About the Journal

Qualitative Health Communication (QHC) is an Open Access peer-reviewed scientific journal that aims to analyse and improve communication between patients, health professionals, institutions and the public. QHC acknowledges the interdisciplinary nature of health communication, and thus is not restricted to a certain discipline and welcomes contributions from a wide range of fields (e.g. linguistics, communication, media, medicine, nursing, public health, health services research, ethics, philosophy, anthropology) as long as studies employ qualitative theories and methods. QHC values articles that qualitatively investigate health communication phenomena, and critical research that engages reflectively with societal implications of various aspects of health communication. 

 The journal publishes qualitative, mainly data-driven, studies, but pedagogical, methodological and theoretical contributions, and reviews are also welcome. QHC seeks to provide a forum for qualitative research into topics such as interpersonal communication, public health campaigns, digital health, health communication in the mass media, patient engagement, health promotion, and health literacy.

QHC encourages all of its authors to pay particular attention to the practical, theoretical and methodological implications of their findings in order to improve health communication and raise important critical questions that promote developments within the field. We encourage qualitative researchers from a wide range of professional backgrounds and parts of the world to submit their research to QHC.

 

Peer review process
All submissions are initially reviewed by one of the editors. Before a potential desk rejection, the submission is also checked by another editor. One of the main reasons for  desk rejection is that the submission is outside the scope of QHC, e.g. if it does not relate sufficiently to communication or if the qualitative methodology is missing. If the paper is deemed suitable for QHC, it is sent to be reviewed by two external reviewers. QHC uses a double-blind review process.

 

Publishing schedule
QHC publishes two issues per year; one in January and one in August. 

 

Open Access
QHC provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

 

Article Processing Charges (APC)
QHC does not have any article processing charges.