Information for Authors & Editorial Policies

  • Open Access Statement
  • Editorial Focus
  • Submission Categories
  • Publishing Schedule
  • Editorial Review Time
  • Audience
  • Authorship, Contributions, and Related Information
  • Criterion for Publication
  • Language Editing
  • Fees and Publishing Model
  • Waiver Policy
  • Refund Policy
  • Copyright
  • Financial and Non-Financial Relationships and Activities 
  • Creative Commons License 
  • Embargo Policy
  • Repository Policy, Self-archiving and Digital preservation
  • Post publication discussions and corrections
  • Diversity Commitment
  • Transparent Peer Review (TPR) Beginning January 2023
  • Journal Pillars

Open Access Statement

BHTY is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or their institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

Editorial Focus:

Blockchain in Healthcare Today (BHTY) is the leading international open access journal that amplifies and disseminates platform approaches in healthcare and distributed ledger technology research and innovations. Fields of interest include healthcare information systems, leveraging data science tools and techniques, interoperability, consent mechanisms, privacy preservation, security of health data, clinical trials management, supply chain management, revenue cycle automation, immersive technologies, tokenomics, governance, regulation, network technologies, clinical computing, cryptography, and failed experiments in this expanding specialty field of research.

Original manuscripts and substantiated opinions on a broad spectrum of topics may be submitted that reflect real world impact, outcomes and scaled initiatives, policy, health and social sciences, mathematical and engineering theory and methodologies, economics, and legal and regulatory transformation in healthcare. 

In addition, BHTY will consider and encourages submissions that present:

  • Negative research results and failed market initiatives. These are theoretical or experimental negative result(s) that do not support a hypothesis. Note: the study will exhibit rigorous conduct. 

BHTY publishes a BLOG, where authors can share experiences and reflections including commentary, discussion and debate on any aspect of healthcare, policy, and technology around the globe. The submission should be approximately 1000 words and referenced in the Vancouver style.

BHTY Submission Categories

BHTY accepts original research that has not appeared in the public domain (meaning has not been previously published in print or online). BHTY will accept manuscripts from pre-print servers. 

Manuscripts of interest will present original research (see descriptions below) or establish advances or failures/negative research utilizing evidence-based outcomes in the following categories:

  • Original Research
  • Proof of Concept/Pilots/Methodologies
  • Use Case
  • Narrative/Systematic Reviews/Meta-Analysis
  • *Clinical Case Studies
  • *Technical Briefs & Reports
  • *Editorial or Discussion

*1,800 word limit with references

Origial Research: detailed studies reporting original research in which blockchain technology has played a significant role will be considered for peer review. This may include hypothesis, background study, methods, results, interpretation of findings, and a discussion of possible implications. Randomized, controlled experiments, case studies, pilot studies, and meta-analysis are examples of original research that BHTY accepts for publication. Where possible, BHTY encourages authors include information related to economic market implications. Original research should include a section on “Methods,” which details the criteria for selection and of the data presented. Unless specified, there are no word counts or limitations. 

An example published in BHTY is:

  • DSCSA Solution Through Blockchain Technology: Drug Tracking, Tracing, and Verification at the Last Mile of the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain, DOI: https://doi.org/10.30953/bhty.v1.34

Proof of Concept/Pilots/Methodologies: demonstrate feasibility to verify real world application, potential value and learnings. Examples such as interoperability, system integration, API, production and deployment may be topics. If possible, BHTY asks author(s) to include examination of the economic impact the method, product or service may have on the marketplace.

Examples published in BHTY:

Use Case: this is a description of the way in which an end-user will engage with a system and describes what that system does and defines the features to be implemented and potentially, the resolution of any errors that may be encountered. Use cases are particularly valuable to the market to help explain system behaviors and process and may also provide a benchmark reporting experiential cost and complexities and can include devices or business processes.

Examples published in BHTY:

Review Article: these articles provide an overview of existing literature, with emphasis on blockchain technology, often-identifying specific problems or issues and analyzing information from available published work on the topic with a balanced perspective. Review articles can be of three types: literature reviews, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses. Note: meta-analyses should be submitted as original research. In addition, authors are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Collection Development Guidelines. Manuscripts should be well referenced.

 Examples published in BHTY :

Clinical Case Studies: these submissions may report on clinical trials and results of controlled studies in which blockchain technology played a significant role. This can include clinical trial management processes, protocol development and approval, error reporting, quality assurance procedures, safety, privacy issues, consent, supply chain management, drug and device deployments and cost of experiments.

Technical Briefs and Reports: technical briefs may capture design, challenges, new technologies and applications, standards, performance analysis and optimization to communicate information obtained through a process of technical or experimental work. Actual implementation experience should be included where possible along with reports of metrics to measure components is highly recommended. Technical Briefs are limited to 1500 words. 1,800 word limit.

Special Reports: encompass manuscripts that are neither reviews nor original reports of primary research. These Special Reports may include consensus statements, guidelines, statements from a reputable task force or work group, or recommendations. Submissions must be original, based upon a high level of evidence, have contemporaneous relevance to blockchain implementation, and not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Submissions from groups must explicitly state all contributing members in developing the work including affiliations. Special Reports should not exceed 15,000 words of body text and 250 words for the abstract. A limit of 100 references is recommended. Submitting supplemental files, and use of tables and figures to summarize critical points is strongly encouraged.

Editorial or Discussion: these may be reviews of fundamental concepts or prevalent ideas in the field of blockchain technology presenting a review of a single concept or a few related concepts, and may represent an expert opinion or point of view, alert(s) of potential problem(s), observation(s), comment(s), controversies, opinion(s) presenting a single concept or several related concepts. An editorial is typically by one author and a discussion usually includes at least two authors or more. 1,800 word limit.

Examples published in BHTY are:

Publishing Schedule

BHTY is published on a continuous basis to reflect a dynamic marketplace. Continuous publishing means articles are published as they are accepted, or, on a rolling basis, to ensure accurate reflection of developments, trends, and the most current knowledge available, while providing a forum for developing shared work and consensus.

Beginning in 2024, BHTY will publish three (3) issues: April, August, and December. Respective deadlines will be March 1, July 1 and November 1.

  • In 2021, BHTY manuscript Acceptance Rate was 46%.
  • The number of Days to Accept a final manuscript in 2021 was 52.

Editorial Review Time

Papers submitted are subject to rigorous peer review to ensure that the research published is 'good science.' Peer review, and author revisions, are often the lengthiest part of the manuscript review process.

Journals usually ask reviewers to complete their reviews within 3-4 weeks. However, few journals have a mechanism to enforce the deadline, which is why it can be hard to predict how long the peer review process will take. Highly technical papers and papers from niche subject areas can take longer to review.

Manuscripts are sent out for review electronically, and all correspondence takes place via e-mail. Traditional, high-quality peer-review standards are applied to all manuscripts submitted to the journal.

All manuscripts and associated material submitted to BHTY remain confidential while under review and reviewers are informed of this in their agreements, at onboarding, and throughout the review process.

Proofs and reprints

Corresponding authors of accepted submissions are sent galley proofs with final production queries for stylistic changes and minor edits. Corrections should be relayed to the Managing Editor as soon as possible to facilitate publication. ORCID IDs will be added at this stage if not provided at submission. The corresponding author will receive an invoice for the APC during this time. Manuscripts are published upon receipt of payment. The production phase typically takes up to two weeks to resolve queries and we ask authors to facilitate turn-around.

Reprints and e-Prints may be ordered once published with a request send to the publisher at t.cenaj@partnersindigitalhealth.com.

BHTY Audience

Thousands of readers from over 118+ countries visit BHTY’s website.

Over 350,000+ total reader engagements have been logged since launch in March 2018 .

BHTY's audience includes leadership from research, payer organizations, business, universities, consultants, entrepreneurs/startups, biopharma/device/pharmacy, government, policy, NGO, engineers, health information technologists, cybersecurity, auditors, computational engineers, computer scientists, data scientists, healthcare network users, public health, hospitals and innovation labs across the globe and invites all those with an interest in the latest knowledge on blockchain technology and DLT to its community.

Authorship and related information

Manuscripts are exclusively submitted to BHTY, with the understanding they have not been published elsewhere, in any form, and will not be submitted elsewhere, unless declined by BHTY.

If a manuscripts was submitted to another journal and declined, the author should disclose why and what attempts have been made to revise the manuscript for resubmission. Authors are responsible for all statements made in the article and references cited.

BHTY follows the ICMJE recommendations for scholarly work in medical journals, as it aspires to adhere to the highest standards of scholarly publication practices. Details may be obtained here. BHTY requires these guidelines and recommendations are met for authors submitting papers to BHTY for review and publication.

Below you will find the "Role of Authors and Contributors" as outlined by ICMJE. Should you wish for a more detailed explanation, please click here. All authors must meet all four criteria below.

  1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
  2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
  3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
  4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

BHTY urges researchers to consider researcher contributions and authorship criteria in multi-region collaborations in effort to promote greater equity and transparency in research collaborations.  Researchers should follow the recommendations set out in the Global Code of Conduct for Research in Resource-Poor Settings when designing, executing and reporting research along with a disclosure statement in the manuscript regarding the global ethics code.

Consortia Authors, a collective of authors, or large multi-author group, can be listed as a consortium or "group name." Individual authors can be listed on the main author and consortium lists. All authors within a consortium must be listed at the end of the paper. As per the ICMJE, "when submitting a manuscript authored by a group, the corresponding author should specify the group name if one exists, and clearly identify the group members who can take credit and responsibility for the work as authors." 

Non-Author Contributors who do not meet the criteria above can be listed in the Acknowledgments section of the manuscript. See the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines for "Non-Author Contributors" here." Obtaining funding, collecting of data, or overall supervision of a research group does not qualify authorship. Authors are required to include a statement of responsibility in the manuscript that specifies the contribution of every author. 

ORCID IDs should be included for all authors.

Criteria for Publication

Your manuscript submission should represent the following:

  1. Originality and practicality in the global advancement of blockchain and intersecting technologies in healthcare
  2. Importance to research, practice, or changes in the field
  3. Relevance to the BHTY audience and those with an interest in blockchain technology and innovations in healthcare
  4. Rigorous methodology, with conclusions justified by the evidence presented
  5. Adherence to the highest ethical standards

Language Editing (https://pdh.editage.com/)

All manuscripts must be submitted in English and meet the high-quality standards set by the journal. Writing should be clear and concise with the correct use of grammar and spelling. If you are unsure whether your manuscript meets BHTY’s requirements, we recommend asking a native English-speaking colleague to review it prior to submission. There are also agencies that can help; for example, we partner with Editage to offer a Language Editing Service. This includes a Premium Editing Service which ensures your manuscript meets BHTY’s formatting requirements and supports you in the preparation of your cover letter.Authors from economically developing countries or nations should consider registration with AuthorAid, a global research community that provides networking, mentoring, resources and training for researchers.

Eloquenti is another online service for professional proofreaders and editors. You can search freelancers based on subject matter, experience, and client ratings based on budget and timeline.

Indexing

BHTY is indexed in 13 databases:

  • PubMed (Accepted December 2022)
  • SCOPUS (Accepted January 2022)
  • Engineering Village
  • ProQuest (three databases)
  • ScienceOpen
  • Index Copernicus
  • Unpaywall
  • NEBIS
  • GFMER
  • Google Scholar 
  • Public Knowledge Project Metadata Harvester

Fees and Publishing Model

BHTY’s Article Processing Charge (APC) for the international specialty journal is $1150.00 USD for original research articles, $1450.00 USD for Special Reports (15,000 words and upwards of 100 references), and $650.00 USD for students currently enrolled at an academic institution. Please plan accordingly. Please see below for details regarding the BHTY waiver policy. THERE IS NO FEE FOR EDITORIALS, OPINIONS, OR BLOGS.

For articles submitted that are accepted from PeerRef, authors of refereed preprints will receive a 10% waiver on the journal's APC.

If changes are required and requested by the author(s) post publication, a flat $350.00 USD fee will be invoiced for revision(s).

BHTY is pleased to offer authors the option of paying their APC with digital currency (Bitcoin). Contact the publisher for more information if you would like to use this payment method at t.cenaj@partnersindigitalhealth.com

The BHTY Revenue Model consists primarily of commercial support and related initiatives conducted under the auspices of the journal, conferences, and innovation competition.

What does the article-processing charge (APC) cover?
Costs are involved in every stage of the publication process, including software, platform hosting, copyediting, production, proofs, graphics, archiving on dedicated servers, time stamping article provenance on the distributed ledger, membership to appropriate scholarly publishing organizations such as STM, COPE, Altmetric, ScienceOpen and many others, management of database and lists, social media dissemination and writing, market research and journal amplification, coding for journal plugins and new features, and compensation for work performed and commissioned (this does not include peer review or board members).

We ask authors to pay an APC if their original research article is accepted for publication. Once published, authors can immediately post their article on non-commercial web sites, institutional repositories, or other free public servers. The APC only applies to original research published in BHTY.

Shoudl your library or institution be interested in a Publiish and Read Agreement for special pricing, pleae contact the publisher at t.cenaj@partnersindigitalhealth.com

Waiver policy

BHTY has a waiver policy for authors from lower-middle income countries as per the World Bank (click here for details). We give fair consideration to all submissions, and believe this should not be linked to the ability to pay.

Where limited funding is available to authors, BHTY can provide a complete or partial waiver to authors on request, AFTER, an article is accepted. We review papers based strictly on MERIT. The quality and contribution it makes to the sector supersedes the APC. We believe this is paramount for fair and open exchange. 

Refund policy

There are no refunds for Open Access articles once published. 

If changes are required and requested by the author(s) post publication, a flat $350.00 USD fee will be invoiced for revision(s).

Copyright

Authors contributing to BHTY agree to publish their articles under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License that allows reuse, subject only to the use being non-commercial, and to the article being fully attributed. Authors hold and retain copyright of their work, with first publication rights granted to Blockchain in Healthcare Today (BHTY). BHTY makes all open access articles freely available from the date of publication.

Financial and Non-Financial Relationships and Activities 

BHTY editors are not paid a fixed salary. Editors, editorial board members, and peer reviewers are required to declare all relevant financial and non-financial relationships and activities which are published here. Reviewers do not participate in the submission process should they have a financial and/or non-financial relationship or activity to declare.

Likewise, authors are required to disclose financial and non-financial relationships and activities that might bias the interpretation of results. All BHTY manuscript submissions must include an uploaded ‘Financial and Non-Financial Relationships and Activities’ document. For more information please visit Manuscript Preparation here.

Creative Commons License

BHTY publishes articles under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which  provides authors non-commercial reuse, and full attribution from the date of publication. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0. Journalists, PIOs and bloggers must credit BHTY as Source when quoting articles, and provide a link to the journal and/or the original article with the DOI number cited.

Embargo Policy 

There is no embargo.  Abstracts of work may be presented at scientific conferences.

Repository Policy, Self-archiving and Digital preservation

Authors may deposit a copy of their paper in an institutional or other repository of their choice for the following versions, without embargo:

  • *Submitted version
  • Accepted version (author accepted manuscript)
  • Published version (version of record)

*Submitted versions may already be available on preprint servers, have undergone open peer review, and have already been assigned a DOI number. BHTY accepts these manuscript and article submissions.

Authors should note BHTY is a gold open access journal  which makes  research output freely and immediately available online on publication, and automatically deposits open access articles in PubMed Central (PMC). Please note that there may be an interval of a few weeks between publication and the appearance of an article in PubMed Central, depending on the time required to process the deposit.

BHTY will also correct known copies of the article in databases such as PubMed and CorssMark, but it is the author’s responsibility to update articles in institutional repositories.

Authors are encouraged to deposit the final published PDF in their institutional repository or any suitable subject repository on publication. A link to BHTY’s website is required to ensure integrity, authenticity and provenance of the scientific record, with the online published version identified as the incontrovertible version of record and include the DOI number. The Article Proof of Origin (APOO) may also be referenced.

Post publication discussions and corrections

BHTY encourages questions and debate post publication. This can be exercised as a letter to the editor, opinion piece to the journal, commentary can be posted on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Medium or Substack. Additionally, PubPeer can be used as an external moderated site. For details, see https://pubpeer.com/static/about.

All authors are encouraged to register their article on PubPeer by posting the article DOI number and encouraging commentary. The registration link is: https://pubpeer.com/register

Mechanisms for correcting, revising or retracting articles post publication are made on CrossMark and corresponding details will also be timestamped on the blockchain.

Diversity Commitment

Partners in Digital Health (PDH) is committed to supporting diversity, inclusion and egalitarianism across scientific and academic communication and in publishing practices.

This belief is reflected in our internal journal practices, editorial and peer review boards, in published content, journal and community outreach and ambassador chapters to demonstrate the portfolio’s integrity, trust and values to communities far and wide in tearing down any barriers and borders relating to knowledge, economics, age, race, gender, sexual orientation, geography and political views. The founder and publisher has stated repeatedly since the journal’s inception, “All are welcome to the table.” The journal maintains an objective, unbiased and fair balanced posture at all times. 

Priorities and actions include:

  • Manuscript submission and Authorship 
  • Peer reviewers
  • Editorial and Advisory Board Members
  • ConV2X Conference and Pitch Competition
  • Fees and business model

We encourage all global citizens from all countries to learn, share and participate as equals. 

We continuously address equity and inclusion in our portfolio in these areas and others as needed, to ensure our ongoing commitment to global equality, diversity and inclusion.

Transparent Peer Review (TPR) Beginning January 2023

TPR will be an elective alternative to the current double blind anonymous journal peer review offered

BHTY is pleased to add Transparent Peer Review as an option for authors to consider and participate. Beginning January 2023, authors of manuscript submissions can opt in to have a complete accounting and history of their manuscript peer review reports — including their own responses to commentary reports — published at the same time as their manuscript. Readers will be able to see the transparent exchange(s) between authors and reviewers.

Why are we doing it?

Open peer review injects an authenticity that enhances trust in research and scholarly reviews. Furthermore, it adds value to early-career researcher education. Many of our journal authors are early and mid career researchers in the two exciting fields we service. Our editors are highly collegial in approach and guidance - with authors that thoroughly appreciate feedback and commentary. Transparent Peer Review will provide and educate a far broader audience across learning environments and re-inject trust for research in academia, and across public media. It is imperative the medical community, consumers, and public media believe findings to share trusted leanings, both positive and negative.

Benefits

  • Authors receive useful feedback to improve the quality of their work and demonstrate their manuscript has undergone rigorous peer review; providing more accountability for authors, reviewers, and editors during the peer review process
  • May share important additional arguments for increased transparency, thought, and discussion
  • May decrease unfair reviewer reports, unwanted tone, and language, review fraud, bias, manipulation of results, or unfair advantages
  • Published reports can be used to educate early career researchers and new editors to gain a complete understanding of editor decision-making processes; while editors can obtain heightened recognition for work and efforts
  • Transparent Peer Review benefits research and increases overall market trust in results

How it will work

  1. Authors and reviewers can choose to opt in or out of the process at submission
  2. Authors are under no obligation to take part and can opt out anytime
    1. Authors must follow guidelines published on the journal Submission Portal add ADD their preference for Transparent Peer Review in their COVER letter.
    2. The manuscript will be reviewed double blind and anonymous should reviewers NOT want to participate.
  • If an author, reviewer, or editor, chooses to opt out, the review process for that paper will not be published and remain anonymous and double blind
  1. Reviewerscan choose whether their reviews are signed or remain anonymous
  2. If a reviewer is invited to review a manuscript and wishes to participate, the reviewer simply needs to accept the invitation. An accepted open review invitation from the managing editor will serve as consent to participate in the transparent peer review.
  3. If the reviewer is not comfortable with their review being published, they should decline to review the manuscript.
  4. Publication - open review reports will be published in full and labeled as “Supporting Information” with the same DOI number as the article, alongside the journal article. This gives readers full access to the peer review process from submission to publication and includes a comprehensive peer review history, posted with the article formats.

Notes:

  • BHTY will continue to use double blind anonymous peer review during the review process as the default if open review is declined
  • Review materials are not made available until the article is published
  • Open Transparent Peer Review will be published online only if the author of the manuscript has opted in and the manuscript is accepted by editors.
  • If the author chooses to participate in a transparent peer review, the anonymous reviews and the author’s response to the reviewers’ comments will be published as supporting information, freely available alongside the article at the time of publication.
  • In cases where a manuscript has been transferred from a journal that does not participate in Transparent Peer Review to a journal that does, any reviews submitted to the original journal will not be published.

Journal Pillars