Forwarded from IFLA, the International Federation of Library Associations. HIFA was part of this initiative. Below is the announcement and a comment from me.
https://www.ifla.org/news/call-for-papers-ifla-journal-special-issue-on-...
Call for papers: IFLA Journal Special Issue on Universal Access to Healthcare Information as a Human Right
IFLA Journal is pleased to announce a Special Issue on Universal Access to Healthcare Information as a Human Right: Transforming Global Health Knowledge Systems.
Access to reliable, timely, understandable, and actionable health information is essential to public health, democratic participation, and human wellbeing. The IFLA Statement on Universal Access to Healthcare Information as a Human Right, drafted by the Evidence for Global and Disaster Health (E4GDH) Special Interest Group and the Health and Biosciences Libraries Section (HBS) and approved by the IFLA Governing Board in 2024, recognises access to reliable healthcare information as foundational to the realisation of the right to health.
Yet, global health knowledge systems are undergoing profound transformation. Evolving publishing models, open science reforms, intellectual freedom challenges, AI-mediated discovery tools, and uneven digital infrastructures continue to shape who can access trusted health evidence and under what conditions. These structural dynamics affect both the dissemination of research and the capacity of individuals, communities, and institutions to make informed health decisions.
This Special Issue seeks to explore how libraries act as essential infrastructure within global health knowledge systems and how they contribute to advancing universal access to healthcare information in diverse regional, institutional, and policy contexts. We invite contributions that examine transformation at systemic, governance, technological, institutional, and community levels.
The Special Issue reflects IFLA Journal’s tradition of timely engagement with global challenges affecting access to information. We welcome empirical research, theoretical analyses, policy examinations, and best-practice case studies from across the global library and information field.
We particularly encourage submissions from authors outside the global north and from underrepresented regions and linguistic communities.
Suggested Themes
Contributions may address, but are not limited to:
Governance frameworks and intellectual freedom in public health information access
Legal and policy dimensions of universal access to healthcare information
Open science, open access, and scholarly communication reform in health fields
AI and digital transformation in health knowledge discovery and dissemination
Global evidence access initiatives (e.g., Research4Life and related models)
Infrastructure inequities and digital divides affecting health information access
Trust, mis/dis/malinformation, and health communication ecosystems
Health literacy and community-based knowledge systems
Infodemic management and the role of libraries in strengthening resilient health information systems
Libraries as actors in global health governance
Indigenous knowledge, data sovereignty, and health information systems
Sustainable and resilient health knowledge infrastructures
Cross-sector partnerships between libraries, health institutions, and civil society
Evidence synthesis, systematic reviews, and equitable access to research outputs
Professional education and workforce development for health information systems
Comparative international case studies of system transformation
Co-Chief Guest Editors
Bethany S. McGowan
Director of the Medical Library, John Shufeldt School of Medicine and Medical Engineering, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona, USA and Chair, IFLA Health and Biosciences Libraries Section
bethany.mcgowan@asu.edu
Blessing Mawire
Countries Lead, Country Connectors, Research4Life,
Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa and Convener, IFLA Evidence for Global and Disaster Health Special Interest Group
mawireb@who.int
Jonathan Hernandez Perez
Library Professor, Library and Information Research Institute (IIBI), National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico and Chair, IFLA Advisory Committee on Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression
jonathan@unam.mx
Manuscript Submission
Full instructions for submissions, including formatting, style, and submission procedures, can be found on the IFLA Journal Submissions Guidelines webpage. IFLA Journal uses Sage Harvard reference style. For submission guidelines and to submit: please refer to the IFLA Journal page on the Sage site.
IFLA Journal is hosted on ScholarOne™ Manuscripts, a web-based submission and peer review system. Authors should review the Manuscript Submission guidelines and submit their articles via the IFLA Journal Manuscript submission portal.
When prompted in the submission system, authors must indicate that their submission is for the Special Issue on Universal Access to Healthcare Information as a Human Right: Transforming Global Health Knowledge Systems.
All papers will undergo IFLA Journal’s double-anonymized peer review process.
Schedule
Submissions open: 01 April 2026
Full paper submission deadline: 27 November 2026
Expected publication: Summer 2027
About IFLA Journal
IFLA Journal is an international peer-reviewed journal publishing research, case studies, and essays on library and information services and the social, political, and economic issues that impact access to information. Articles are published in English and abstracts are translated into IFLA’s working languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Russian, and Spanish).
Each issue is made available Open Access upon publication on IFLA’s website. Authors are encouraged to make accepted versions available in institutional repositories.
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COMMENT (NPW): HIFA stands ready to deliver a sponsored Spotlight or full Project on this topic. Contact: neil@hifa.org
Please also feel free to use HIFA as a sounding board for your ideas for contributions to this special issue of the IFLA Journal: hifa@hifaforums.org
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org