We are happy to host an interview with our new Editor in Chief, Professor Dr. Olaf von dem Knesebeck. If you have any messages for him, comment below and we’ll make sure he gets them!

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background

I am a sociologist and the director of the Institute of Medical Sociology at the University Medical Center Hamburg, Germany. My research interests are social determinants of health and health care (especially socioeconomic position, social relations, gender, migration), stigma, prevention, evaluation research, international comparisons, and survey research.

What was your relationship to IJPH prior to becoming Editor in Chief?

I was an Associate Editor of IJPH for a couple of years and I regularly publish in IJPH.
[note from IJPH: for instance this paper and this paper]

What will be your main focus as an Editor in Chief of IJPH?

I will try to continue the successful work of Thomas Kohlmann. It is my aim to advocate high methodological standards and conceptual clarity. I think international comparisons in public health research are important and I would like to strengthen this perspective in IJPH.

What do you think the main challenges will be?

As there are many papers submitted to IJPH, one challenge will be to select papers for review and to be fair and reasonable in this regard. Another challenge will be to transfer IJPH into an open access journal.

What are the strong points of IJPH? Why should people try to publish in this journal?

IJPH is a truly international journal. Reviewers, senior and associate editors come from all over the world and it publishes high quality articles on important public health issues from different countries and cultures.

Any messages for our readers?

Please stay with us!