New journal PLOS Aging and Health publishes its first papers on July 21, 2026. The first issue includes research findings on a range of key topics focused on human aging.
As our global population continues to grow and age at unprecedented rates—by 2030, 1 in 6 people will be over 60 years old—it's critical that we improve our understanding of the aging process to support older adults in aging well.
The journal's editors-in-chief, Sara Hägg (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden), and Jennifer Schrack (Johns Hopkins University, United States), note that aging is a broad and complex research topic covering a lifelong process, requiring a perspective shift from "what constitutes aging" to "what doesn't constitute aging". To support this aim, PLOS Aging and Health seeks to publish rigorous, open-access research from across the human lifespan and around the globe.
Research articles appearing in the first issue include:
- "Trauma outcomes following exercise-related injury versus ground-level falls in the United States: a nationwide cross-sectional study": After age 30, fall patients experienced worse outcomes than cyclists injured while biking, showed data from over 1.7 million health records from the National Trauma Data Bank, with disparities widening at older ages: after age 80, most fall patients required long-term healthcare (52.7%), but most injured cyclists were discharged (60.6%), suggesting slower recovery and resiliency from injury at older ages.
- "Compensation Related Utilization of Neural Circuits Hypothesis (CRUNCH) of Electrocortical Data during Walking on Uneven Terrain": Older adults' brains indicate significantly greater active mental processing at less difficult terrain compared to younger adults, according to electrocortical scans of younger and older adults walking on treadmills at varying difficulty levels, suggesting increased neurological efforts for mobility with aging.
- "Balancing Caregiving and Professional Roles: A Qualitative Study of Ontario Regulated Healthcare Professionals Caring for Aging Adults": Healthcare professionals who also act as unpaid carers for family members experience the complexity of their dual roles, citing burnout and guilt alongside increased empathy and patient understanding, highlighting the complex role of unpaid caregiving.
- "The Missing Metric: Why Dignity Must Be Measured in Chronic Illness and Long-Term Care": This opinion article from Lorenzo Righi (Azienda Usl Toscana Sud Est, Italy) encourages assessing and reporting on patients' senses of dignity throughout the healthcare process as a critical—and under-addressed—outcome.
- "The Inevitable Integration of Health and Long-Term Care Systems": This opinion from Joan Costa-Font (London School of Economics, UK) discusses the need for healthcare systems to integrate more seamlessly with long-term care as our aging populations continue to grow.
As evidenced in this launch issue, the journal's scope is broad, welcoming studies from a range of disciplines (including demography, social sciences, policy research, experimental work, epidemiology, adolescent health, health economics, experimental models, and clinical studies) and especially promoting cross-disciplinary research—while always centering a primary focus on human aging. In addition to publishing original scientific research, PLOS Aging and Health also seeks opinion pieces, editorials, and topical reviews from researchers in the field.
With this launch of PLOS Aging and Health, Hägg and Schrack aim "to build a community that will create a ripple effect, further enhancing aging as a true medical discipline of its own through innovation and excellence."
Interview with PLOS Aging and Health Editors-in-Chief Sarah Hägg and Jennifer Schrack
PLOS: What drew you to your area of work? What specific areas within the field of aging and health do you study?
Hägg: I suppose I have always had an interest in aging and diseases related to old age. My research focuses on understanding biological aging in human populations using large cohorts and registries. I use molecular epidemiology and computational approaches to study how to best assess such measures, how they relate to each other, and health outcomes over time. My special interest is mapping out causal pathways.
Schrack: With a background in movement science, I have always had a passion for preserving mobility and independence at older ages. Over the last decade, my interest has expanded to understanding how movement interacts with other systems, such as cognitive and sensory functions, and to developing more sensitive measures of movement behaviors to detect changes in health outcomes earlier in the pathological process.
PLOS: What does aging well mean to you? How can we support aging well at the individual, family, community, and societal levels?
Hägg: On an individual level, aging well means that you may continue to do the things you like and manage life well without independence. On a society level, aging well means less burden on the health care system and making use of the experience that a long life brings. Old individuals should have alternatives to choose from that will keep them thriving regardless of the level of independence. People may still want to work, travel, move to different housing, keep social networks, or engage in activities designed for seniors. In that way, they may both contribute better to society and maintain an active life free of disability as long as possible.
Schrack: Aging well means different things to different individuals, but for most, it means being able to do what matters most to them. PLOS Aging and Health can support that goal by publishing cutting-edge research that pushes the boundaries of what's been done before.
PLOS: Are there any potential or developing areas of cross-disciplinary research in the field of aging and health that you especially hope to see published in the journal?
Schrack: Interactions between physical, cognitive, and sensory health. We need to embrace the idea that aging affects the whole system, and we should capture that to the best of our ability. We also need to improve our ability to translate our research into actionable clinical and policy items.
PLOS: In the age of AI, how do you hope technological advances might help societies to age well? Are you particularly excited about the potential of any specific technology or application?
Hägg: I think there are many good examples of applications that we already have, like traveling using virtual reality glasses, getting help from an AI assistant or different monitors to keep track of your loved ones. In the future, these tools may be more advanced or scaled up. Most likely, many more technological devices with great potential will emerge.
Schrack: Virtual assistants and remote monitoring of health are two that are well in development. In the future, it would be nice to see smart homes that enable people to maintain independence longer.
PLOS: Can you describe the impact you hope PLOS Aging and Health will have on the global research community?
Hägg: I feel very excited about the launch of this journal and the first issue coming out. I am most excited about the fact that we want to connect people across disciplines and reach a global community of researchers with a common interest in aging. However, I am also humbled by the large task we have undertaken. It takes time to get a new journal accepted and appreciated in the field, so we are in it for the long run.
Schrack: I am excited for the opportunity to launch a new journal that considers all aspects of aging and embraces an open-access format. These are two very important aspects that provide the opportunity for scientists from all disciplines to advance the field of aging research.
PLOS: Why is open science and open access to research to the field important to you for this new journal and beyond?
Hägg: One of the reasons that I accepted to become a part of the new PAH journal is the values of PLOS, emphasizing open science and open access with a for non-profit structure with professional editorial staff. To conduct research today, you need to be open minded, and the global community should have access to publications and data to be able to do the best work possible. That said, there are many pitfalls that we need to monitor, making sure that all articles we publish adhere to the highest standards with methodological rigor. PAH have the muscles to do this work properly.
Schrack: PLOS has built a strong reputation for publishing open-access work. PAH will expand and continue the reach of open science across the globe. This is especially important as the world's population ages.
PLOS: Is there anything else you'd like to add as we prepare to publish PLOS Aging and Health's first issue, or any content from the first issue you'd like to spotlight?
Schrack: This first issue demonstrates the goal of PAH of publishing research from across disciplines. I hope it will continue to grow and flourish so scientists interested in aging research can learn from each other to build a stronger future for older adults.
Press preview: https://hubs.ly/Q04phDG80
In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS Aging and Health: https://plos.io/4h4IJUw
