Journal of Communication in Healthcare

For A Special Open Access Issue: The Science of Trust and AI: Opportunities and Challenges for Health and/or Risk Communication

Artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping how health and science information is created, shared, and understood. AI-driven tools—including chatbots, generative AI, diagnostic algorithms, surveillance systems and virtual health assistants—can be beneficial in improving access to information, streamlining clinical workflows, improving access to specialty care, managing disease outbreaks and other applications in healthcare and public health. However, this raises important questions about trust, transparency, information accuracy, and accountability in patient-provider and public health communication.

Without careful governance, transparency and multistakeholder collaboration in the design of these tools, AI can reinforce existing health and social inequities and discourage health-seeking behavior among many groups. Issues such as algorithmic bias, sampling bias in training data, and limited patient and community engagement in AI design can all shape whether patients, providers, and the public come to trust—or distrust—AI-driven tools in health contexts.

Research on how AI influences trust can help identify best practices, highlight ethical concerns, and establish guidelines for integrating AI into health and/or risk communication for social, policy, and behavioral change. Such research can also help address concerns about misinformation and bias, promote transparency, and leverage AI tools to improve global health outcomes. A research-driven and evidence-based approach can ultimately prevent AI from contributing to mistrust and inequities across diverse populations and global health contexts.

The Journal of Communication in Healthcare: Strategies, Media and Engagement in Global Health (JCIH) is a leading peer-reviewed journal published by Taylor & Francis that publishes innovative research, interventions and perspectives on health communication in all areas of healthcare, public health, global health and medicine. The Journal is seeking research papers, reviews, and evidence-based case studies on the topic of AI and Trust in Health Communication for an open-access-only special issue to be published in 2027. We are seeking submissions from a diverse group of scholars and practitioners globally.

Sample topics for this special issue include but are not limited to:

• Ethical issues in AI design and implementation
• Major trust breakers and trust makers in AI design and implementation for health and/or risk communication
• AI and health and risk communication research: opportunities and challenges in addressing misinformation and building or restoring trust
• The role of health and/or risk communication in promoting the ethical use of AI, including an exploration of ethical and non-ethical uses and how they relate to trust
• Best practices, key design elements, and guidelines for AI-driven health and/or risk communication interventions in support of health equity
• AI for good: the role of health and/or risk communication in promoting diversity and inclusion of different perspectives, world regions, communities and groups
• Community-engaged and/or participatory approaches to AI design in health and/or risk communication, including potential impact on trust, health-seeking behavior,and/or social and policy change
• Patient, provider, and community perspectives on trust (or distrust) in AI-generated health information and tools
• The use of AI in medical or global health education and in healthcare settings: Insights on impact on trust.
• How does AI affect trust or mistrust in evidence-based health and science information?
• The role of AI in fostering (or undermining) transparency, accountability, and dialogue in global health and healthcare communication contexts
• Outcome evaluation of AI-based health and/or risk communication interventions or programs, including their impact on trust and social and behavior change
• Systematic reviews of the literature/evidence on factors affecting trust in AI and accountability within health and/or risk communication
• The role of different kinds of health organizations and institutions, health professionals, and community health leaders in ensuring accountability, transparency, and ethical principles in AI design and use in the context of trust and beyond
• AI governance in the context of health and/or risk communication research, policy and practice
• Impact of AI on health and social systems, solidarity or polarization, human rights, and inequities

Topics either focus specifically on trust and/or reflect key elements of The Science of Trust framework that emerged through our work at the Journal to identify key drivers of trust and related strategies. These strategies and drivers include community engagement, ethical and participatory processes, strong focus on social and behavioral change, reliability, competence, benevolence, and more.

Please be advised that, as part of this special issue, we aim to provide our readers with insights on what works in building and restoring trust and what does not, including null results and experiences that may have led to health, racial, social and communication inequities.

This call for papers and list of topics were designed by the Journal’s Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Renata Schiavo, and the Senior Editorial Assistant, Mariane Saroufim with the input by guest editors. For questions on this special issue, please contact the Journal’s Editorial Team at jcih.editorsTF@gmail.com. For more information on the JCIH, visit our website: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/ycih20 

This call for papers is part of The Science of Trust Initiative at JCIH. For article collections on the Initiative please visit: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/ycih20/collections