January 12, 2026
The Distinguished Dozen: 2025 Journal of Adolescent Health Articles Making Distinguished Contributions to Adolescent and Young Adult Health
The Journal of Adolescent Health (JAH) is the official publication of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. One of the society’s primary goals is the development, synthesis, and dissemination of scientific and scholarly knowledge unique to the health needs of young people. Now in our sixth year, the JAH Distinguished Dozen initiative amplifies particularly important contributions to the field published in JAH in 2025. Articles are selected based on the results of peer review. JAH asks all peer reviewers: “Does this manuscript merit special consideration in the Journal’s monthly and/or annual collections of particularly important research?” and “Is this manuscript particularly timely? Should these results be published as quickly as possible?” Peer reviewers who responded “yes” to either question were then asked to provide their rationale. The Journal’s Editor-in-Chief, Deputy Editor, and Associate Editors reviewed these nominations and selected one dozen articles to be highlighted for making especially distinguished contributions to the field of adolescent and young adult health.
The 2025 JAH Distinguished Dozen articles examine important risks and opportunities to improve the well-being of adolescents and young adults. Articles address important topics using a variety of research methods across different countries, and several include intentional strategies to capture youth voices. Two articles are linked to invited editorials that place results within a broad context for a wide audience.