Journal Guide

Health Expectations promotes critical thinking and informed debate about all aspects of public participation in health care and health policy, including:

• Patient-centred care and quality improvement

• Patients' participation in treatment decisions

• Public perceptions of health services

• Citizen involvement health care policy making and priority-setting

• Methods for monitoring and evaluating participation

• Empowerment and consumerism

• Patients' role in safety and quality

Health Expectations is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal publishing original research, review articles and critical commentaries. It includes papers which clarify concepts, develop theories, and critically analyse and evaluate specific policies and practices. The Journal provides a multi-disciplinary and international forum in which researchers from a variety of backgrounds can present their work to other researchers, policy makers, health care professionals, managers and consumer advocates.

Keywords: Health Expectations promotes critical thinking and informed debate about all aspects of public participation in health care and health policy, including:

Publicación Oficial de la Sociedad Española de Salud Pública y Administración Sanitaria, resulta idónea para estar al día sobre los originales y revisiones más destacados en este ámbito profesional. Su prestigio la ha llevado a ser incluida en los principales ?ndices internacionales.6 NÚMEROS AL AÑO + 3 SUPLEMENTOSPara más información, consulte http://www.elsevier.es/gs

Information and communication technology are integral to all areas of health care, from organisational management to the delivery of patient care and health promotion. In this fast-moving arena, Health Informatics Journal provides an international forum for the exchange of practice, innovation and research. Representing the interdisciplinary nature of health informatics, the journal publishes peer reviewed contributions from the fields of informatics and telematics, the health professions, computer science, engineering and management.A free subscription to Health Informatics Journal is included as part of the membership to The British Medical Informatics Society. For further details about the society and how to become a member go to www.bmis.org.The Editor is keen to discuss papers on any subject relevant to healthcare informatics, but especially welcomes contributions on e-health, electronic patient records, e-learning in healthcare, web-based information services; support for clinical decision-making, knowledge management, quality control, evidence-based practice, modeling of healthcare service usage; healthcare applications of mobile and pervasive technologies, assistive technology; evaluation and use of healthcare IT, design and development methodologies for healthcare IT, security and confidentiality; future developments in technologies and applications.For more information on contributing to Health Informatics Journal, please email the Editor, Rob Procter: rnp@inf.ed.ac.uk.

Health Information Science and Systems is a multidisciplinary journal that aims to integrate computer science/information technology with health science and services, embracing information science research coupled with topics related to the modeling, design, development, integration, and management of health information systems.Health Information Science and Systems is an international, archival, peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary, open access journal covering all aspects of the health information sciences and the systems that support this information. The scope includes i) medical/health/biomedicine information resources, such as patient medical records, devices and equipments, software and tools to capture, store, retrieve, process, analyze, optimize the use of information in the health domain, ii) data management, data mining, and knowledge discovery, all of which play a key role in decision making, management of public health, examination of standards, privacy and security issues, iii) development of new architectures and applications for health information systems. Health Information Science and Systems' topical coverage includes, but is not restricted to, the following subjects:Information systems including electronic health records, hospital information systems, data exchange and integrationHealth service delivery, workflowData mining, knowledge discovery, decision making supportSystem interoperability, ontology and standardizationBioinformaticsBiomedical informaticsBrain informaticsTelemedicineHealth data managementHealth database and information-system integrationHealth information extractionHealth information servicesHealth information-system modeling, design, and developmentHealth information visualizationSupport tools and languages for health information-system developmentHe, alth Information Science and Systems seeks articles on research methods and conceptual insights that are healthcare motivated but could potentially be applied broadly in diverse domains, both within and outside healthcare context. Methods may be drawn from information technology, computer science, bioinformatics, biomedicine, decision science, cognitive science, psychology, management science, and statistics. Articles emphasizing information management and knowledge representation/modeling issues that arise from the storage and use of health informatics will also be considered. System descriptions are welcome if they illustrate and substantiate the underlying methodology.

Health Information and Libraries Journal (HILJ) is a European journal of international and interdisciplinary interest to practitioners, researchers, and students in the library and health sectors. Its objectives include promoting debate about new health information developments with an emphasis on communicating evidence-based information both in the management and support of healthcare services. The editors welcome original health information articles on current practice, research projects or the development of new resources or services. Review articles are also welcome. Health Information and Libraries Journal is the official journal of the Health Libraries Group of the UK Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. The scope of the journal encompasses (but is not restricted to):

Health Interactions is intended to be a broad scope, international, interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed Open Access journal which publishes research focusing on health from a wide range of disciplines, including, economics, public health, policy, psychology, and sociology and is part of our Elevate Series. This means that you will receive a concierge-level publishing experience, including dedicated support from our expert in-house Editorial team, with guaranteed response times of within 48 hours, an initial decision on whether your article will be peer reviewed within 5 working days, and a first decision on your research within an average of 22 working days. 

Health Marketing Quarterly is directed at academicians and practitioners who are concerned with the concepts, practice, and research of health care marketing in today's complex environment. The journal addresses important contemporary issues in the use of marketing by health care organizations like hospitals, individual practitioners, and public health care organizations. This includes the use of marketing to promote, position, deter, enhance health care organizations/issues, and the development of the marketing literature on both a conceptual and empirical basis.Contributions are encouraged which include analysis of existing practice, methods and programs; application of new ideas and methods; and research on various aspects of health care marketing. The Editors also welcome proposals for special issues. Publication office: Taylor & Francis, Inc., 325 Chestnut Street, Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106.

Medicine's nuclear age continues to be a guiding force today, demanding current information dedicated to radiation and its effects. Health Physics identified this need over forty years ago and continues to help health physicists, nuclear chemists, and medical doctors stay on the cutting edge of the discipline. The journal's unique features allow readers to communicate freely on the topics that interest them the most, through original papers, forums and editorials. Coverage ranges from epidemiology to physiological responses with reports on the latest findings in both theoretical and applied disciplines of radiation safety. A quarterly supplement, Operational Radiation Safety, deals with practical application of the skills essential to this field.Published MonthlyWebsite: www.health-physics.com.

Health Policy is intended to be a vehicle for the exploration and discussion of health policy and health system issues and is aimed in particular at enhancing communication between health policy and system researchers, legislators, decision-makers and professionals concerned with developing, implementing, and analysing health policy, health systems and health care reforms, primarily in high-income countries outside the U.S.A.Health care policies and reforms are made at an ever-increasing pace in countries around the world - and policy-makers are increasingly looking to other countries for solutions to their own problems. Health Policy is committed to support this international dialogue to ensure that policies are not just copied but used and adapted based on the specific problems and objectives as well as the respective context. The journal encourages the submission of short, full-length, comparative and review articles (as well as groups of articles in "special sections") which address:1. What is happening in terms of policies, reforms, regulation etc. of health systems; 2. Where the ideas are coming from, i.e. whether they are "imported" from another country or developed within the country, and how innovative they are they in comparison to other countries;3. Why it is happening, e.g. as a consequence of a change in government, popular dissatisfaction or (perceived) unsustainable cost increases, and what are the objectives;4. The actors involved (both governmental as well as non-governmental), incl. their roles, their opinions and their strength in the decision and implementation process;5. Intended and, especially, unintended effects of these policies or reforms on the health system in terms of access, appropriateness, costs, effectiveness, quality, patient experience and equity etc.; and6. Their final consequences in terms of health outcomes, financial protection and responsiveness to the population's legitimate expectations, i.e. a performance assessment of reforms and health systems.To achieve the journal's objectives, authors are encouraged to write in a non-technical style, which is understandable to health policy practitioners and specialists from other disciplines and in other countries.Electronic usage:An increasing number of readers access the journal online via ScienceDirect, one of the world's most advanced web delivery systems for scientific, technical and medical information.Average monthly article downloads for this journal: 35,538* Figure is an average based on full text articles downloaded monthly via ScienceDirect between July 2010 and July 2011

Health Policy OPEN complements Health Policy. It shares Health Policy's objective to "be a vehicle for the exploration and discussion of health policy and health system issues and is aimed in particular at enhancing communication between health policy and system researchers, legislators, decision-makers and professional concerned with developing, implementing, and analysing health policy, health systems and health care reforms."

Health Policy OPEN (HPO) does not concentrate "on high income countries outside the USA." Instead, HPO offers a truly global perspective. "Global" refers both to geography, i.e., the whole world from low- to high-income countries, from the Americas via Europe and Africa and Asia, and universally important topics such as accessibility, coverage, quality, performance, efficiency, cost-effectiveness and sustainability of health systems.

Health Policy OPEN is based on the observation that "health care policies and reforms are made at an ever-increasing pace in countries around the world—and policy-makers are increasingly looking to other countries for solutions to their own problems." It is thus also "committed to support this international dialogue to ensure that policies are not just copied but used and adapted based on the specific problems and objectives as well as the respective context." Particular emphasis will be devoted to issues of global health policy¹ and the development of Sustainable Development Goals 3 (SDG 3) and Universal Health Coverage.

Besides featuring articles on specific health system, policy and reform issues, it will contribute to providing "basic" information in the field, thus helping establish a common understanding of the field. This will be done by publishing series, e.g., on health systems around the world or "key concepts visualized and explained but also the opportunity to publish study protocols to rigorously study health system features and their impact.

The editorial team will be comprised of editors working on Health Policy and new associate editors representing a global scope.

fn1 ¹ E.g., Decision making in global health; Institutions in global health (WHO, WTO, World Bank, UNAIDS, NGOs, States, Private companies, Foundations); Global health governance (frameworks, politics, financing); Comparative perspective on global and regional health policy/practices; Financing global health policy (World Bank, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Global); Human resources and capacity in global health.

Health Policy and Planning blends such individual specialities as epidemiology, health and development economics, management and social policy, planning and social anthropology into a lively academic mix that constantly stimulates and keeps readers abreast of global health, focusing on issues of particular relevance to low and middle income countries. Health Policy and Planning's aim is to improve the design, implementation and evaluation of health policies in low- and middle-income countries through providing a forum for publishing high quality research and original ideas, for an audience of policy and public health researchers and practitioners. HPP is published six times a year (bimonthly). As well as the high overall quality required for publication in an international journal, authors should address HPP's readership: national and international policy makers, practitioners, academics and general readers with a particular interest in health policy issues and debates. Manuscripts that fail to set out the international debates to which the paper contributes, and to draw out policy lessons and conclusions, are more likely to be rejected, returned to the authors for redrafting prior to being reviewed, or undergo a slower acceptance process. In addition, economists should note that papers accepted for publication in HPP will consider the broad policy implications of an economic analysis rather than focusing primarily on the methodological or theoretical aspects of the study. Public health specialists writing about a specific health problem or service should discuss the relevance of the analysis for the broader health system. Those submitting health policy analyses should draw on relevant bodies of theory in their analysis, or justify why they have not, rather than only presenting a narrative based on empirical data.