Rhetoric of Health and Medicine (RHM)

Call for Special Issue Proposals: Rhetorics of Health Technologies

RHM has been fortunate enough to publish one special issue each year. While we accept proposals for special issues on a rolling basis, by individuals or groups (including groups comprised of researchers in various disciplines and other health/medical stakeholders), we are putting out this call in the hopes of attracting excellent proposals for our 2026 special issue—an issue that will focus on a topic related to health technologies. We would like to see work that aims to address a wide range of issues related to the “complex interplays of technological and social factors” in rhetorics of health and medicine (Rodin, 1997, p. 865), work that pays close analytic attention to the “complicated intra-actions between people, environs, and things” (Teston, 2016, p. 266). If you are working on an emerging or under-recognized area of inquiry that needs more focused attention in RHM and the larger field of rhetorical and communication studies that fits this health technologies framework, or if you are part of a scholarly conversation that is seeking to shift common understandings of or rhetorical approaches to studying health technologies, we want to hear from you. We invite potential guest editors to think broadly about this call, and we encourage a range of topics within and beyond such issue as:

  • digital health technologies (biotechnology research, eHealth, mHealth, etc.);
  • ethical concerns related to wearables, digital health records, medical surveillance, biometrics, and/or clinical trial research;
  • health inequities caused in part by technological accessibility challenges; and
  • how emerging AI technologies may be impacting health and healthcare decisions.

This, of course, is not an exhaustive list, but rather is meant to be generative.

Process

At RHM, we develop special issues a little differently than other journals do. The most notable difference is that you will work with one or more of the RHM co-editors throughout the process, from developing the call for papers (CFP) to working with the journal’s assistant editors to develop supplementary Web content to preparing the issue for print. This model ensures a strong mentoring experience and good support from the journal’s review process and other resources. That said, the support you’ll get from co-editors is advisory: as special-issue co-editor, you set the standards for your issue by selecting proposals, working with authors to develop their work, and collaboratively composing a robust editors’ introduction. Guest editing a special issue of RHM is designed as an opportunity for you to enhance editorial skills and to learn more about the editorial process of a journal.

Other aspects for you to consider are that the RHM co-editors are willing to develop your ideas with you and that proposals for special issues will be anonymously reviewed by the journal’s Editorial Board before a decision is made about whether to move forward.

 

Development and Proposal Review

If you would like to have a conversation about your idea for a special issue related to health technologies, one or more of the co-editors will be happy to talk with you to help you to develop your proposal. All proposals will be anonymously reviewed and ranked by the RHM editorial board, who will either recommend not pursuing the project or advancing it with suggestions for revision or refinement.

 

How The Process Works

If your proposal is accepted pending revisions, you will lead the process in drafting the call for papers (CFP). We recommend that you ask for shorter pre-proposals for papers first. Proposed submissions can include the range of the journal’s submission types (http://journals.upress.ufl.edu/rhm/about/submissions).

Once the call is finalized, the RHM assistant editors will help distribute it widely, and you’ll work with co-editors to rank proposals. After you receive full manuscripts, your co-editor will work with you to shepherd these through the journal’s regular review process, including selecting reviewers, writing decision letters, and guiding authors in revision. You will be the primary point person for responding to (potential) authors’ queries, drafting decision letters and recommendations, and working with reviewers and authors to ensure timely review and revision, respectively.

Once manuscripts are accepted, you will work with the RHM editorial staff to prepare them for publication, including copyediting, and to develop supplementary material for the website. Some of this material, along with select manuscripts designated as open-access, can appear on the RHM website ahead of the print issue. The final phase of your work will involve working with the assistant editors to promote the special issue, including among any relevant non-academic groups.

 

Proposal Requirements:

  • Brief statement of why you want to do a special issue, which could include how it advances your own scholarship and values as well as those of the field (200-500 words)
  • Topic and a justification for the topic to include how it relates to rhetorics of  health technologies , and how it is situated within current RHM and related scholarship (~1000 words + short bibliography)
  • Potential ideas for RHM submission types beyond research articles; these can include reviews and dialogues as well as commentaries and persuasion briefs targeting broader audiences, including non-academic stakeholders (~200 words)
  • Strategy for soliciting and/or marketing the call to encourage diverse submissions from a wide range of scholars and perspectives (~150 words)
  • Current CV(s)

 
Send queries and proposals to RHM Co-Editors at  rhm.journal.editors@gmail.com.

Deadline: Friday, 4 April