The Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law (JHPPL)  invites proposal submissions by May 15 for a special issue on “Community Organizing, Power, and Politics.” JHPPL invites submissions interrogating how community organizers have advanced change across broad topical areas encompassing health services and the structural determinants of health (e.g., tenant protections, medical debt relief, paid leave, Medicaid benefits). JHPPL is also interested in work that operationalizes power as a structural determinant of health (e.g., voting rights or restrictions, collective bargaining, incarceration rates) and examines health outcomes. JHPPL seeks research that takes a broad view on organizing and power, addressing any or all of the multiple dimensions of power, and work that addresses both how power might be built or how it might be broken (Michener 2022) to advance community and population health.

All methodological approaches and from multiple disciplinary orientations are welcomed, including political science, health policy, public health, communication, sociology, anthropology, and law, and JHPPL particularly invite contributions from community members, community organizers, and community-engaged researchers. Submit paper proposals by May 15 via email to Jed Cohen, JHPPL’s managing editor, at jhppleditor@dukeupress.edu. Please put “Community Organizing, Power, and Politics” in the subject line.

JHPPL is interested in proposals for submissions within two categories:

The special issue process will proceed in two stages. Proposals describing the manuscript should be submitted by May 15, 2026. Proposals for empirical research articles should be submitted as a structured abstract with the following sections: Authors and Affiliations, Research Objective(s), Motivation/Theory, Research Design, Preliminary Results, and Implications. Proposals for commentaries do not need to be structured. All proposals, whether for research articles or commentaries, have a limit of 500 words.

The special issue co-editors will review all submissions and extend invitations for full papers by June 1st. Invited submissions will be due by September 1, 2026.

Submit paper proposals via email to Jed Cohen, JHPPL’s managing editor, at jhppleditor@dukeupress.edu. Please put “Community Organizing, Power, and Politics” in the subject line.