provide a special issue that is
‘agenda-setting’ and provides disciplinary and
inter-disciplinary perspectives on place and contextual
effects on health.
Proposed Timetable
It is planned to select paper proposals quite rigorously in
the first instance in terms of their critical and forward
thinking focus on this debate. If the special issue proposal
is approved by the Editorial Board of SSM, then full papers
will be invited and these will undergo the usual SSM review
process, overseen by the relevant Senior Editor of SSM, in
consultation with the Guest Editor. The following timetable
will be followed as strictly as possible:
Oct. 31, 2005 Deadline to send proposals to
[log in to unmask] Proposals should include, at a
mimimum, a title, proposed authors and a one-page summary of
the planned article. Selected paper proposals are forwarded
to the SSM Editorial Board
Nov. 30, 2005 SSM Editorial Board makes decision on
special issue. Approved authors are invited to submit full
papers.
Feb 28, 2006 Deadline for the Guest Editor to
receive completed manuscripts. These are sent for review
through the appropriate Senior Editorial Office of SSM.
May 15, 2005 Peer review reports are returned and
authors advised of the specifications for revisions
July 15, 2006 Final revised manuscripts received
by the relevant Senior Editors
Sept. 15, 2006 Finalize typesetting, proofing,
and papers placed in press online
Feb 15, 2007 Publication of special issue
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James R. Dunn, Ph.D.
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Research Scientist
Inner-City Health Research Unit, St. Michael's Hospital,
Toronto
Assistant Professor
Departments of Public Health and Geography, University of
Toronto
Address:
Inner City Health Research Unit
St. Michael's Hospital
30 Bond St.
Toronto, ON M5B 1W8
Tel: (416) 864-6060 ext. 3313
Fax: (416) 864-5485
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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