Call for Abstracts or Full Papers for SSM - Population Health

Description

Cognitive aging, dementia, and cognitive impairment are increasingly central to population health research across diverse social, institutional, and national contexts. Yet the field still lacks integrated theoretical frameworks, comparable measures, and rigorous methods for understanding how social determinants shape cognitive trajectories across the life course and across societies. This special issue aims to bring together interdisciplinary work that advances the study of cognitive aging through global comparison, attention to social determinants of health, theoretical innovation, measurement development, and methodological advancement. We also welcome research on successful cognitive aging, including the social conditions that support the maintenance of cognitive function and resilience across the life course.

Please submit either an extended abstract of 2–5 pages, excluding references, or a full paper for consideration by the guest editors. Submission deadline: October 31, 2026.

Read more about the call for papers here

Research Focus

PAA is especially interested in papers that advance one or more of the following themes:

  • Global, comparative, or cross-national perspectives on cognitive aging
  • New theoretical frameworks for understanding cognitive trajectories across the life course
  • Life-course mechanisms linking early-life conditions, education, work, family, migration, neighborhoods, social relationships, policy environments, health systems, and later-life cognitive outcomes
  • Innovations in measuring cognitive function, cognitive change, dementia risk, or related social and environmental exposures
  • Methodological innovations for studying cognitive aging, including causal inference, longitudinal modeling, trajectory analysis, machine learning, mixed methods, or linked administrative, geospatial, biomarker, or survey data
  • Historically grounded, cohort-based, or institutionally comparative approaches to cognitive aging
  • Studies of understudied populations, regions, or institutional contexts, including low- and middle-income countries, Indigenous populations, migrants, rural populations, and rapidly aging societies
  • Experimental studies and evaluations of social, community, or policy interventions designed to promote cognitive health or reduce cognitive inequalities

Proposal Due Date Details

Please submit either an extended abstract of 2–5 pages, excluding references, or a full paper for consideration by the guest editors. Full papers are welcome when available to facilitate assessment of the contribution and fit. Extended abstracts should include the information below; full-paper submissions should provide any items not included in the manuscript in a brief cover note:
1. Tentative paper title
2. Author names, affiliations, and contact information
3. Research question and motivation
4. Theoretical contribution, measurement contribution, or methodological innovation
5. Data and methods, if empirical
6. Main findings or expected contribution
7. Fit with the special issue theme
8. Current stage of the paper
 

Extended abstracts or full papers should be submitted by October 31, 2026.


The guest editors plan to send notifications regarding invitations to submit full manuscripts through the journal’s submission system by November 7, 2026. Invitation to submit a full manuscript does not guarantee acceptance or publication. All submitted manuscripts will undergo the journal’s standard peer review

Learn More or Apply

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13-XiCpKuV922PKAlEnK4HCVm8kHxisDQ/view

Due Date