Naming Racism, not Race, as a Determinant of Tobacco-Related Health Disparities

This issue of Nicotine & Tobacco Research includes articles investigating how commercial tobacco product use varies by “race/ethnicity” in the United States1–4 and a systematic review of factors influencing smoking cessation among pregnant Indigenous women in Australia.5 These articles highlight how, as people engaged in nicotine and tobacco research, we can improve how we engage stakeholders and conceptualize, conduct, and report research exploring racial/ethnic disparities. In this editorial, “tobacco” refers only to commercial tobacco products, recognizing that the tobacco plant is sacred for many Indigenous peoples. We use “race/ethnicity” to broadly represent sociopolitical constructs, recognizing that there are many dimensions to racial/ethnic identity that this conceptualization does not include.