Social sciences: vital to improving our understanding of health equity, policy and systems

Excerpt

Founded by the International Society for Equity in Health 15 years ago, the International Journal for Equity in Health (IJEqH) has from its inception been committed to redressing not just health inequity, but also inequity in the publishing of research on health cb [1]. An editorial marking the society’s 10^th anniversary remarked that “In particular the conferences and the journal have both provided a voice to researchers from low and middle income countries, giving life and embodiment to the values of inclusion, action-based research, research-to policy processes, and the vital role of civil society in strengthening action for health equity.” [1]. This commitment to giving voice to diversity was clear to the members of SHAPES (Social science approaches for research and engagement in health policy & systems) a thematic working group of Health Systems Global [2], when, in July 2016, the Journal published an open letter from our members and affiliate group members, critiquing the lack of publishing space given to qualitative research in many academic journals [3]. Our critique focused on how methodological gatekeeping within mainstream publishing privileged certain voices in global health over others, and in so doing, was in effect silencing many researchers in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) [3]. Such gatekeeping limits the range of publicly accessible knowledge on solutions to health problems experienced in LMIC settings [3] and these inequitable publishing practices contribute to inequitable knowledge distribution about solutions to health problems faced by the most marginalised populations on the globe. …