Information for Authors & Editorial Policies

  • Open Access Statement
  • Editorial Mission
  • Audience
  • Submission Categories
  • Publishing Frequency
  • Article Statistics
  • Editorial Review Time
  • Proofs, Invoices, and Reprints
  • Authorship, Groups, Contributors, and Related Information
  • Criterion for Publication
  • Language Editing
  • Index Inclusion
  • APC Fees 
  • Waiver Policy
  • Refund Policy
  • Financial and Non-Financial Relationships and Activities 
  • Copyright and Creative Commons License 
  • Embargo Policy
  • Repository Policy, Self-archiving and Digital preservation
  • Post publication discussions and corrections
  • Diversity Commitment
  • Transparent Peer Review (TPR) 
  • 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, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. 

Editorial Mission

Blockchain in Healthcare Today (BHTY) is the leading international open access peer reviewed 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 evolving specialty field of research.

Founded in 2018, the historic journal is credited with creating and validating this new technology and research field, bridging research excellence with real world market implementations and impact. A world-class peer review board offers constructive commentary to strengthen work.

Audience

BHTY's audience includes researchers, innovators, pioneers, founders, business executives, hospital and health system executives, consultants, entrepreneurs, policy regulators, health information technologists, auditors, computational engineers, computer scientists, data scientists, healthcare network users, public health, and pioneers across the globe. All those with an interest in the latest knowledge on platform tech and DLT are welcome to join the journal's ecosystem. Readers from 145 countries visit BHTY’s website. Over 400,000 total reader engagements have been logged since launch in March 2018.

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), establish advances, or failures/negative experiments 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 & Short Reports
  • *Editorial or Discussion

*2000 word limit not including references. Word limit for blogs is 1000.

Original 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. Original research should not exceed 12,000 words of body text and 250 words for the abstract. 

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 Short 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. 

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. The word limit is 2000.

Examples published in BHTY are:

Publishing Frequency

Three (3) annual issues: April, August, and December, beginning 2024.

Respective deadlines are March 1, July 1, and November 1.

BHTY may add additional special or theme collection(s) that include BHTY journal ConV2X meeting proceedings, and/or meeting proceedings that are contracted. This may increase the number of total issue. These issues may provide authors around the globe with unique opportunities to share work and may include visual presentations, video, audio, or a combination thereof. Journal policies and ethics will be adhered to throughout. Each issue number will reflect the numerical sequence in which it is published.

2023 Article Statistics

  • Days to First Editorial Decision:  6
  • Desk Reject Rate:   48%
  • Acceptance Rate:  24%
  • Days to Accept:  101
  • Average days to publication:  106

Note: BHTY maintains high editorial review standards reflected by acceptance in leading indexes. Author revisions add days to turnaround, acceptance, and publication timeframes. Journal staff is happy to streamline papers for authors requiring faster turnaround. There is no extra charge.

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. There are no perfect papers, and most all will encounter at least 2 cycles for revisions.

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 can take longer to review.

Manuscripts are sent out for review electronically, and all correspondence takes place via e-mail. 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 on boarding, and throughout the review process.

Proofs, invoices, 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. Once it is approved, if any changes are required or requested post final galley approval by the author(s) such as update versions, post publication discussion and correction (Errata and Retractions), changes to affiliation, graphs, images etc., a flat fee of $350.00 USD will be invoiced in addition to the APC. The fee will be imposed each time an author(s) makes chages after approving a final galley to post as the version of record.

The corresponding author will receive an invoice for the APC when the manuscript is accepted. Manuscripts are published only after receipt of payment. The production phase typically takes 7-14 days to resolve queries. We ask authors to facilitate turn-around to finalize proofs.

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

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 manuscript 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.

In addition to being accountable for the parts of the work done, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. In addition, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors.

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.

Author Groups

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." 

Contributors

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. 

Criteria for Publication

Your manuscript submission should represent the following:

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

Language Editing 

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. Paperpal is yet another service to explore BHTY has partnered with.

Index Inclusion

BHTY is indexed in the following databases:

  • DOAJ
  • PubMed and PubMed Central
  • SCOPUS 
  • Engineering Village
  • Norwegian Register For Scientific Journals, Series And Publishers
  • Google Scholar
  • EBSCOhost Health Business Elite
  • Unpaywall
  • NEBIS
  • Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research (GFMER)
  • ProQuest Health & Medical Complete
  • ProQuest Public Health
  • ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Program
  • Index Copernicus
  • Public Knowledge Project metadata harvester
  • *Under review at WoS 

APC Fees 

There is a fee to publish an article in the journal.

BHTY’s Article Processing Charge (APC) for the international specialty journal is $1150.00 USD for articles up to 12,000 words not including references or images, $1450.00 USD for Special Reports (15,000 words and 80-100+ references), and $650.00 USD for students currently enrolled at an academic institution. Please plan accordingly. There is no APC for negative or failed research manuscripts, editorials, opinions (2000 word maximum), or blog submissions (1000 word maximum).

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

For complete details regarding APC fees, and revenue model please see Aims and Scope at https://blockchainhealthcaretoday.com/index.php/journal/about

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 and providing custom dashboards to authors, membership to appropriate scholarly publishing organizations such as COPE, Altmetric, ScienceOpen and many others, management of database and lists, social media dissemination and content 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).

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. Papers are reviewed based strictly on MERIT. We believe this is paramount for fair and open exchange

Refund policy

There are no refunds for accepted manuscripts. Authors cannot withdraw a manuscript after it is accepted, and will be invoiced accordingly. For complete details and description regarding the Refund Policy, please see Aims and Scope at https://blockchainhealthcaretoday.com/index.php/journal/about

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. Editors do not participate in the review process should they have a financial and/or non-financial relationship or activity to declare. Editors that author accepted articles must disclose they are editors of the journal in the article.

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.

Copyright and Creative Commons License

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

Embargo Policy 

There are no embargos.  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 letters 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 may be timestamped on the blockchain.

Transparent Peer Review (TPR)

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 anonymous and double blind peer review will be assigned.
  1. Reviewers can 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