Call for papers - Racial disparities in healthcare

Guest Editors

Shervin Assari, MD, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, USA
Jordan M. Sang, PhD, BC Centre on Substance Use, Canada

Submission Status: Open | Submission Deadline: 6 January 2025

BMC Medical Ethics is calling for submissions to our Collection on Racial disparities in healthcare. Racial disparities persist in healthcare due to systemic racism, limiting marginalized communities' access. This leads to substandard care and increased health risks. Our Collection welcomes interdisciplinary dialogue to explore these disparities ethically, analyzing biases in decision-making, access, and provider relationships. We aspire to stimulate discussions to drive change towards a fairer healthcare system. This includes fairness of predictive modeling and AI fairness.

New Content Item This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3: Good Health & Well-Being and SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities.

Submit to Collection

Meet the Guest Editors

Back to top

Shervin Assari, MD, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, USA

Dr Shervin Assari is a researcher dedicated to understanding the health impacts of structural inequities, with a particular emphasis on the role of racism. His work sheds light on the nuanced ways in which racism—beyond individual racist acts—contributes to health disparities among marginalized and racialized communities. Through his development of the Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDRs) theory, Dr Assari illustrates how socioeconomic benefits like education and income yield lesser health outcomes for groups that are not native-born heterosexual White males, who represent the most privileged demographic. Dr Assari's contributions to the field have earned him fellowships with prestigious organizations such as the New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM), the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM), and the American Academy of Health Behavior (AAHB). His leadership roles include serving as the 2017 president of the Scientific Association for Public Health in Iran (SAPHIR) and holding positions as a past president and board chair at Children of Incarcerated Parents International (COIPI).

Jordan M. Sang, PhD, BC Centre on Substance Use, Canada

Dr Jordan Sang is a medical writer with the BC Centre on Substance Use in Vancouver, BC and an Adjunct Faculty member at the University of British Columbia School of Medicine. He holds a PhD in Behavioural and Community Health Sciences and has authored over 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts. His research interests include substance use, HIV prevention, social inequities, and sexual health. Currently, his work is focused on applied research, knowledge translation, and clinical education. Dr Sang also serves as an Editorial Board Member for BMC Public Health.

About the Collection

BMC Medical Ethics is calling for submissions to our Collection on Racial disparities in healthcare.

Racial disparities remain a significant challenge for the field of medicine and healthcare. The prevailing issue of racism results in a major barrier for marginalized communities in gaining equitable access to healthcare. This poses negative consequences for these communities from lower cases of standard of care, to higher risks of illness. However, it is important to note that racial disparities in healthcare is not a standalone issue and is heavily influenced by the structural racism that exists outside of the healthcare system. This collection aims to highlight the various aspects of racial disparities in healthcare through the lens of ethics. We welcome studies that critically analyze intersectional racism within healthcare, ethics, addressing issues such as racial biases in clinical decision-making, access to care, patient-provider relationships and structural racism within healthcare. We are also interested in studies that measure or discuss (lack of) fairness of predictive modeling and AI in healthcare.

This collection seeks to encourage interdisciplinary dialogue, with a strong focus on ethics. We aim to foster conversations among researchers, policymakers and healthcare professionals to drive meaningful action towards a more just and equitable healthcare system for all.

This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3: Good Health & Well-Being and SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities.

Image credit: Djavan Rodriguez / stock.adobe.com

There are currently no articles in this collection.

Submission Guidelines

Back to top

This Collection welcomes submission of original Research Articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Racial disparities in healthcare" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.