Editors-in-Chief: Angelo Giardino (Texas Children's Health Plan), Robert Sanborn (CHILDREN AT RISK)
Guest Editor: Robert Block (American Academy of Pediatrics)

Published by the Texas Medical Center Library and edited by the CHILDREN AT RISK Institute, the Journal of Applied Research on Children (JARC) seeks to influence policy impacting children by evidencing, through hard data, the need for policy change to improve the lives of children across the United States. Through practical case studies or research on how data has already been applied to change policies, articles provide a powerful link between data and policy solutions to strengthen the argument of child advocates across the country. For this reason, the Journal of Applied Research on Children is available online in an open-access format (jarc.childrenatrisk.org) and is indexed in CINAHL and SocINDEX, making it available to child advocates, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers across America. Since its launch, journal articles have been downloaded over 25,000 times.

For the sixth issue, New Morbidities 2.0 the CHILDREN AT RISK Institute invites authors to write about how to improve efforts to effectively combat societal problems by framing the problems as new morbidities. How does the framework of a “new morbidity” inform and advance efforts to combat the problem? Articles will focus on researchers who have successfully used data to affect policy on these issues, or who have done research that has strong policy implications. Research could center on strategies or policies designed to help children or families confront a particular new morbidity, community based prevention strategies, or how to translate the ecological theory into practice. Some areas of focus include but are not limited to:

• School problems (learning disabilities, attention difficulties, bullying)
• Child and adolescent mood and anxiety disorders
• Increase in adolescent suicide and homicide
• Firearms in the home
• School violence
• Drug and alcohol abuse
• Human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
• Effects of media on violence, obesity, sexual activity
• Poverty
• Homelessness
• Single-parent families
• Effects of parental divorce on children
• Struggles of working parents
• Issues of child care policy and quality

The Journal of Applied Research on Children is an online only journal, and the submission and peer review process are completed entirely online. Authors are encouraged to take advantage of the online format of the journal by including videos, interactive charts or links to online resources.

The final submission deadline for papers is October 1, 2012 and accepted articles would be published in the February 2013 issue. If you are interested in submitting, please contact jarc@childrenatrisk.org for more information. To view past issues of the journal, please visit jarc.childrenatrisk.org.