Special Issue on Local Actors for Local Action

Overview

Across the globe, and particularly in rural and peripheral areas, health and care systems are struggling to deliver high quality, accessible and equitable care. There are increasing calls to both de-centralise systems (moving away from ‘one size fits all’ models) and stimulate local-level innovation leading to fit-for-place services. This special issue specifically examines how local actors (in local health and care services, in communities and civic society) can participate in, and lead, local action to drive such innovation. The issue stems from the proposal that local actors and local action (LALA) are necessary for sustainable innovation (Carson et al., 2022). In this context:

Local Actors (LA) are any individuals or groups who live in the location where innovation takes place, and

Local Action (LA) includes the non-passive roles local actors play in the innovation process.

This special issue will contribute to our understanding of how communities and institutions have harnessed the essential role of LALA in community health and care system innovation. The ultimate aim is to develop a theoretical framework for how LALA can be stimulated and promoted within health system design.

Consequently, this specific issue seeks contributions which:

• Describe the roles of local actors and local action in cases of health and care system innovation, particularly in rural and peripheral areas.
• Identify and address institutional and structural barriers to LALA.
• Conceptualise the role of ‘community’ in LALA, including how actors ‘external’ to formal health and care services can participate in and lead local action.
• Case examples of the impact of LALA on health system performance, with a focus on access, equity and quality of services.
• Investigate how LALA contributes to reframing local and systemic understandings of ‘health’ and what health and care systems could and should be doing at the local level.
• Develop frameworks for evaluating the impact of LALA on health and care system innovation.
• Explore the ways in which local actors work with external stakeholders (political, medical, university/ research) in innovation processes.
• Examine the dual roles of local health and care workers as practitioners and community members.

 Contributions

We invite papers for this special issue including:

• Case studies of LALA in diverse community health systems, particularly in rural and peripheral areas.
• Comparative studies of settings with similar resources and policy frameworks in common that comparably affect local action.
• Theoretical papers and reviews exploring the structures which can further increase LALA capacity as part of health and social policy and systems.
• PhD Reviews from early career researchers who have recently defended their theses on LALA topics are invited to write a summary article based on their thesis.
• Methods papers exploring how LALA has been implemented in practice in research.
• Protocol articles exploring how a LALA research topic will be implemented or how an Innovation will be evaluated.
• Short communications on pilot studies or secondary findings from larger studies where LALA may not have been the focus.
• Lessons and experiences: These articles may describe lessons learnt or salient experiences of interventions in the areas of LALA.

Manuscripts should adhere to the journal’s submission guidelines, available on our website.

Papers authored by Local Actors (community members, health/social/community care workers), particularly in rural and peripheral areas are encouraged.  

Important Dates:

- Call for Papers Announcement: July 1, 2026

- Manuscript Submission Deadline: November 30, 2026

Submission Process:

Please submit your manuscript through the journal’s online submission system. During submission, indicate clearly in the cover letter that your submission is intended for the special issue on "Local actors for local action". Articles will be published on a rolling basis, once they are ready.

We look forward to your contributions to advancing our understanding of the role of local actors and local action in strengthening health and care systems.

For any inquiries regarding the special issue, please contact the Guest Editors at acra@cqu.edu.au

Guest Editors

• Dr Robyn Preston, CQUniversity Australia;
• Dr Geraldine Vaughan, CQUniversity Australia;
• Dr Wendy Newton, CQUniversity Australia;
• Dr Anne-Marie Holt, University of Notre Dame Australia

The Guest Editors will be mentored by:

• Associate Prof Ashlyn Sahay, Southern Cross University, Australia;
• Prof Dean Carson, Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå University, Sweden.

The editors are from the research group Ageing Creatively in Rural Areas (ACRA) headquartered at CQUniversity in Australia. ACRA works with remote and rural communities in Sweden and Australia to design, implement and evaluate local initiatives to promote ageing in place. Innovation and community participation in health services are important issues in these settings where inadequate health infrastructure makes service delivery challenging. We have found that 'ageing well' in these places means social infrastructure, small ideas and non-clinical initiatives.

However, please note that the special issue focuses on LALA, not just rural Aged Care!