The first four years of the Journal of Global Health Economics and Policy (JoGHEP): Assessing the impact and outlining future directions

The editorial reflects on the first four years of the Journal of Global Health Economics and Policy (JoGHEP) and outlines its future direction as a platform for interdisciplinary research at the intersection of global health, economics, and policy. Established in 2021, JoGHEP was created to address the growing importance of economic evaluation and policy analysis in global health decision-making, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Over its initial four years, the journal published 80 articles spanning health economics, health policy, health systems research, and broader global health challenges. A defining feature of this early period has been the geographic diversity of its authorship, with strong representation from Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, reflecting the journal’s commitment to amplifying perspectives from settings where health systems face the greatest resource constraints. Many contributions focused on real-world policy questions, including health financing, insurance systems, valuation of health outcomes, and cost-effectiveness analyses of health interventions. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly influenced early publications, generating research on vaccine equity, health system resilience, and the socioeconomic impacts of pandemic responses, particularly in LMIC contexts. At the same time, the journal addressed persistent global health issues such as maternal and child health, malnutrition, infectious diseases, and noncommunicable diseases. Several highly cited papers have examined barriers to research participation in LMICs, health insurance reforms, long-term care policies, and political economy approaches to health system transformation. Methodologically, JoGHEP has demonstrated strong diversity, publishing systematic reviews, qualitative studies, economic evaluations, policy analyses, and conceptual papers while also fostering scholarly dialogue through editorials, viewpoints, book reviews, and news sections. Looking ahead, the journal aims to expand research on health system strengthening, implementation science, and economic evaluation, while increasingly addressing broader determinants of health such as climate change, inequality, and conflict. It also seeks to promote advanced analytical methods, equitable research partnerships, and stronger links between research evidence and policy implementation, positioning JoGHEP as an important forum for interdisciplinary scholarship in global health economics and policy.