World Diabetes Day is observed every year on 14 November, marking the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who received the Nobel Prize for his role in the discovery of insulin in 1923. Since its launch in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization, the campaign has grown into a global movement to improve diabetes prevention, care, and support.

This year’s theme, ‘Diabetes and well-being’, focuses on the relationship between diabetes and the workplace. A recent review article in Nature Reviews Endocrinology by Tomic and colleagues explores how diabetes mellitus affects employment and outlines future research directions to guide evidence-based workplace policies and support.

To mark World Diabetes Day, we are sharing Research Communities contributions and collections from across the Springer Nature community that explore the challenges of managing diabetes as a public health issue. These contributions reflect our commitment to supporting the Sustainable Development Goals, with particular focus on SDG 3: "Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages".

Research Communities Blogs 

In a blog post, Senior Publisher Anna Lockhart introduces Dr Jennifer Sargent, Editor-in-Chief of Metabologia - a new sister journal to Diabetologia, the flagship journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD). Metabologia will publish articles that explore the clinical, translational and experimental aspects of diabetes, obesity and metabolic diseases, including complications and comorbidities, psychosocial aspects of the conditions, nutrition and exercise, and health economics and technology. 

Professor Gaetano Santulli, the Editor-in-Chief of Cardiovascular Diabetology – Endocrinology Reports summarises perspectives from his recent Editorial on ‘From Needles to Pills: The New Era of Weight-Loss Medicine’ in a blog post that discusses the importance of oral GLP-1 therapies in providing easier, more accessible treatment to patients with obesity compared to injectable therapies that can be more intimidating and inconvenient for the patient. Maja E. Marcus and Sebastian Vollmer also share the story behind their recent paper in BMC Global and Public Health in a Behind the Paper blog, exploring their motivations for investigating the behavioral and socioeconomic factors limiting uptake of free NCD screening services in Indonesia.

Our Senior Publisher Victoria Hentschke also recently held Q&As with the Cardiovascular Diabetology Associate Editors of 2025, Dr. Didac Mauricio and Dr. Francesco Paneni, in which they discuss the rewards and challenges of editorial work. Didem Sanver and Victoria Hentschke also highlight some recent research highlights from across BMC Endocrine Disorders and Cardiovascular Diabetology,  reflecting the shared objectives of both journals in advancing molecular, translational, and clinical research into diabetes. Additionally, as part of the #KnowTheAuthors initiative,  Ruijie Xie provides a 2 minute video summary of a recent article on Improving 10-year cardiovascular risk prediction in patients with type 2 diabetes with metabolomics which can be viewed here.

Another Q&A with Dr. Daniel Vegh, Editorial Board Member (EBM) for BMC Oral Health, discusses the importance of the interrelation between diabetes and oral health, focusing on the clinical and preventive research activities of the Semmelweis University Diabetes Dental Research Group. In another post, Dr. Yoshifumi Saisho (EBM for BMC Endocrine Disorders) discusses his career researching the role of beta cell dysfunction in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes.  

Open Access Book Chapters

Our Open Access Books portfolio also explores the link between diabetes and well-being. For example, a recent title on Skin Necrosis features the chapter Skin Necrosis of Diabetic Foot and Its Management by Joon Pio Hong, covering ulceration statistics, necrosis pathology, and surgical approaches. Another chapter by J. Karim Ead, Miranda Goransson, and David G. Armstrong explores this topic further, whilst Miruna Negulescu’s chapter on Necrobiosis Lipoidica examines a rare chronic skin condition often associated with type 1 diabetes.

Journal Collections 

Across Springer Nature, we have a number of open Collections that welcome submissions from researchers exploring this year’s theme of diabetes and well-being. 

Diabetologia are welcoming submissions to their special issue on Global Opportunities and Challenges.  Scientific Reports are also welcoming submissions on Chronic disease management and older adults, with diabetes being a key focus due to its growing prevalence and impact.

At BMC, Cardiovascular Diabetology are highlighting a number of research topics related to the diabetes–cardiovascular interrelationship, including: 

• Organoids as emerging models in diabetes and cardiovascular research 
• The role of exerkines in diabetes and cardiovascular health 
• Cardiometabolic and hepatic interconnections: from mechanisms to clinical implications 

At their companion journal Cardiovascular Diabetology – Endocrinology Reports, open Collections include Cardiorelated aspects in thyroid disorders and Artificial intelligence in cardiovascular endocrinology: advancing precision in cardiometabolic care.

BMC Medicine currently have two open collections on Diabetes and infectious disease and The diagnosis and management of gestational diabetes. BMC Endocrine Disorders are also welcoming submissions related to diabetes and well-being, including collections on diabetes in older adults, diabetes in children and adolescents, and continuous glucose monitoring. 

Finally, a collection on Systemic disease and oral health at BMC Oral Health has a specific focus on research exploring the impact of diabetes on oral health. 

Get Involved! 

To find out more out World Diabetes Day and the activities and events occurring within the community visit the official website and explore the hashtags #WorldDiabetesDay and #DiabetesLife on social media.