Publishing can be a major hurdle for Early Career Researchers (ECRs), especially in specialized fields like regional healthcare variation. To help address this gap, the open access peer-reviewed journal Research in Health Services and Regions (RHSR) invites ECRs to submit original articles for the second edition of the collection “Designing the Future through Understanding the Past and the Present: Emerging Researchers Take on Regional Variation in Health Care.” This initiative aims to support ECRs in sharing their work, receiving constructive peer feedback, and contributing to the growing body of knowledge in regional healthcare variation.

Up to 5 accepted articles will be published open access at no cost to the authors, and the best article — selected by RHSR’s Editors-in-Chief and Editorial Board — will be awarded a €1,000 prize by the Central Research Institute for Ambulatory Health Care in Germany (Zi). The first edition's prize was awarded to Afaf Al-Rammahy and co-authors for their article Educational disparities in cancer incidence, stage, and survival in Oslo. You can explore all articles from the first edition here.

We encourage submissions from researchers whose work is part of a Master’s thesis, Ph.D. project, or postdoctoral research. The deadline is December 31, 2025. For details on eligibility, topics of interest, and submission guidelines, please click here.