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.