Aims and scope
npj Digital Medicine is an online open-access journal dedicated to publishing high-quality peer-reviewed research in all aspects of digital medicine including the clinical application and implementation of digital and mobile technologies, virtual healthcare, and novel applications of artificial intelligence and informatics.
The journal aims to guide innovation and the transformation of health and healthcare through the incorporation of novel digital and mobile technologies. There is an emphasis on four criteria when deciding if a manuscript is in scope: novelty, clinical relevance, scientific rigor, and digital innovation.
Example topics of interest
Clinical application and efficacy of novel mobile applications, monitors, sensors, software, and wearables
Clinical application of novel and validated artificial intelligence and machine learning models
Clinical informatics and digital transformation of clinical practice
Clinical trials testing the efficacy and interoperability of digital tools and devices
Digital medicine ethics, governance, policy, regulation, and security
Digital twins
Validated digital biomarkers
Virtual models of care
Topics potentially out of scope
Clinical research using off-the-shelf digital tools and artificial intelligence models
Histopathology studies, unless the use of digital tools is novel
Imaging studies, unless the use of digital tools is novel
Pre-clinical basic science
Purely observational studies and case studies
Small-scale, preliminary studies
For these studies, we generally recommend submitting your manuscript to an alternative npj Series journal, Communications Medicine, Scientific Reports, or a relevant BMC Series journal. We offer a comprehensive Transfers service and we can help guide your manuscript to an alternative Springer Nature journal if your manuscript is not suitable for peer review or publication in npj Digital Medicine.
Pre-submission inquiries
If you are unsure about the suitability of your work for the journal, please submit a pre-submission inquiry to our submission system with a cover letter and Abstract. Our Editors will be in touch to invite you to submit a full manuscript to the journal or advise you to submit to an alternative Springer Nature journal, where appropriate.
Benefits of publishing your work in the journal
By choosing to publish your work in npj Digital Medicine, you will benefit from
The visibility of publishing your work in the #1 ranking journal in the ‘Healthcare sciences and services’ category of Clarivate’s Web of Science (2021)
Engagement with an expert Editorial Team who care about your success
Personalized responses from our Editors and dedicated in-house team
Fair and consistent editorial decisions
Timely peer review (more about our metrics here)
npj Digital Medicine has a 2-year impact factor: 15.2 (2022), article downloads of 2,115,141 (2022) and 8 days from submission to the first editorial decision.