In keeping with my interests to specialize in the geographical implications of health and access to care, I have decided to focus on the rural aspects of these issues. As such, the academic journal I have chosen to review is the Journal of Rural Health.  In the title of the journal introduces the concept of “rural”.  In Geography as a discipline, this is a subset of our fundamental notions of “place” or “region.”  Many articles are essays on the meaning of the “Rural” concept.  That medical and public health researchers write them does not discount that they are doing the work of a Geographer.

The journal is balanced in terms of commentary/qualitative and quantitative methodologies, including GIS technologies.  Most articles are about rural U.S. or Canadian health, but there are som international articles.  Diseases representative in this journal include HIV/AIDS, diabetes, substance abuse, obesity, cancer, dementia and many others.  Positive issues such as well-being or healthy pregnancy are a minority, but still represented.  In addition, specific populations are considered, including the elderly, children, both minority and majority populations, economically disadvantaged, physically and mentally impaired, migrant-workers and others.

The research frames specific diseases and/or population segments into any of the following broad themes found in this journal:

• Patient Behavior
  • Insurance
  • Access to Healthcare
    • Geographic
    • Financial
• Supply of Medical Facilities and Physicians
• Rural and Urban Health Care Comparisons
• Physician Behavior
  • Migration Patterns
  • Physician Training
  • Distribution
• Policy Analysis
  • Legislation Proposals
  • Program management
  • Effectiveness
• Status and Evolution of Rural Hospitals
• Attitudes towards treatment or specific diseases
• Data and Methods
• Technology and Best Practices
• Essays about the meaning of RURAL

NOTE:  For the review of this journal, I used the search terms “GIS”, “Spatial”, “Geography”, or “Geographic” to identify articles in this journal that have some identifiable geographic component.  However, even with these search terms, many of the articles were not inherently geographical.  I retained all articles that I found, and then reviewed the titles of 139 articles to detect the types of articles this journal tends to publish.  Based on titles alone, I identified 21 articles where researchers behaved as if they were Geographers in their research.  Many more have identifiable geographic components, but overall, Geographers have a role in this journal.

» Read more: A Review of (potentially) Geographic Titles from the Journal of Rural Health