Health Care Science

Health Care Science is a high-quality, peer-reviewed, open access journal, which aims to provide a platform for the researchers, scholars, administrators, and innovators to share their research in the quality, evaluation, and technology of healthcare service delivery, healthcare management, and healthcare policy on a scientific basis.

We promote and disseminate high-quality Original Articles, Reviews, Short Communications, Case Reports, Commentaries, News and Views, Editorials-Invited only and Practice and Policies. 

The preference will be given to the articles based on quantitative methods, with emphasis on specific healthcare settings, have impact on real-world operation and policy making, and about emerging hot topics in healthcare. 

Once the submission materials have been prepared in accordance with the Author Guidelines, manuscripts should be submitted online at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/healthcarescience

For help with submissions, please contact: [email protected]

Article Preparation Support

Wiley Editing Services offers expert help with English Language Editing, as well as translation, manuscript formatting, figure illustration, figure formatting, and graphical abstract.

Also, check out our resources for Preparing Your Article for general guidance about writing and preparing your manuscript.

Before you submit, you will need:

• Your manuscript: an editable file including text, figures, and tables, or separate files—whichever you prefer. Your manuscript should include all required sections: abstract, introduction, methods, results, and conclusions. Figures and tables must have legends. Upload figures in the highest resolution possible. References may be submitted in any style or format, so long as it is consistent throughout the manuscript. Submit supporting information in separate files. The editorial office will send back any difficult to read figures or tables to you for revision. Your manuscript may also be sent back to you for revision if the quality of English language is poor.
• An ORCID ID, freely available at https://orcid.org. (Why is this important? Your article, if accepted and published, will be attached to your ORCID profile. Institutions and funders are increasingly requiring authors to have ORCID IDs.)
• The title page of the manuscript, including:
  • Your co-author details, including affiliation and email address. (Why is this important? We need to keep all co-authors informed of the outcome of the peer review process.)
  • Statements relating to our ethics and integrity policies, which may include any of the following (Why are these important? We need to uphold rigorous ethical standards for the research we consider for publication):
    • data availability statement
    • funding statement
    • conflict of interest disclosure
    • ethics approval statement
    • patient consent statement
    • permission to reproduce material from other sources
    • clinical trial registration

Open Access

This journal is a gold open access title which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her 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. 

Article Publication Charge You can read more about our APC's and whether you may be eligible for waivers or discounts, through your institution, funder, or a country waiver on this journal's Open Access Page. 

Preprint Policy

Please find our preprint policy here.

This journal accepts articles previously published on preprint servers. You are requested to update any pre-publication versions with a link to the final published article. You may also post the final published version of the article immediately after publication.

Registered Reports

See the Registered Reports Author Guidelines for full details.

Data Sharing and Data Availability

This journal expects data sharing. Review Wiley's Data Sharing policy where you will be able to see and select the data availability statement that is right for your submission.

Data Citation

Please review Wiley's Data Citation policy.

Data Protection

By submitting a manuscript to or reviewing for this publication, your name, email address, and affiliation, and other contact details the publication might require, will be used for the regular operations of the publication. Please review Wiley's Data Protection Policy to learn more.

Funding

You should list all funding sources in the Funding Information section. You are responsible for the accuracy of their funder designation. If in doubt, please check the Open Funder Registry for the correct nomenclature.

Authorship

All listed authors should have contributed to the manuscript substantially and have agreed to the final submitted version. Review editorial standards and scroll down for a description of authorship criteria.

ORCID

This journal requires ORCID. Please refer to Wiley's resources on ORCID.

Reproduction of Copyright Material

If excerpts from copyrighted works owned by third parties are included, credit must be shown in the contribution. It is your responsibility to also obtain written permission for reproduction from the copyright owners. For more information visit Wiley's Copyright Terms & Conditions FAQ.

Authors wishing to include figures, tables, or text passages that have already been published elsewhere (including in the authors’ own previous papers) are required to OBTAIN PERMISSION from the copyright owner(s) and to state clearly in the figure/table caption or other appropriate locations in the manuscript that such permission has been obtained. For example: Reproduced with permission from ref. xxx. Copyright American Chemical Society, 2008. Any content received without such evidence will be assumed to originate from the author(s). 

The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining written permission to reproduce the material "in print and other media" from the publisher of the original source, and for supplying Wiley with that permission upon submission.

Title Page

The title page should contain

1. A brief informative title containing the major key words. The title should not contain abbreviations (see Wiley's best practice SEO tips);
2. A short running title of less than 40 characters;
3. The full names of the authors;
4. The authors’ institutional affiliations where the work was conducted, with a footnote for the author’s present address if different from where the work was conducted, and, if desired, X handles;
5. Acknowledgments.

Main Text File

The main text file should be in Word and include:

Manuscripts can be uploaded either as a single document (containing the main text, tables and figures), or with figures and tables provided as separate files. Should your manuscript reach revision stage, figures and tables must be provided as separate files. The main manuscript file can be submitted in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) format.

Your main document file should include:

• A short informative title containing the major key words. The title should not contain abbreviations;
• The full names of the authors with institutional affiliations where the work was conducted, with a footnote for the author’s present address if different from where the work was conducted;
• Acknowledgments;
• Abstract structured or unstructured;
• Up to 10 keywords;
• Practitioner Points (optional) Authors will need to provide no more than 3 ‘key points’, written with the practitioner in mind, that summarize the key messages of their paper to be published with their article;
• Main body: formatted as introduction, materials & methods, results, discussion, conclusion;
• References;
• Tables (each table complete with concise title and footnotes);
• Figure legends: Legends should be supplied as a complete list in the text. Figures should be uploaded as separate files (see below).

LaTeX Guidelines for Submission:

For authors requiring a LaTeX template, we strongly recommend reviewing Wiley’s New Journal Design (NJD) LaTeX Authoring Template.

If submitting your manuscript file in LaTeX format via Research Exchange, select the file designation “Main Document – LaTeX .tex File” on upload. When submitting a LaTeX Main Document, you must also provide a PDF version of the manuscript for Peer Review. Please upload this file as “Main Document - LaTeX PDF.” All supporting files that are referred to in the LaTeX Main Document should be uploaded as a “LaTeX Supplementary File.”

LaTeX Guidelines for Post-Acceptance:

Please check that you have supplied the following files for typesetting post-acceptance:

• PDF of the finalized source manuscript files compiled without any errors.
• The LaTeX source code files (text, figure captions, and tables, preferably in a single file), BibTeX files (if used), any associated packages/files along with all other files needed for compiling without any errors. This is particularly important if authors have used any LaTeX style or class files, bibliography files (.bbl, .bst. .blg) or packages apart from those used in the NJD LaTeX Template class file.
• Electronic graphics files for the illustrations in Encapsulated PostScript (EPS), PDF or TIFF format. Authors are requested not to create figures using LaTeX codes.

Graphical Abstracts

Health Care Science publishes graphical abstracts for most articles (required for original article, review and case report, optional for the rest article types), displayed online in graphical form with a brief abstract, in addition to the abstract above. The online table of contents will display a schematic figure to convey the core message of your paper, alongside a short abstract highlighting the major findings of the paper. Authors will be asked to submit a new and stand-alone image, or designate an image already included in the paper if your paper is accepted.

Your short abstract should consist of 2-3 sentences summarizing the essence of the paper. The image should fit within the dimensions of 50mm x 60mm, and be fully legible at this size.

Reference Style

This journal uses Vancouver reference style reference style. Review your reference style guidelines prior to submission.

Figures and Supporting Information

Figures, supporting information, and appendices should be supplied as separate files. You should review the basic figure requirements for manuscripts for peer review, as well as the more detailed post-acceptance figure requirements. View Wiley's FAQs on supporting information.

Peer Review

This journal operates under a single-anonymized peer review model. Except where otherwise stated, manuscripts are peer reviewed by at least two anonymous reviewers. Papers will only be sent to review if the Editor-in-Chief determines that the paper meets the appropriate quality and relevance requirements. Only Editorial and News and Views are not peer-reviewed but will be evaluated internally.

In-house submissions, i.e. papers authored by Editors or Editorial Board members of the title, will be sent to Editors unaffiliated with the author or institution and monitored carefully to ensure there is no peer review bias.

Special issues: Submitted manuscripts will be subject to the same peer review process as described in the Health Care Science Author Guidelines, with the Guest Editor soliciting reviewers. Typically, two external reviews are sought. The reviewers’ evaluations comments are compiled by Guest Editors for disposition and transmittal to the authors upon the approval of Editor-in-Chief. The Special Issues follow the same policies listed in the Journal’s Author Guidelines (ethical policies, data availability and data sharing, etc).

All Special Issues published by Health Care Science are reviewed and approved by the Editor-in-Chief. This approval process includes an assessment of the rationale and scope of the proposed topic(s), and the expertise of Guest Editors, if any are involved. Special Issue articles must follow the same policies as described in these Author Guidelines. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the content of all Special Issues, and as such will make the final decision on which papers are accepted and included.

Wiley's policy on the confidentiality of the review process is available here.

Guidelines on Publishing and Research Ethics in Journal Articles

The journal requires that you include in the manuscript details IRB (Institutional Review Board) approvals, ethical treatment of human and animal research participants, and gathering of informed consent, as appropriate. You will be expected to declare all conflicts of interest, or none, on submission. Please review Wiley’s policies surrounding human studies, animal studies, clinical trial registration, biosecurity, and research reporting guidelines.

This journal follows the core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and handles cases of research and publication misconduct accordingly (https://publicationethics.org/core-practices). 

This journal uses iThenticate’s CrossCheck software to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. Read Wiley's Top 10 Publishing Ethics Tips for Authors and Wiley’s Publication Ethics Guidelines. 

AI Guidelines for authors, reviewers, and editors

From 1^st January 2025, all submissions and reviews must adhere to Generative artificial intelligence (AI) guidelines. Note: Health Care Science adopts Wiley’s Best Practice Guidelines on Research Integrity and Publishing Ethics – Artificial Intelligence.

Author Contributions

For all articles, the journal mandates the CRediT (Contribution Roles Taxonomy)—more information is available on our Author Services site.

Refer and Transfer Program

Wiley believes that research deserves to be shared.. This journal participates in Wiley’s Refer & Transfer program.

If your manuscript is not accepted, you may receive a recommendation to transfer the manuscript to another suitable Wiley journal, either through a referral from the journal’s editor or through our Transfer Desk Assistant.

First Look

After your paper is accepted, your files will be assessed by the editorial office to ensure they are ready for production. You may be contacted if any updates or final files are required. Otherwise, your paper will be sent to the production team.

Wiley Author Services

When an accepted article is received by Wiley’s production team, the corresponding author will receive an email asking them to login or register with Wiley Author Services. You will be asked to sign a publication license at this point as well as pay for any applicable APCs.

Copyright & Licensing

Health Care Science is an Open Access journal: authors of accepted papers pay an Article Publication Charge and their papers are published under a Creative Commons license. This journal uses the CC-BY/CC-BY-NC/CC-BY-NC-ND Creative Commons License. Note that certain funders mandate a particular type of CC license be used.

Proofs

Authors will receive an e-mail notification with a link and instructions for accessing HTML page proofs online. Authors should also make sure that any renumbered tables, figures, or references match text citations and that figure legends correspond with text citations and actual figures. Proofs must be returned within 48 hours of receipt of the email.

Access and sharing

Please review Wiley’s guidelines on sharing your research here. The submitted version of the manuscript, the accepted version, and the published version (Version of Record) can all be deposited on an institutional or other repository of the author's choice without embargo.

Article Promotion Support

Wiley Editing Services offers professional video, design, and writing services to create shareable video abstracts, infographics, conference posters, lay summaries, and research news stories for your research – so you can help your research get the attention it deserves.

Correction to authorship

In accordance with Wiley’s Best Practice Guidelines on Research Integrity and Publishing Ethics and the Committee on Publication Ethics’ guidance, Health Care Science will allow authors to correct authorship on a submitted, accepted, or published article if a valid reason exists to do so. All authors – including those to be added or removed – must agree to any proposed change. To request a change to the author list, please complete the Request for Changes to a Journal Article Author List Form and contact either the journal’s editorial or production office, depending on the status of the article. Authorship changes will not be considered without a fully completed Author Change form. Correcting the authorship is different from changing an author’s name; the relevant policy for that can be found in Wiley’s Best Practice Guidelines under “Author name changes after publication.”

EDITORIAL CONTACT

Health Care Science Editorial Office
Editorial Office Director: Yu Sun
Managing Editor: Shu Wang
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +86-10-83470377
Address: Xueyan Building, Shuangqing Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100084, China