Uncertainty is often a defining feature of migration trajectories, yet the health implications of this have so far received little scholarly attention. The INTER.SECT team at Bielefeld University conducted a conceptual review to examine how migration trajectories and related uncertainties have been conceptualised and operationalised in health research. This provided an overview of the existing research that combines the three concepts of uncertainty, migration trajectories, and health. The review synthesised 66 publications that addressed not only legal but also future-related, economic, and social uncertainties, and primarily associated these with negative (mainly mental) health outcomes. The review has recently been published in Social Science & Medicine and offers a basis for further development of concepts and empirical approaches in this field of research.

Publication link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118792