Back to Journals » International Journal of Women's Health » Call For Papers

International Journal of Women's Health

ISSN: 1179-1411


The following Article Collections/ Thematic Series are currently open for submissions:

Strengths-based approaches to optimizing perinatal mental health and wellbeing

Dove Medical Press is pleased to invite you to submit your research to an upcoming Article Collection on "Strengths-based approaches to optimizing perinatal mental health and wellbeing" in the International Journal of Women's Health.

Positive perinatal mental health is likely to result from a combination of internal and external resources that foster the ability to cope well despite severe and long-lasting stressors. Individuals who are able to acquire and maintain resources are better situated to cope with the demands associated with the transition to motherhood. Internal and external resources often aggregate and interact during the perinatal period to collectively influence prenatal, birth and postpartum outcomes. Several studies have found that internal resources, including optimism and religiosity, may mitigate perinatal mood disorders and enhance maternal mental health. External resources, including informal and formal supports as well as aspects of the neighborhood environment and community connections may further promote positive perinatal well-being.

Unfortunately, individuals facing low socioeconomic status and minority individuals experience disproportionately high rates of poor perinatal mental health, have fewer material resources and have a decreased ability to replenish resources over time due to social inequities. Multi-level supports may attenuate these associations leading to positive health outcomes. Additionally, much of the research investigating perinatal mental health focuses on risk factors associated with perinatal mood disorders. Resource capacity frameworks emphasize the importance of strengths-based strategies and interventions to prevent poor perinatal mental health outcomes.

This Article Collection invites exploratory and intervention studies, as well as secondary data analyses, that apply strengths-based approaches to investigate resources associated with well-being during pregnancy and/or through the first year postpartum. Papers that focus on internal and/or external resources and associations with perinatal mental health and well-being, particularly among low-resourced communities, will be considered. Original research and review articles are accepted.

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo a full peer-review; the Guest Advisors for this collection will not be handling the manuscripts (unless they are an Editorial Board member). Please review the journal Aims and Scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is March 31, 2024.

Please submit your manuscript on our website, quoting the promo code NTQSL to indicate that your submission is for consideration in this Article Collection.

Guest Advisors

Charlotte Farewell, University of Colorado – Anschutz Medical Campus

[email protected]

Dr. Charlotte Farewell is an Assistant Professor with the Rocky Mountain Prevention Research Center and director of the Population Mental Health and Well-being program at the Colorado School of Public Health. Dr. Farewell is a Principal Investigator on numerous intervention projects which focus on promoting the mental health and well-being of low-resourced populations (e.g., pregnant and postpartum individuals). Her research is centered around three overarching goals: (1) to build expertise related to the analysis of developmental research questions, with specific focus on mental health (depression, stress, and anxiety) during the prenatal and postpartum periods, (2) to investigate non-pharmacological methods that can be targeted and/or mobilized to optimize population mental health and resilience in multi-ethnic and low-resourced communities, and (3) to advance research in the field of dissemination science to identify core constructs that are most critical to enhance the uptake of evidence-based behavioral interventions.

Jenn Leiferman, University of Colorado – Anschutz Medical Campus

[email protected]

Dr. Jenn Leiferman has spent the last 20 years working in the area of mental health. Her research focuses on developing and testing prevention and treatment strategies for perinatal and child mental health. Recently, her work has also focused on improving access to care for perinatal mood disorders. She is the director of the Rocky Mountain Prevention Research Center, the founding director of the Population Mental Health & Wellbeing Program, and the Chair of the Community and Behavioral Health Department at the Colorado School of Public Health.

View all papers in this article collection

PCOS and Fertility Treatments

Dove Medical Press is pleased to invite you to submit your research to an upcoming Article Collection on "PCOS and Fertility Treatments", organized by Guest Advisor Dr. Giuseppe Gullo, University of Palermo, Italy, in the International Journal of Women's Health.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects 6–10% of women in reproductive age and is characterized by hyperandrogenism, insulin resistance, and chronic anovulation. It is a heterogeneous syndrome with not completely understood aetiology that is related to a complex interaction between metabolic, endocrine, genetic, and environmental factors.

This is an important topic as women diagnosed with PCOS are at higher risk for type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and endometrial cancer. Increasing evidence suggests that insulin resistance and secondary hyperinsulinemia play a key synergistic role with hyperandrogenism in the development and maintenance of metabolic alterations and anovulation or irregular cycles in both obese and lean patients with PCOS.

This Special Issue will feature short, focused reviews discussing the distinctive features and comorbidities associates with PCOS, the modern evidence-based clinical assessment and management of PCOS, lessons learned from PCOS animal models, and the latest novel ideas in the pathophysiology of PCOS. This Special Issue aims to provide an update on advances and challenges in the field of PCOS. The goal is to provide up-to-date information on new and developing ideas on the origins, diagnosis, and management of PCOS, highlighting the latest concepts in understanding the aetiology of PCOS, while also generating thought-provoking directions for future investigations and management.

Overall, the manuscripts published in this special issue add significant and novel elements for the understanding of the aetiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of this complex and multifaceted syndrome. We offer these new insights to the readers, hoping that they will stimulate further debate and address new fields of investigation in the next future.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers).

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo desk assessment and a full peer-review; the Guest Advisor for this collection will not be handling the manuscripts. Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript. The deadline for submitting manuscripts is 1st April 2024.

Please submit your manuscript on our website, quoting the promo code PQCLS to indicate that your submission is for consideration in this Article Collection.

View all papers in this article collection

Women’s Health Month 2024

Dove Medical Press is pleased to invite you to submit your research to an upcoming Article Collection on "Women’s Health Month 2024" in the International Journal of Women's Health.

Women’s Health Month, recognized annually in May, is an awareness event aiming to increase knowledge of women’s health and common issues affecting all women at different stages of their lives. It serves as a reminder for all women to prioritize themselves and their health, whether this be by seeking medical attention when necessary or having the knowledge to identify any unusual symptoms and warning signs. It can also be simply taking a break to unwind and enjoy your favorite activities. 

Despite all the progress in the past few decades, there remains a substantial gap in the research and treatment for conditions that not only affect women, but also those which manifest differently in women than men such as heart disease, osteoporosis and urinary incontinence. This lack of knowledge and focus has only been further highlighted by the recent COVID-19 pandemic which exposed the fragility of healthcare systems towards women’s health issues and its lack of sufficient policies and guidelines. In some lower-middle income countries, the consequences were detrimental. The socio-economic burden of the pandemic resulted in poorer mental health and due to the lack of priority towards routine checkups for expectant parents, there was also a rise in easily preventable still-born deaths. It is evident, now more than ever, that women’s health needs to be a key priority for everyone, and that the health inequalities need to be addressed. 

  • In this regard, the International Journal of Women’s Health would like to invite authors to submit Original Research Articles, Reviews, Clinical Studies, and other manuscript types accepted by the journal on any subject area tailored towards women’s healthcare that could add to the current knowledge. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
  • Health conditions pertaining to Obstetrics & Gynecology, Orthopedics, Surgery, Cardiology, Hematology, Oncology, and other fields of science and medicine;
  • Early diagnosis, screening, prevention, and treatment of health conditions including chronic conditions such as pain, migraine, headaches, arthritis, osteoporosis;
  • Sexual and reproductive health including fertility patterns and emerging technologies to address infertility;
  • Infectious disease with chronic sequelae including HIV/AIDS, HPV, PID, and other STDs;
  • Psychological and psychosocial conditions - depression across the life span, substance abuse, domestic violence;
  • Physical and emotional wellbeing;
  • Health maintenance among aging females - factors affecting the quality of life including physical, social, and mental issues;
  • Male vs female incidence comparisons for conditions that affect both genders;
  • Avenues for health promotion and disease prevention across the life span.

Keywords

Women's Health, Gender Differences, Health Inequalities, Health Promotion

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo desk assessment and a full peer-review. Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript. The deadline for submitting manuscripts is 31st May 2024.

Please submit your manuscript on our website, quoting the promo code MRFNP to indicate that your submission is for consideration in this Article Collection.

Please contact Marya Baig at [email protected] with any queries and discount codes regarding this Article Collection.

View all papers in this article collection


Call For Papers

Editor-in-Chief: Professor Elie D Al-Chaer


To see where the International Journal of Women's Health is indexed online view the Journal Metrics.

What is the advantage to you of publishing in the International Journal of Women's Health?

  • It is an open access journal which means that your paper is available to anyone in the world to download for free directly from the Dove website.
  • Although the International Journal of Women's Health receives many papers, unlike many traditional journals, your paper will not be rejected due to lack of space. We are an electronic journal and there are no limits on the number or size of the papers we can publish.
  • The time from submission to a decision being made on a paper can, in many journals, take some months and this is very frustrating for authors. The International Journal of Women's Health has a quicker turnaround time than this. Generally peer review is complete within 3-4 weeks and the editor’s decision within 2-14 days of this. It is therefore very rare to have to wait more than 6 weeks for first editorial decision.
  • Many authors have found that our peer reviewer’s comments substantially add to their final papers.

To recover our editorial and production costs and continue to provide our content at no cost to readers we charge authors or their institution an article publishing charge.

PubMed Central
The International Journal of Women's Health is indexed on PubMed Central (title abbreviation: Int J Womens Health). All published papers in this journal are submitted to PubMed for indexing straight away.

Become a Favored Author and receive real benefits
If you haven't already joined the Dove Press Favored Author Program I would encourage you to do so. Why? To receive real benefits like fast-tracking and a personal co-ordinator for your paper, as well as a discount on the publication processing fee.
Click here to go through to the Favored Author signup page.

Yours sincerely
Dr Elie D. Al-Chaer
Editor-in-Chief
International Journal of Women's Health

Email: Editor-in-Chief

Related journals you may also be interested in: