Aims & Scope

Forum for Health Economics & Policy is the first peer-reviewed journal that uses the Internet to showcase articles in key substantive health areas. The journal is published in two sections. The first section, Frontiers in Health Policy Research, publishes innovative research presented at the National Bureau of Economic Research's annual Frontiers in Health Policy Research Conference.

The second section uses an innovative structure of forums to reflect the most pressing and timely subjects in health economics and health policy. Specific forums are proposed by the Editorial Board to reflect topics where additional research is needed by economists and where the field is advancing rapidly. Each forum will remain open to new articles - and new advances - for many years, and papers will be published rapidly. This makes the Forum for Health Economics & Policy an invaluable outlet for rapid dissemination of peer-reviewed research, but also an evolutionary archive of past progress in substantive areas. It also makes it unique in academic publishing.

Forums will include research in both health economics and health policy. Health economics papers might emphasize novel empirical and theoretical work on health care markets or behavior related to individual or population health. Health policy papers would be directed towards a sophisticated policy audience or health services researchers. Authors need not specify a forum topic at the time of submission, although they are welcome to do so. The Editors will decide the most appropriate placement of the paper as part of the review process.

All papers are peer-reviewed by an editor and one or more referees, and decisions are made in 10 weeks. Accepted papers are published immediately thereafter. The Internet format means Forum for Health Economics & Policy does not have arbitrary page limits. Thus, longer articles are welcome, although concise papers may appeal more to reviewers and readers.