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IHEA Affirms Commitment to Principles Outlined by Health Economics Journal Editorial Boards
On May 21st, 2025, the Editorial Boards of several health economics journals issued a public statement on “the principles of rigorous, open and inclusive scientific inquiry” that underpin publication in these journals (see full statement here).
IHEA has issued the following statement in support of that from the Editorial Boards:
IHEA is pleased to join with the Editorial Boards of Leading Health Economics Journals in solidarity and affirming our commitment to academic freedom, academic independence and the value of rigorous, open and inclusive scientific inquiry.
As an international association with members in all regions of the world, research integrity, rigour and independence are central to IHEA’s activities. Our structures, which include the committees that construct the scientific programme for our two-yearly congress and those that award the prestigious IHEA prizes, operate according to the principles of expert peer review, and without interference from political or commercial interests. We actively seek to ensure that these decision-making bodies are assembled with a view to inclusion and diversity, because we believe that the best decisions are made when a variety of backgrounds and perspectives are represented.
Now more than ever, academic communities must support the production and dissemination of high quality, relevant scholarship that meets the ethical standards for scientific publications and serves the purpose of improving health and health systems for all. IHEA is proud to affirm our commitment to the principles outlined in the Journal Editors’ statement.
The full statement from the Editorial Boards is as follows:
As academic independence and freedom of expression face increasing threats across many countries and institutions, we affirm our unwavering commitment to the principles of rigorous, open, and inclusive scientific inquiry.
As editors and members of the governing boards of leading health economics journals, we stand united in our dedication to editorial autonomy and to the advancement of scholarship based solely on significance, research integrity, and methodological rigor. In an era when ideological and political pressures—subtle or overt—are growing across diverse contexts, we believe it is essential to reassert the foundations upon which our field is built.
Because transparency is central to our mission, we take this opportunity to declare the universal value of free, critical, and independent scholarly discourse, and to state the following core principles:
- We affirm the importance of health economics research that rigorously investigates the many structural, demographic, and social determinants that shape health and health care access and their effects on economies. We welcome work that brings critical, evidence-based insight to issues affecting diverse populations.
- The sole basis for accepting manuscripts for publication in our journals is adherence to high standards of scientific rigor, as evaluated through a fair and thorough peer-review process. Editorial decisions are never contingent upon political, ideological, or institutional preferences.
- We commit to transparency in documenting and disclosing any attempts—by governments, organizations, or individuals—to improperly influence the editorial or review processes in our journals.
- We will actively resist any efforts at censorship or interference and will maintain established, publicly documented editorial standards that safeguard the independence and integrity of our publications.
Through these principles and practices, we reaffirm our dedication to advancing scholarship that contributes to the public good, that rests on the careful application of economic reasoning and evidence, and that reflects the intellectual independence necessary for the health and vitality of our discipline.
On Behalf of the Editorial Boards of:
American Journal of Health Economics
Economics & Human Biology
Forum for Health Economics & Policy
Health Economics
Health Economics, Policy and Law
Health Economics Review
International Journal of Health Economics and Management
IHEA 2025 Congress Updates
Early Bird registration closes on June 1st, 2025
Don’t wait! Early bird registration for the 2025 IHEA Congress closes tomorrow, June 1st, 2025!
Don’t miss your chance to save on registration and secure your spot at one of the most anticipated health economics events of the year. Join global leaders, researchers, and professionals in beautiful Bali, Indonesia.
Click here to register.
Congress Program available
The full 2025 Congress program, including Pre-Congress sessions, is now available here.
All presenters have been sent details of their session date and time – please check your spam folder if you have not received this email, or go to the web program and use the search function.
Pre-congress session registration now open
There are many pre-congress sessions on offer on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th July covering a diverse range of topics – there will be something of interest to everyone. Information on each session is available on the web program mentioned above.
Congress delegates can now register for pre-congress sessions here.
Delegates registered for the main congress do not need to pay to register and attend pre-congress sessions – this is included in the registration fee you have already paid. This registration system is only necessary due to limited capacity in session venues and to assist session organizers in tailoring their inputs to those coming to their session.
We urge delegates to register for the session(s) they want to attend as soon as possible– space is limited and sessions will fill up quickly.
Presentation guidelines posted online
General guidelines and tips for preparing long and short oral presentations are available here.
If you would like to see a demonstration of how to do a Flash Oral presentation, please view the video prepared by Scientific Committee Chair, Paula Lorgelly. Even if you are not doing a Flash Oral presentation, the video is worth watching to get information on Bali, the Congress, and how to get the most out of your congress experience.
There is also a template for Flash Oral presentations here – it contains 12 slides set to auto-advance every 15 seconds for your 3 minute presentation.
Arrow Award Winning Paper Announced
The 33rd Arrow Award for the best paper in health economics is awarded to:
Alsan, M., Durvasula, M., Gupta, H., Schwartzstein, J. and Williams, H., 2024. Representation and extrapolation: evidence from clinical trials. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 139(1), pp.575-635.
In survey experiments the authors find that physicians, especially those caring for more Black patients, are more willing to prescribe drugs tested in more representative samples. The effect size is substantial enough to potentially close existing gaps in prescribing rates for new medicines. Similarly, Black patients shown evidence from representative trials are more likely to believe the drug would work for them and express increased willingness to participate in future trials and trust in researchers.
Despite these benefits, the study’s model and evidence suggest that underrepresentation persists because those who have historically benefited from medical innovation are less costly to enroll, reinforcing disparities in evidence generation. The findings underscore the importance of representative clinical trials for improving health equity and trust and suggest policy interventions to address persistent underrepresentation in clinical trials.
We congratulate the authors on the publication of this important paper.
IHEA would like to thank the members of the Arrow Award Committee:
Chair: Tor Iversen, University of Oslo
Co-Chair: Yuting Zhang, University of Melbourne
Marika Cabral, University of Texas
Gabriella Conti, University College London
Apostolos Davillas, IZA – Institute of Labor Economics
Bruce Hollingsworth, Lancaster University
Xiaoyan Lei, Peking University
Aurélia Lépine, University College London
Hsienming Lien, National Chengchi University
Nhung Nghiem, Australian National University
Edward Okeke, Pardee RAND Graduate School
Erin Strumpf, McGill University
Judit Vall Castelló, Universitat de Barcelona
Stephanie von Hinke Kessler Scholder, Bristol University
Marcia Weaver, University of Washington
Behavioral Experiments in Health Network (BEHNet) Events
We are pleased to invite submissions for the 10th Workshop in Behavioral and Experimental Health Economics at Erasmus University Rotterdam on December 11th and 12th, 2025. The workshop is part of the activities of the Behavioral Experiments in Health Network and brings together economists and behavioral scientists who apply behavioral-economics insights and experimental methods to study health-related decision making.
We welcome contributions on all topics related to economic aspects of health-related decision making (e.g., preferences, incentives, institutions) applying experimental methods, be it online, laboratory or field experiments. We expect to have both long talks (30 min or more plus discussion) and lightning talks (5 min) that will be accompanied by a poster presentation.
Submissions: Please submit either the full paper, or an extended abstract of up to 500 words that addresses each of the following: objectives, methods, results, and conclusions. Preference will be given to full-paper submissions, particularly for long talks.
Deadline for submissions is August 30, 2025. Submissions should be uploaded via: https://www.eur.nl/en/eshpm/events/10th-workshop-behavioral-and-experimental-health-economics-2025-12-11.
Authors will be notified regarding the acceptance of their paper early October 2025.
The keynote speaker will be W. David Bradford (University of Georgia).
Participation fee: There are no additional participation fees for participants with accepted presentations or posters. Accompanying persons and other interested parties should contact the event office regarding the costs. Participation is subject to availability.
Scientific committee: Silvia Angerer (UMIT Tirol), Arthur Attema (Erasmus U Rotterdam), Robert Böhm (U Vienna), Matteo M. Galizzi (LSE), Glenn W. Harrison (Georgia State U), Wanda Mimra (ESCP Paris), Matthew Robson (Erasmus U Rotterdam), Kirsten Rohde (University of Maastricht), and Daniel Wiesen (U Cologne)
In case you have any questions about submissions or the event, please contact us: behnet@eshpm.eur.nl.
At the same, we also like to announce our BEHnet Winter School for PhD students, taking place right before the Workshop, from 8-10 December, 2025.
Please check this website for more details: https://www.eur.nl/en/eshpm/events/4th-behnet-graduate-course-behavioural-and-experimental-health-economics-2025-12-08
We are looking forward to welcoming you in wonderful Rotterdam in December 2025.
University Member Updates
University of Aberdeen – HERU Short Course
The HERU short course on ‘Using Discrete Choice Experiments in Health Economics’ will take place in Aberdeen, Scotland, from 23rd to 25th September 2025.
Now in its 22nd year, the course is aimed at anyone interested in the application of Discrete Choice Applications (DCEs) with a special focus on health. This course provides:
- An introduction to the theoretical and practical basis for the development and application of DCEs in health and care.
- A step-by-step guide to the design of DCEs, survey development, data input, data analysis and interpretation of results – using case studies based on published research.
- An update on methodological issues raised in the application of DCEs in health economics.
The course fee includes teaching material, accommodation, all lunches, a course welcome reception and dinner. The course lasts for three full days (from Tuesday morning to Thursday afternoon), with a course meal at the end. Accommodation is provided for four nights (Monday to Thursday).
Registration and further details are available from the DCE course website
Please note that the closing date for registration is 30th August 2025 and there are limited spaces available.
Details
Date – 23rd to 25th September, 2025
Website – https://www.abdn.ac.uk/heru/dce/
Venue – Park Inn by Radisson hotel, Aberdeen, Scotland.
Monash University – International Visiting Fellowship
Centre for Health Economics, Monash Business School, Monash University
Applications are invited for researchers who wish to visit the Centre for Health Economics at Monash Business School, Monash University in Melbourne for a period of between two and six months in 2026.
Applications from experienced international researchers are particularly welcome, but we will also consider Australian applicants and postdoctoral early career researchers.
A key aim of the visit should be to build or strengthen links with researchers at the CHE and produce collaborative research outputs as a result of the visit, such as publications and grant applications.
Please click here for further information on how to apply. Closing date is 1st September.
SIG Updates
Pre-congress online networking session: Preparing for IHEA 2025 in Bali, Indonesia
The Financing for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Special Interest Group (SIG) is organizing an online networking session before the 2025 IHEA Conference to be held in Bali, Indonesia. This SIG brings together a global network of health economists specializing in health financing, with a focus on financing policies and reforms that support the pursuit of UHC. Objective This session aims to facilitate interaction between SIG members who are attending the IHEA 2025 Congress, helping them identify peers with shared research interests before the in-person event. This will provide a valuable opportunity for participants to establish links, maximize networking opportunities, plan meaningful discussions, and make the most of their time in Bali. As part of the session, we will also discuss plans for the SIG in-person meeting in Bali. Networking Session Details:
To accommodate different time zones, two sessions are offered:
- Session 1: Wednesday, June 18, 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM UTC
- Session 2: Friday, June 20, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM UTC
Participants are welcome to attend either or both sessions.
Participation We kindly ask all participants to register by filling in this form https://forms.gle/Y5QXKZ89pUztvdWw6
During registration, participants will be asked to specify their research interests to help shape the session. By registering, they agree to share their names and email addresses with fellow attendees, enabling future collaboration and planning. This ensures participants can connect with others who share similar interests ahead of the Congress.
In the session, each participant will have up to five minutes to present their research interests or topics for the IHEA Congress. Depending on the number of attendees, discussions may take place in breakout rooms to encourage more focused interactions. This format allows participants to identify potential collaborators and continue conversations throughout the Congress.
Join us to build connections, exchange ideas, and make the most of our time at the IHEA 2025 Congress!
Upcoming Events
Stay tuned for more on upcoming IHEA webinars! You can view all 2025 events here.
Check out our website here.