Fresh Voices and Sneak Peeks at Future Research: Meet Our Emerging Scholars

Abstract

Health and human services administration is a broad tent with ample opportunity to embrace emerging scholars and help them to frame new ideas. The Journal of Health and Human Services Administration aims to continue elevating the visibility of this broad tent, which exists under the even larger tent of public administration. Public service encapsulates an incredibly diverse range of disciplines and management concerns. Yet, the academy can be a challenging arena to navigate. In our efforts to carve out space for new insights we are charged with striking the best balance in our scholarship. In introducing this first issue of our emerging scholars, we have created space for thoughtful reflection about the nature of our discipline and how we welcome, or not, unique and less represented perspectives. Our discipline strives for inclusivity, transparency and relevance. This must extend to our publishing outlets, particularly in terms of peer review and citations. Learning to scan the new literature and diversifying the journals from which we cite our references may result in leveling the citation game. How we engage effectively in building meaningful studies may be argued to require a degree of reflexivity. In other words, the ability to examine one’s own perspectives and assumptions and consider how these impact research study design and implementation from both a personal and functional angle. In reviewing the articles in this issue, I urge you to grow your opportunities to identify new scholars, practitioners and students and mentor them, guide them, and cite their work.

This is a special issue of JHHSA—an entire issue of Emerging Scholars. Emerging scholarship is defined here as the original research produced by practitioners, students, and junior faculty. The intent behind this is to enable JHHSA to support an inclusive environment for fresh voices on the rise. In introducing this first issue of our emerging scholars, we have created space for thoughtful reflection about the nature of our discipline and how we welcome, or not, unique and less represented perspectives. The canon can be problematic. Marginalized scholars may submit to lesser ranked journals as a means to publishing simply because they may (a) lack the mentoring, (b) lack the confidence, and (c) lack the knowledge about successfully publishing in higher ranked journals (Knepper et al., 2020; Porter et al., 2020; Settles et al., 2021). Bryson and Clem (2022) further this discussion by writing about persistent normative practices in the peer review process which can result in exclusionary practices that can, at its worst, intentionally silence scholarly research.

Our discipline strives for inclusivity and transparency and relevance, and this must extend to our publishing outlets, particularly in terms of peer review and citations. Learning to scan the new literature and diversifying the journals from which we cite our references may result in leveling the citation game. Indeed, how we engage effectively in building meaningful studies may be argued to require a degree of reflexivity. In other words, the ability to examine one’s own perspectives and assumptions and consider how these impact research study design and implementation from both a personal and functional angle. Yet, how does one build a more reflexive engagement in research studies? Jamieson et al. (2023) provide a lens for “embedding reflexivity in all stages of the research process” (p. 10). (For a really interesting read about reflexivity, check out The Role of Reflexivity in Feminist Psychology by Sue Wilkinson from 1988.)

In elevating emerging scholarship in JHHSA, the challenge for editors can be to find peer reviewers willing to devote time to an iterative process that offers constructive feedback, rather than destructive comments. I we believe that journal editors have an opportunity to improve the peer review process and require fewer citations to their own journals. Editors can encourage more focus on the most appropriate authors for inclusion in manuscript references, including new voices, perhaps irrespective of the journal’s ranking in which the manuscript has been published. How do we encourage compassion in the peer review process, particularly for those scholars coming from institutions other than research intensive universities or for practitioners who have critical insights to share or for broadening the outlets for non-Western countries or from countries with emerging educational institutions? As the demands on editorial boards continue to grow and as the pressure to publish continues to expand well beyond R1 institutions, we will see a magnification of the perennial problems of time, space, and mentorship in the academy.

Furthering the ideas of supporting emerging scholarship, Cagle et al. (2021) urge us to consider “positionality, privilege, and power” during our peer review processes as a pathway for creating anti-racist practices, a major hurdle for many marginalized scholars around the world. The burden for mentoring, and constructive, compassionate peer review to build scholars’ visibility is heavy. Yet, editors can provide guidelines for the type of peer review they’re seeking. Evans and Knepper (2021) go further back than peer review, to suggest that inclusivity in our discipline must begin in the classroom—with readings and citations that clearly reflect and articulate the diversity of scholarship so students understand the perspectives of the authors whose works they’re reading. This may mean sacrificing some of the canonical articles to make room for new concepts and frameworks.

We know that as academics, we have a tendency to cite up, not down. While citing the canon furthers its weight, fresh voices may be excluded because others haven’t yet found them to cite them. This raises some interesting questions about our own habits and education regarding citing our literature. Do we cite the scholarship reflectively? Comprehensively to prove breadth of knowledge? To curry favor? In considering the traditional canon in public administration, it is largely male, white, and culturally western. Too often constrained by space, it is important to consider which voices may be sacrificed. Women for example, too frequently elect to submit manuscripts to lesser ranked journals and subsequently, their scholarship may not make the cut (Knepper et al., 2020).

Quave and Ohbi (2024) urge us to “read generously” and “joyfully” with the intent of citing with purpose and appreciation for those writers who have made us think more deeply and who have stimulated our own work (p. 44). It is with this in mind that I challenge you. In reviewing the articles in this issue, I ask that you reach out to similar new scholars, practitioners, and students and mentor them, guide them, and cite their work.

Our first author, a freshly minted assistant professor, Dr. Paige Moore, writes about vaccine distribution gaps, delays in government action in relation to diverse populations, and how these were mitigated by community leadership. Dr. Moore presents a cross-sectional study with examples of culturally competent solutions to help navigate our next healthcare emergency, in The Impact of COVID-19 on Diverse Communities During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case for Culturally Competent Intervention Strategies.

The next article in this issue is authored by Ojonugwa Emmanuel, a PhD Candidate at the University of North Texas. In approaching her research, Ms. Emmanuel captures the impact of green spaces on key wellness indicators given their association with clean air and reduction in mental health issues. In A Study on the Impact of Public Parks on Community Health, she uses Denton County Texas as an interesting case study to test her hypotheses.

Our third author is an undergraduate student at Georgetown University, Meriam Zegeye, who writes about the critical combination of potable drinking water, good hygiene, and adequate sanitation. Ms. Zegeye explores the implementation of these three measures for building and maintaining the foundation for a health community in Ethiopia in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) in Ethiopia: An International Human Rights Framework.

Our fourth and final paper in this symposium is presented by Amanda Fronk, who is a Senior Analyst in Business Intelligence, in Emergency Medicine at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. While Ms. Fronk is a researcher, she brings a praxis perspective to this issue. Ms. Fronk shines a new light on the persistent cycle of healthcare disparities in the Black community and offers an innovative tool, the Looking Glass Framework, as a solution.

Health and human services administration is a broad tent with ample opportunity to embrace emerging scholars and help them to frame new ideas. The Journal of Health and Human Services Administration aims to continue elevating the visibility of this broad tent, which exists under the even larger tent of public administration. Public service encapsulates an incredibly diverse range of disciplines and management concerns. Yet, the academy can be a challenging arena to navigate. In our efforts to carve out space for new insights we are charged with striking the best balance in our scholarship. The next time you’re called upon to mentor a junior scholar or someone from a marginalized community or with a unique research question, please put on your best mentoring hat and roll up your sleeves. The payoff is worth it.