Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: Health policy topics, including public health and health equity, are repeatedly asserted as strategic priorities by academic and industry stakeholders in editorials and policy commentaries, yet their translation into original research remains uncertain. We systematically reviewed leading health economics journals to quantify the extent to which health policy, public health, and equity are represented in contemporary empirical research output.
METHODS: Pubmed and Embase databases were searched from 2016-2025 for publications in the top five health economics journals (per 2024 impact factor) citing the MeSH terms “health policy”, “public health” and “health equity”. Additional searches were conducted at ISPOR North American and European annual meetings since 2016. For all searches, focused and exploded key terms, including subheadings, were used. For articles published in Value in Health, additional demographic data regarding the lead and senior authors was extracted.
RESULTS: Of 14,862 published articles, only a small fraction addressed health policy topics. “Health policy” as a MeSH term appeared in just 1.6% of articles (4.4% when exploded), “health equity” appeared in 0.9% (1.0% exploded) and “public health” in 1.0%—rising to 58% only under broad (exploded) definitions. Notably, explicit focus on health policy declined sharply from 2.9% in 2017 to just 0.4-0.5% between 2021-2023, while gains in equity and public health remained modest.
Authorship patterns reveal structural imbalances: although women accounted for nearly half of lead (49.3%) and corresponding (44.8%) authors, they comprised only 21.4% of senior authors. Industry engagement was minimal (3.0%), with academic institutions dominating first (79.1%) and senior (64.3%) authorship. Geographically, publications were concentrated in Europe (28.4%), the United States (28.4%), and the United Kingdom (26.9%).
CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight a clear disconnect between policy narrative publications and research practice, with health policy, public health, and equity remaining marginal within leading health economics journals—particularly among industry contributors.