Aims and Scope

The British Journal of Healthcare & Medical Research aims to advance health and medicine by publishing rigorous, original research and authoritative critical reviews that improve the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease, illness and injury, and that strengthen the delivery, quality and equity of healthcare. The journal welcomes both applied and basic research across the medical, healthcare and allied health disciplines, spanning laboratory, clinical, population-based and health-systems enquiry, and it places no fixed restriction on the length of papers, provided the length is justified by the content.

Aim

The journal seeks to disseminate high-quality original research and critical reviews on established and emerging fields that give direction to research, practice and policy in healthcare and the medical and allied health sciences. It gives particular attention to healthcare innovation, medical technology and evidence-based practice, and to research that demonstrates how healthcare can improve diagnosis, therapy, care and outcomes while addressing cost, access and equity.

Subject coverage

The scope of the journal is deliberately broad and includes, but is not limited to, the following areas.

Clinical medicine and surgery

Internal medicine and its subspecialties (including cardiology, respiratory medicine, gastroenterology, endocrinology, nephrology, infectious diseases, oncology, haematology, rheumatology, dermatology and geriatric medicine); general and specialist surgery; anaesthesia and critical care; emergency medicine; obstetrics and gynaecology; paediatrics and neonatology; ophthalmology; otolaryngology; and diagnostic and interventional radiology.

Mental health, psychiatry and behavioural sciences

Psychiatry and clinical psychology; mental-health services and interventions; behavioural and psychosocial aspects of health and illness; and neuropsychiatry.

Basic and translational biomedical sciences

Anatomy, physiology and biochemistry; molecular and cell biology; medical genetics and genomics; immunology; medical microbiology and virology; pharmacology and toxicology; and pathology, together with translational research linking laboratory science to clinical application.

Public health, epidemiology and preventive medicine

Epidemiology and biostatistics; health promotion and disease prevention; global and community health; environmental and occupational health; infection prevention and control; health policy, health systems and services research; and health economics and outcomes research.

Nursing and midwifery

Clinical, community and specialist nursing; midwifery and maternal health; patient safety and quality of care; and nursing education and workforce research.

Allied health sciences

The journal actively welcomes research across the allied health professions, including:

Healthcare innovation, medical technology and digital health

Medical devices and biomedical engineering; health informatics and electronic health records; telemedicine and telehealth; digital and mobile health; and the application of data science and artificial intelligence to diagnosis, therapy and care.

Health professions education, ethics and practice

Education and training across the health professions; interprofessional practice; medical and healthcare ethics; and the organisation, management and improvement of health services.

Scope as reflected in recent BJHMR research

The breadth of the journal is illustrated by the themes of its published work, which span, among others: clinical research and case reports across the medical specialties; pharmacology, toxicology and pharmaceutical science, including studies of novel compounds and their safety implications; public-health and epidemiological studies; evidence syntheses and critical reviews; healthcare innovation and medical technology; and research from nursing and the allied health professions on assessment, therapy, rehabilitation and care. This range reflects the journal’s coverage of laboratory, clinical, population-based and health-systems research, and its openness to work from across the medical and allied health sciences.

Interdisciplinary and translational research

BJHMR welcomes interdisciplinary and translational work in which a health or medical question and contribution are central, including research that connects clinical medicine, the biomedical sciences, nursing, the allied health professions, public health, engineering, informatics and the social sciences. Authors should make clear how their work contributes to the relevant health, medical or allied health literature and to practice or policy.

Research approaches

The journal considers experimental and laboratory studies; randomised controlled trials and other interventional studies; observational studies (cohort, case–control and cross-sectional); diagnostic-accuracy and prognostic studies; qualitative and mixed-methods research; systematic reviews and meta-analyses; health-economic evaluations; case reports and case series; and other rigorous designs appropriate to the health and medical sciences, in each case reported in accordance with the relevant reporting guideline.

What we look for

A strong submission normally demonstrates a clearly defined research question or objective; a convincing account of its originality, significance and relevance to health, care or policy; appropriate engagement with the relevant literature; a sound and transparent design and analysis, reported in accordance with the applicable reporting guideline and in enough detail to allow appraisal and, where relevant, replication; results supported by the data; acknowledgement of limitations; full compliance with research-ethics, consent and integrity requirements; and relevance to the journal’s international readership.

Work that may fall outside scope

A manuscript may be declined before external review where it has no substantial health, medical or allied health content; is largely descriptive without a clear scientific or clinical contribution; lacks an identifiable research question; does not engage adequately with the literature; makes claims unsupported by its methods or data; falls below basic methodological, ethical or reporting standards; substantially duplicates prior work; or does not meet the journal’s ethical or submission requirements. Authors uncertain about suitability are welcome to contact the Editorial Office before submitting.