Decision making in public health is a complicated process because of complex inputs and the need to reach consensus concerning the problem at hand. Public health research and practice during the last century gained many notable achievements and contributed to the 30-year gain in life expectancy. Despite these accomplishments, future successes require a greater attention to evidence-based approaches.

Key components of evidence-based approach to public health (EBPH) include making decisions on the basis of the best available scientific evidence, using sound data collection and research methods together with engaging the community in decision making. An EBPH approach could potentially have numerous direct and indirect benefits, including access to more and higher quality information on best practice, a higher likelihood of successful prevention programs and policies, greater workforce productivity, and more efficient use of public and private resources. Moreover, commonly agreed standards of EBPH may simplify decision making for public health.

We invite researchers to contribute original research articles as well as review that will stimulate the continuing efforts to generate and implement evidence-based knowledge and practice for public health and public health decision making.

We anticipate papers will address questions such as what should the criteria of effectiveness of different population-based public health models, programs, and policy decisions be? What weight of evidence is sufficient for public health policy or action? What are the issues around the cost-effectiveness and economic benefit analysis in implementation of public health interventions, programs, or policy? What are relevant instruments and methods to assess impact on health, quality of life, behavior, health equity, and efficiency? What can EBPH learn from clinical epidemiology and evidence-based medicine?

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Research tools for evidence-based public health
• Methods and methodological issues around generating evidence for population-level decisions
• New technologies and applications for evidence-based public health
• Reviews of available evidence for public health policies and interventions
• Guidelines for evidence-based public health practice
• Practical aspects in public health decision making when the evidence is not conclusive
• International surveys and trends on emerging public health issues
• Original research articles with evidence from population-based or community-based studies
• Health impact assessment in public health practice
• Economic aspects and health technology assessment in implementation of public health interventions
• Translating available evidence to the public health practice
• Evidence-based public health policy and practice implementation