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Open Access Health Services Research

Welcome to our page dedicated to health services research, where we showcase news, highlights and recent campaigns. 

All our research is available to access anytime, from anywhere. Below are just some of the benefits of reading and publishing open access research, along with featured research from our journals

Our research is open access:
free to read, share and download

  • Over 15 titles in Health Care Services and Health Policy 
  • All our research is available to access from
    anywhere in the world - no paywall 
  • Can be re-used and re-distributed without restriction, as long as the original work is correctly cited

Unlock your research by publishing open access

  • Our Health Services Research has over 250,000 article accesses per year
  • Your research will be available on SpringerLink, Google Scholar, PubMed Central, and all other
    major full-text repositories
  • Submit today and find out more about publishing open access

Blogs on health services research

Bang for your buck

Jonathan Grant, Erin Montague, Martin Buxton and Bang for your buckMatthew Glover discuss the return from the approximately $270 billion invested in biomedical and health research each year.

The return from public investments in biomedical and health research

Health systems and gender

How do health systems contribute to gender equity? Health systems and gender​​​​​​​New research published in Globalization and Health examines four post-conflict nations, finding the healthcare systems to be gender blind and in turn reinforcing cultural gender inequity. Here, lead author, Valerie Percival, talks about the findings and the myriad of questions that this complex research raises.

What do we need to know and why does it matter?

Follow or borrow?

Countries around the world are developing universal Follow or borrow?​​​​​​​health cover (UHC) systems, with many nations seeking to learn from well-established systems like the NHS. In this blog post Jonty Roland discusses how partnerships with other countries, where both parties learn from each other, can give the UK a more active role as a global leader in UHC.

Is the UK NHS the best model for other countries to achieve universal health coverage?

Collections by International Journal for Equity in Health

Showcasing social science approaches to health systems and policy research

Presented by SHAPES, a thematic working group of Health Systems Global, this collection showcases how qualitative and theory-driven approaches can contribute to better promoting equity in health within the field of health policy and systems research.

Read more

Practicing governance towards equity in health systems: LMIC perspectives and experience

The unifying theme of the papers in this series is a concern for understanding the everyday practice of governance in LMIC health systems. They address governance through diverse health policy and system issues, consider actors located at multiple levels of the system and draw on multidisciplinary perspectives. 

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Moving towards UHC: engaging non-state providers


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Open access research - Read for free

BMC Medicine

Understanding Complexity in Health Systems: International Perspectives
Full text

BMC Research Notes

Developing indicators for measuring low-value care: mapping Choosing Wisely recommendations to hospital data
Full text

Understanding experiences of the Swedish health care system from the perspective of newly arrived refugees
Full text

BMC Health Services Research

Sentinels of inequity: examining policy requirements for equity-oriented primary healthcare
Full text

Transcreation: an implementation science framework for community-engaged behavioral interventions to reduce health disparities
Full text

Globalization and Health

Are health systems interventions gender blind? examining health system reconstruction in conflict affected states
Full text

From health for all to universal health coverage: Alma Ata is still relevant
Full text

India’s NCD strategy in the SDG era: are there early signs of a paradigm shift?
Full text

Health and Quality of Life Outcomes

Does where you live matter to your health? Investigating factors that influence the self-rated health of urban and rural Chinese residents: evidence drawn from Chinese General Social Survey data
Full text

Feeling good in old age: factors explaining health-related quality of life
Full text

On measuring and decomposing inequality of opportunity in access to health services among Tunisian children: a new approach for public policy
Full text

Health Research Policy and Systems

Building a bright, evidence-informed future: a conversation starter from the incoming editors
Full text

Changing roles of universities in the era of SDGs: rising up to the global challenge through institutionalising partnerships with governments and communities
Full text

Health policy and systems research: the future of the field
Full text

Human Resources for Health

Forecasting imbalances in the global health labor market and devising policy responses
Full text

Improving local health through community health workers in Cambodia: challenges and solutions
Full text

Migration motives and integration of international human resources of health in the United Kingdom: systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative studies using framework analysis
Full text

Implementation Science

Engaging policy-makers, health system managers, and policy analysts in the knowledge synthesis process: a scoping review
Full text

Evaluation of Communities of Practice performance developing implementation research to enhance maternal health decision-making in Mexico and Nicaragua
Full text

International Journal for Equity in Health

Barriers and facilitators to implementation, uptake and sustainability of community-based health insurance schemes in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review
Full text

Examining equity in health insurance coverage: an analysis of Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme
Full text

Performance management in times of change: experiences of implementing a performance assessment system in a district in South Africa
Full text

Advancing health systems for all in the SDG era

Come and meet us at the Fifth Global Symposium on Health Systems Research
in Liverpool, 8 – 12 October, at booth #37.BMC will be at HSR 2018​​​​​​​

How to write a good paper and get it published

Take our full day skills building session on Monday 8th October from 9am – 5pm in Conference Centre Room 19, hosted by Maria Zalm, Editor, BMC Health Services Research, Liz Hoffman, Journal Development Manager, BMC.