Journal Information

Mission

PLOS Digital Health drives transformation in the delivery of equitable and unbiased healthcare through ethically conducted, impactful, immediately accessible research from our diverse community of engineers, clinicians and researchers, as well as social scientists and industry leaders, from around the world.

Scope

PLOS Digital Health is an interdisciplinary Open Access journal publishing boundary-breaking original academic and clinical research that uses open science practices, digital tools, technologies, and data science to significantly advance human health and health care.

This community-driven journal reflects the full breadth of the digital health research environment, including social and ethical issues, with a strong focus on public health and big data management; including but not limited to, e-health, medical imaging and diagnostics, fairness and health disparities as outcomes from digital health research, patient accessibility and behavior, and precision medicine.

We publish primary research articles, commissioned opinions and reviews that explore digital health tools, methods, data and curation that advance health care technologies and decision-making or broaden accessible, effective care options for diverse communities around the world. Submissions describing methods, software, databases, or other tools that meet the journal’s criteria for advance, utility, validation, and availability are also welcomed.

PLOS Digital Health features engaging primary Research Articles, and Reviews, Opinions, and Editorials.

Choosing a Section

Selecting a section is required for submission and will be used to assign your manuscript to an appropriate Section Editor.

When selecting a section for research using artificial intelligence (including agentic or generative AI) or machine learning, please select the most relevant topical area. For example, an author should select ‘Remote Care, Delivery, and Interventions’ if the paper covers research on ML-supported telehealth.

Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing for Medical Decision Support
Covering research on the development and validation of AI, deep learning algorithms, and software for clinical decision support for structured data.

Medical Imaging
Covering the research on medical computer vision and the automated or assisted interpretation of visual medical data through AI and ML, as well as applications in medical robots and the surgical setting.

Informatics and Population Health
Covering research on medical informatics and its applications for populations across scales - from a single hospital to global communities - and improving our understanding of the determinants of health. Research on infodemics and mis or disinformation will be considered here.

Database Creation and Curation
Covering research on the responsible management of stakeholder data and associated technical, ethical, and feasibility considerations in the healthcare setting. Generating and validating synthetic datasets will also be considered here.

Diagnostics and Supporting Devices
Covering research on the technical development and validation of diagnostic tools that enable digital health interventions, such as digital phenotyping apps, software, wearable or ambient sensing devices.

Human Factors and Human Computer Interaction
Covering research on the interactions between the patient, the practitioner, and the technologies that facilitate the management and delivery of care in digital medicine.

Equity and Bias in Digital Health
Covering research on creating fair and equitable healthcare environments; from unbiased algorithms, to equitable health systems, and the different forms of health literacy.

Remote Care, Delivery, and Interventions
Covering research on the clinical practice of remote monitoring and delivery of care to patients outside of the hospital setting, including telehealth and mHealth approaches, as well as other modes of delivery and observation.

Implementation Science, Health Economics, and Health Policy
Covering research on the implementation and appraisal of digital health systems across scales, as well as research on the economics of care and related policy discussions.

Criteria for Publication

To be considered for publication in PLOS Digital Health, any given manuscript must satisfy the following criteria:

Originality
High importance and broad interest to community of researchers, engineers and clinicians working in the field of digital health
High methodological rigor and ethical standards
Substantial evidence for its conclusions
Clearly outlined utility and accessibility for the broader community
Follow appropriate standards and practice of open science

Consideration of complementary research

Scientists commonly refer to research as “scooped” when independent groups working on the same topic reach similar conclusions and one group publishes the results first. Although originality is one criterion for studies published in PLOS Digital Health, “scooped” manuscripts that confirm, replicate, extend, or are complementary to a recently published, significant advance are still eligible for consideration in PLOS Digital Health. The complementary manuscript must present equally or more rigorous findings than the published study and any submission must also meet the criteria for publication listed above. Authors of the complementary work have six months after the first article’s publication date to submit their manuscript to PLOS Digital Health. Studies must be performed comprehensively, and preliminary placeholder studies will not be considered.

Editorial Oversight

PLOS Digital Health is run by an international Editorial Board, headed by the Editor-in-Chief.

Editor-in-Chief

Leo Anthony Celi

Editorial Board

View the PLOS Digital Health Editorial Board.

Submit Your Manuscript

For more information about submitting to PLOS Digital Health, read our guidelines for preparing a submission.

Publication Fees

PLOS employs several business models to support equitable Open Access. A full list of our publication fees, funding initiatives and fee assistance information is available here.

Open Access

PLOS applies the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license to works we publish. Under this license, authors agree to make articles legally available for reuse, without permission or fees, for virtually any purpose. Anyone may copy, distribute, or reuse these articles, as long as the author and original source are properly cited. Learn more.

Journal and Article Metrics

All of our journals have a range of metrics available, including Article-Level Metrics (ALMs), SJR, CiteScore, and h-index. We do not consider Impact Factor to be a reliable or useful metric to assess the performance of individual articles but will provide the metric to individuals when specifically requested. Metrics for all of our journals, including publication timings and acceptance rates are available here.

Indexing and Archiving

To ensure research is widely accessible and discoverable, PLOS submits all of our titles to major indexing services for evaluation as soon as possible according to the schedule of the specific service. PLOS Digital Health began publishing its first articles in January 2022 and is currently indexed by the services listed below:

CABI Global Health, CAPES, CNKI, Dimensions, DOAJ, EconBiz, Google Scholar, J-Global, PubMed, PubMed Central, Scopus and Web of Science.

We are actively working with additional services such as MEDLINE and will update the list as soon as the journal is indexed. Please note, this is not a comprehensive list, as PLOS Digital Health is also indexed on a broader range of services than those referenced.

If you have specific questions about indexing for this or other titles, please contact us at customercare@plos.org.

See publishing details for all PLOS journal titles, including ISSN and indexing and archiving information.

PLOS

PLOS is a non-profit organization on a mission to drive open science forward with measurable, meaningful change in research publishing, policy, and practice. We believe in a better future where science is open to all, for all.

Contact

Visit the Contact page for details about whom to contact with different queries.