Welcome to the world of mHealth!

Dear friends,

Welcome to the world of mHealth! The term mHealth was first coined by Robert Istepanian to describe “emerging mobile communications and network technologies for healthcare” (1). Today, mHealth is well-known as an abbreviation for mobile health. However, we would like to broaden the definition of “mHealth” here: health and medical prevention and treatment supported by exponential technologies, including but not limited to wireless gateways and connectivity, biosensors and wearable personal technology, precision medicine, and of course, patient engagement and empowerment.

We have witnessed remarkable and accelerating progress across mHealth in the past years. Currently there are millions of people engaged in this emerging market and committed to improving the health of individuals via mobile technologies. Taking a step back, it is inspiring to see such efforts across the globe, and across a spectrum of social, financial, and political backgrounds! The intersection of technology innovation, health and medical care, and patient self-management is revolutionizing global health.

This is exactly where the new journal mHealth stands: a truly global forum to spur collaboration by bringing highly experienced and passionate specialists together. The mHealth journal (ISSN 2306-9740) is a brand new, open access, peer-reviewed international publication in English, describing exciting findings, significant development and enlightening viewpoint in the field of using mobile technologies to improve global public health.

As it seems almost everyone is talking about mHealth, one might question the need for launching a dedicated journal. However, when we dig deep into the positioning of mHealth, we see the following characteristics of this new journal:

• It is a rigorous academic platform with an efficient peer-review process;
• To guarantee rapid publication and wide dissemination, mHealth will publish online and open access;
• The journal will publish original research and review articles which can provide evidence to aid clinicians, patients, scientists, enterprises, and policymakers to make better decisions. All manuscripts published in mHealth are traceable via the digital object identifier (DOI);
• To highlight the multi-disciplinary nature of mHealth, editorial members, authors, reviewers of the journal will come from diverse fields such as medical research, software design, clinical care, patient advocacy, hardware manufacture and network transmission, just to name a few;
• For readers, mHealth will not only focus on scientific and clinical advances, but will also present industry news and features from across mHealth and synergistic fields.

As you can see, mHealth is an ambitious and unique resource, with an open-minded and global panel, for professionals engaged in health promotion via mobile technology. The journal is embarking on an exciting expedition into the world of mHealth and the exponential technologies fueling the future, of not just medical care, but true ‘health’ care. We hope to capture the imagination of doctors, patients, innovators, and entrepreneurs here. We warmly welcome you to join us as an author, reader, a reviewer…and as a partner in transformation. Join us as we all pivot from the traditional reactive medical care system to a new proactive wellness based model of the future.

References

1. Istepanian R, Laxminarayan S, Pattichis CS. eds. M-Health: Emerging Mobile Health Systems. Berlin: Springer Science & Business Media, 2007.

Steven Tucker, Editor-in-Chief, mHealth