Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly Call for Papers for a Special Issue Advances in Global Health Communication Submission Deadline for Papers: June 1, 2016 Guest Editors Christopher E. Beaudoin, PhD, Professor, Texas A&M University Traci Hong, PhD, Associate Professor, Texas A&M University Overview In our global society where diseases know no borders, countries are increasingly recognizing the importance of improving health conditions both domestically and abroad. The World Health Organization has documented that infectious diseases are emerging and spreading at the fasted pace ever in history. The ease of international travel heightens pandemic concerns with the emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases such as Ebola and swine flu. Global health concerns also include non-communicable "lifestyle diseases" such as obesity and illicit substance and tobacco use, which are now leading causes of disability and death worldwide. Given the prevalence and severity of global diseases, it is becoming more incumbent of countries to prevent and detect infectious and "lifestyle" diseases for not only their own populations, but also populations beyond their borders as a means to securing political and economic stability. In the United States, a goal of Healthy People 2020 is to "strengthen U.S. national security through global disease detection, response, prevention, and control strategies." Mediated communication-in the context of journalism, advertising, public relations, and strategic communication-is an effective mechanism for detecting, responding to, preventing, and controlling global health concerns. At no time in history are media more prolific and widely available to everyday citizens. More than 40% of the world's population is online, and more than half use mobile phones, with Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa being the two largest mobile markets. By 2020, almost 85% of the global online population will access the Internet from their mobile phone. Despite the rapid proliferation of new media, traditional media like television and radio remain pervasive and formidable conduits for disseminating health information. Radio, especially in the developing world, is highly accessible and effective in reaching rural and isolated regions. In the current media landscape, it is becoming increasingly possible for just about anyone and any organization in the world to consume, create, and contribute media content pertinent to global health concerns. Journalism, advertising, public relations and strategic communication can provide dynamic solutions to global health concerns. Papers We invite contributions to a special issue of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly on "Advances in Global Health Communication." This issue conceives "global" in a broad sense. Global health communication encompasses issues related to media and health that span countries, as well as those that are common within different countries, with media broadly conceived to include new and old media pertinent to journalism, advertising, public relations, health media campaigns, and other forms of strategic communication. We encourage submissions that approach this topic from an inclusive range of fields and research methodologies within journalism and mass communication, as well as from related disciplines. Submissions should provide advancement in theory and methodology on the topic of global health communication. Papers may offer insights about issues of human behavior, technology, policy, law, etc. Possible topics include, but are not limited to: * Media campaign processes and effects * Health news content * Role of the media in promoting health and well-being for people with disabilities * Implementation of public relations strategies to engage health audiences * International and national policy in governing global health information flows * Use of advertising strategies for health advancement including the promotion of healthy products and services Topics can also be specific to new media technologies and theory, including: * Online health information consumption and contribution * Microblog postings about health pandemics and concerns * Effects of online cancer support groups * Use of mobile technologies for health purposes These studies can focus on one particular nation, populations across nations, or transnational issues and processes. This special issue lends itself to research from a variety of cultural and international perspectives, with papers with international and intercultural approaches particularly encouraged. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are welcome in this submission. Details of Submission and Due Date Papers will undergo blind peer review. Those selected for publication will then enter the editorial publication process, resulting in publication online in January 2017 and in print in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly in summer 2017. The deadline for full paper submissions is June 1, 2016 at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jmcq. Authors are requested to submit manuscripts in APA Style, 6th Edition. Manuscripts in other citation styles will be considered in initial review. Other manuscript submission details for Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly are available at http://www.sagepub.com/journals/Journal202061/manuscriptSubmission. Further Information For questions regarding this special issue, please contact the guest editors: Christopher E. Beaudoin, Texas A&M University, beaudoin@tamu.edu Traci Hong, Texas A&M University, hong@tamu.edu