For many of us—scholars, policymakers, doctors, patients, and general readers, alike—the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to re-think our attitudes to health, illness and treatment, and to question how well our health services address the needs of our communities. But the importance of research into our health, and the services and policies that protect it, extends well beyond the current crisis.

The Sociology of Health Gateway invites researchers to tackle the complex and ongoing problems in global health systems and policies, and to suggest ways to improve health access and health equity. The Gateway thus welcomes research into the interwoven social, economic and cultural aspects of health and medical care. Research may be local, national or international in focus, and may look at issues of health across the life course. The aim is to highlight and accelerate research into how our society manages health, illness and treatment, with the goal of improving general health and access to health care for communities around the world. Global in scope and interdisciplinary by design, this Gateway is closely related to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, particularly UN SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

Offering rapid publication with links to underlying data and open, post-publication peer review, Sociology of Health is at the forefront of open scholarship. The range of article types offered by F1000Research—Research Articles, Reviews, Case Studies, Data Notes, Method Articles, Opinion Articles, Software Tools, Policy Briefs, and more—enables the dissemination of all research outputs as openly and quickly as possible. Each article will undergo fully transparent post-publication peer review following the F1000Research publication model.