by Frank Sloan

When deciding to start a new journal, the ASHEcon Board considered several things. We thought about ways we could enhance the professional development of ASHEcon members. And, how ASHEcon could broaden its scope beyond biannual conferences. We considered how to differentiate ASHEcon from other regional health economics organizations. Ultimately, we came to the conclusion that since health economics is an established, but growing, field, another journal would provide much needed competition to existing health economics journals. ASHEcon owns the AJHE.

Submitting an article to the AJHE has several benefits. There is a readership interested in the topic, which allows for greater detail on substance. With an engaged readership comes greater citations, especially from readers outside of economics. While a University Economics department may not view a publication in a specialty journal with as much favor as a publication in a general economics journal, by publishing in the AJHE, you are, in effect, promoting the field.

You can help ensure the success of the AJHE in a few ways. First, submit your paper for review. We have had the opportunity to review many quality papers for possible publication, and encourage you to submit your paper for consideration. We are most interested in original papers with economic models, up to date econometric metrics, and subjects of importance to the discipline and/or health policy. Topics of interest are papers on supply, organization, and financing of services, evaluations of alternative delivery and financing methods, and health behaviors. Although we are an American Society, we welcome papers on non-U.S. topics. AJHE is accepting submissions via Editorial Express, click here to submit your manuscript. To date, the journal has filled the first three issues (the table of contents can be viewed here), with articles of relevance to a wide readership, authored by well-known scholars in the field.

Second, encourage your institution to subscribe to the AJHE. Pricing information is available on the MIT Press website. Finally, volunteer your time and expertise by serving as a reviewer. While reviewing manuscripts can be a time-consuming, and sometimes thankless task, this act of service is invaluable not only to the journal, but also to the authors.