Community health workers are increasingly acknowledged to play an essential role in helping to improve the delivery of public health services to many marginalized populations. The American Journal of Public Health ( AJPH ) editorial team and board broadly support the timeliness of this topic. Therefore, AJPH plans to have a theme issue on “Community Health Workers and Public Health” in late 2011 or early 2012.

Submissions are welcome that address issues related to: community health workers and access to care; community health workers and reduction of disparities in health; community health workers and their integration into new models of comprehensive care; community health workers and their role in Health Care Reform; training, certification and payment of the community health worker workforce; and other related topics.

Note that “Community Health Worker” is the term selected by a national group of community health workers in the 1990s to create an umbrella term for a number of job titles that meet certain criteria. Other common job titles include Outreach Worker, Patient Navigator, Patient Advocate, Peer Leader, Promotor(a), Family Support Worker, Enrollment Worker, etc.

All selected authors are encouraged to consider the different categories of manuscripts as indicated on the AJPH website. All manuscripts will undergo the standard peer review process by the AJPH editors and peer referees as defined by AJPH policy. Manuscripts will be due to the Journal on Dec. 15, 2010, and can be submitted at http://www.editorialmanager.com/ajph.

General inquiries regarding this theme issue can be made to Stewart Landers, AJPH Associate Editor, at landers@jsi.com.