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.
Copyright
For all publications published in the first four issues, i.e. 1(1), 1(2), 2(1) and 3(1), copyright is shared between the author and QHC. For all future publications, the author is the sole copyright holder.
License
For all publications published in the first four issues, i.e. 1(1), 1(2), 2(1) and 3(1), articles may be used (downloaded) and reused (distributed, copied, cited) for non-commercial purposes with reference to the authors and publication host. All future articles published in QHC follow Creative Commons License, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en), which means that you are free to:
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit , provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made . You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes .
- NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Repository policy
Authors are allowed to deposit versions of their work in an institutional or other repository of their choice. This relates to the submitted version, accepted version and published version.
Financial support
QHC is published with support from the Independent Research Fund Denmark.
