Preface: a new stage in the evolution of public health reviews.

Abstract

Foundation and Continuation of Public Health ReviewsPublic Health Reviews (PHR) was founded in 1972 in Israel and published for over 30 years, with listing in Pubmed, Medline and Index Medicus and many other on-line data bases until the owner retired. The journal was purchased in 2010 by the EHESP (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sante Publique, the French National School of public health) and established with a distinguished international Editorial Board.The mission of PHR since 2010 has been to provide access to European and global public health students, teachers, researchers, practitioners and policy makers of theme topic reviews of high quality to promote learning and discussion of issues in public health from a multi disciplinary point of view. The Editorial Board participated actively in policy development and leadership of many of the theme issues that evolved. PHR strives to bring topical reviews to promote translation of evidence and science into applied public health policy and practice, including the evolution of health systems as part of public health spectrum [1].The theme topics PHR issues during 2010-2013 included:*The New Public Health*Ageing Societies*Public Health Education*Cardiovascular Disease*Ethics in Public Health*Mental Health as a Public Health Issue*Towards a Healthier 2020, and*Substance Use Issues: New Insights.The New Home for Public Health Reviews 2014In 2014, a further reformation of PHR was arranged with affiliation and sponsorship by the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER), along with continued sponsorship by EHESP, and an additional sponsor, a Swiss School of public health. An agreement was signed with Biomed Central to publish PHR as an online open access journal. The new arrangements for sponsorship and operation of PHR provided for the continued mission of each issue addressing concepts such as health disparities, social determinants of health, demographic shifts and changing patterns of health needs, education of the public health workforce and policy makers, and healthcare delivery systems. [1].A new Editorial Board (EB) was organized with a strengthened European, international and multi-disciplinary composition to continue the excellent work of the previous EB. A core group of ASPHER representatives working with the editorial team provided important support over the transition period. The previous policies of theme issues will be augmented by accepting individually submitted review papers which fit in with topical issues. PHR will strive to achieve monthly issues, yielding 30 articles annually, with free for online access, including archived previous volumes.The Opening Issue of PHR in 2015The initial issue is a follow up to the 2012 volume on public health ethics. A second issue of PHR on this theme within four years of a previous issue is based on the initiative of ASPHER to prepare curriculum material for formal and informal teaching of public health ethics in the European context as explained in the Lee and Royo-Bordonada editorial [2], and Towards Public Health Ethics [3]. A European oriented curriculum will need relevant case studies for the organized teaching of ethics in public health education programs for undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Europe, in parallel to current Canadian and U.S. initiatives in public health ethics case studies [4].Public health has many enormous achievements to its credit adding many years of life expectancy globally. But public health has also suffered from past ethical failures of staggering proportions in the 20th century through association with eugenics. The most egregious of these was the active and passive participation of medical and public health professionals in interpretations of eugenics which led to mass sterilization and the murder of handicapped people, and participation in the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany. …