In October 2024, the APHA Governing Council voted to replace policy statements with public health issue briefs.
Implementation of this new process will occur in late 2024/early 2025, with the first intent to write statements accepted in summer 2025. Finalized author guideline will be available in the coming months.
The policy briefs process book, adopted by the Governing Council, gives direction to the Association's policy statement development process by setting forth principles to govern, and outlining procedures to guide, the coordinated participation of all parties. The Executive Board is charged to monitor operation of the policy statement development process, to assure adherence to the principles set forth here and to report any procedural modifications adopted to facilitate the development of more valid public policy for APHA. The Evidentiary Review Committee is charged with overseeing the annual policy brief development process and issue will issue author guidelines, rubrics and training in the coming months.
Explore these resources to learn more about the policy brief development process:
Policy Brief Process Book (PDF)
Policy Brief Author Guidelines- *draft version, subject to minor change (PDF)
2025 Guidelines for Submission of Policy Briefs to the Executive Board:
To allow time for the implementation of the new public health policy brief development and review process (approved by the Governing Council in October 2024), there will be a pause in the policy briefs (formerly policy statement) review cycle in 2025.
The guidelines, rubrics, and training, necessary to implement the new policy brief process, will be developed in the beginning of 2025, and the first intent-to-write submissions will be accepted in summer 2025.
The Executive Board retains the authority to adopt interim policy statements, which will be in effect until the next meeting of the Governing Council (APHA Bylaws, Article VI, Section 7, H). During this interim period, while implementation of the new process is being developed, the Executive Board has set forth the following procedures for submission and review of proposed policy briefs. During this transition time, policy brief submissions are limited to urgent public health matters for which APHA does not have a current policy brief. As a reminder, policy briefs do not determine the Association’s advocacy efforts. Indeed, the Association can still advocate on an issue, despite not having a current policy brief. Policy briefs are beneficial to Association staff and members in that they provide evidence to inform positions on public health issues.
Prior to submitting a policy brief, potential authors must first submit a one paragraph proposal to the Executive Board with both a summary of the proposed policy brief and how the proposed brief directly addresses an urgent public health issue for which there is no current APHA policy brief (view the policy brief database here). Proposals will be assessed based on scope and need by the Executive Committee of the Executive Board in conjunction with APHA staff. Proposals must be submitted to policydevelop@apha.org by 11:59 p.m. ET on February 3, 2025.
If the proposal is approved, then full policy brief submissions should follow the previous policy statement author guidelines and format (see pg. 3) according to the process and timeline below (see pg. 2). Policy briefs must be submitted to policydevelop@apha.org by 11:59 p.m. ET on March 31, 2025.
All policy briefs adopted by the Executive Board will be brought before the Governing Council for discussion and a vote at their next meeting. Statements reviewed under this process, and ultimately adopted by the Executive Board and then the Governing Council in 2025, will be active for one year. Those adopted in 2026 will be active for 7 years. Those not resubmitted or not approved in 2026 will be archived at the close of the 2026 Annual Meeting.
The timeline for this process is linked below. Authors who cannot meet the March 31, 2025, deadline or whose proposals are not accepted, are encouraged to submit into the 2025-2026 policy brief development cycle beginning with submission of an “intent-to-write” in June 2026.
2025 EB Review Timeline
Author Guidelines (only for use for policy briefs submitted for EB review in 2025)
Questions about public health issue briefs? Email us.