A new section for IJPH: knowledge synthesis, translation and exchange

Abstract

For the past 10–15 years, and following the lead of clinical medicine, there has been a strong movement within public health to foster evidence-based practices, programs and policies. Various agencies, mainly in the Anglo-Saxon world, have been implemented to further this agenda. In the US, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has created ‘‘The Guide to Community Preventive Services’’ to support the work of the Task Force on Community Preventive Services whose mandate includes ‘‘making recommendations for interventions that promote population health based on systematic reviews of scientific evidence’’ (http://www.thecommunityguide.org/about/taskforce-members.html). In the UK, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) comprises three centres among which the Centre for Public Health Excellence has the mandate to ‘‘develop guidance on the promotion of good health and the prevention of ill health’’ (http://www.nice.org.uk/aboutnice/whoweare/structureofnice/ structure_of_nice.jsp). In Canada, the National Collaborating Centres for Public Health is a network of six centres whose mandate is to ‘‘promote and improve the use of scientific research of other knowledge to strengthen public health practices and policies in Canada’’ (http://www.nccph.ca/en/home.aspx). There is undoubtedly an increasing demand for high quality syntheses of primary evaluation of public and population health programs (the knowledge synthesis part), and for their formatting into products that will support the development of a professional ethos of research informed practice (the translation and exchange part). IJPH wants to contribute to this movement and is now developing a new section devoted to research in knowledge synthesis, translation and exchange. In this section, we plan to publish original contributions in the form of empirical studies and commentaries that will support the development of a research culture in public health practice and strengthen public health research practices that are relevant for public health interventions. In terms of empirical studies, we are interested in publishing different kinds of synthesis of evaluation studies about a wide range of public health interventions. Syntheses can take two forms: