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Review
. 2024 Mar-Apr;139(2):154-162.
doi: 10.1177/00333549231210514. Epub 2023 Dec 3.

COVID-19 Response of the Journal Public Health Reports (PHR), March 2020-March 2023

Noelle M Harada  1 , Andrey Kuzmichev  1   2 , Hazel D Dean  1
Affiliations
Review

COVID-19 Response of the Journal Public Health Reports (PHR), March 2020-March 2023

Noelle M Harada et al. Public Health Rep. 2024 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

Objective: Publication science is the scholarly study of various aspects of the academic publishing process. Its applications to COVID-19 literature have been limited. Here, we describe COVID-19 submissions to, and resulting articles published by, the journal Public Health Reports (PHR), an important resource for US public health practice.

Methods: We reviewed PHR's COVID-19 submissions and articles published between March 27, 2020, and March 27, 2023. We coded each article for article type, author affiliation, the categories listed in PHR's call for COVID-19 papers, and the public health emergency preparedness and response capabilities from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Results: During the study period, PHR received 1545 COVID-19 submissions and published 190 of those articles in a collection, COVID-19 Response. The COVID-19 Response collection included 102 research articles, 29 case study/practice articles, and 24 commentaries. The corresponding author of more than half (52.1%; n = 99) of the articles was affiliated with academia. By the categories listed in PHR's call for COVID-19 papers, 51 articles addressed health disparities, 38 addressed public health surveillance, and 34 addressed COVID-19 vaccination. By the CDC public health emergency preparedness and response capabilities, 87 articles addressed public health surveillance and epidemiologic investigation, 38 addressed community preparedness, and 32 addressed community recovery. The percentage of articles focused on policy/law was higher early in the pandemic (2020-2021) than later (2022-2023) (9.5% vs <3.0%). During the latter period, articles largely focused on vaccination (12.8%) and contact tracing (10.6%).

Conclusions: Articles published in PHR's COVID-19 Response collection covered a broad range of topics and were authored by contributors from diverse organizations. Our characterization of the COVID-19 output of a representative US public health practice journal can help academic publishing better address informational needs of public health responders.

Keywords: COVID-19; Public Health Reports; pandemic planning and response.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Public Health Reports “COVID-19: Challenges, Lessons Learned, and Opportunities for Public Health Practice” call for papers as of March 27, 2023.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Number of COVID-19 submissions and published articles per quarter, March 27, 2020–March 27, 2023. Public Health Reports received 1 COVID-19 submission between March 27, 2020, and March 30, 2020, which is not displayed in the figure.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. Kuzmichev A, Harada NM, Forbes CA, Dean HD. Public Health Reports in 2022: impact factor increase; COVID-19 coverage; authorship by state, tribal, local, and territorial agencies; and new department on public health ethics. Public Health Rep. 2023;138(4):578-585. doi:10.1177/00333549231168623 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
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