Milestones and Growth: The 30-Year Journey of Healthcare Informatics Research
Article information
The year 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the Korean Society of Medical Informatics (KOSMI) publishing its journal. Established in September 1995, the Journal of the Korean Society of Medical Informatics (JKOSMI) was launched nine years after founding of KOSMI in 1986. This initiative responded to the increasing need to integrate information and communication technology within healthcare. The journal aimed to compile significant achievements medical informatics, document evolution of the field, and provide crucial insights for the digital transformation of healthcare [1]. For the first 15 years, JKOSMI was published in Korean. In March 2010, it transitioned to an English-only format and was renamed Healthcare Informatics Research (HIR), marking its evolution into an international journal. Over the past 15 years, HIR has continued to make substantial contributions to the advancement of healthcare informatics. This editorial describes the 30-year journey of these two pivotal journals and anticipates their future developments (Figure 1).
First issues of (A) the Journal of the Korean Society of Medical Informatics and (B) Healthcare Informatics Research.
1. Historical Evolution
KOSMI was established to promote academic collaboration and further research in the development and utilization of medical information systems. Its activities intensified in the 1990s with the beginning of medical information computerization. During this critical time, KOSMI organized conferences and workshops to facilitate the sharing and discussion of advancements in medical informatics research. In response to these development, JKOSMI was launched in 1995, initially releasing issues once or twice annually. The journal served as a platform for disseminating research findings from KOSMI conferences and facilitating academic discussions in the field. Initially, the journal primarily featured studies on healthcare informatics within Korea, with a focus on the computerization of administrative tasks and medical records in hospitals. Additionally, it began to cover basic research on systems designed to electronically record and manage patients’ health information.
In the 2000s, KOSMI expanded its engagement with the global healthcare informatics community, paving the way for Korean healthcare informatics to gain international prominence. As a result of this expansion, the journal increased its publication frequency and broadened its scope. It transitioned to a quarterly publication schedule, enriching its content with articles covering a wide range of healthcare informatics subfields. To solidify its status as an international journal, it began publishing more articles in English and featured research from internationally recognized scholars. Key topics during this period included the development of clinical information systems to support clinical care processes, research into data interoperability using international standards like HL7 (Health Level Seven) and DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine), and studies on the use of health information to enhance public health and lay the groundwork for telemedicine services.
Since then, KOSMI has enhanced its academic pursuits with the integration of cutting-edge IT technologies, focusing on areas such as big data, artificial intelligence, and digital healthcare. In 2010, the journal underwent a significant rebranding, adopting the name “Healthcare Informatics Research” to better resonate with an international audience and switching to English as its primary language. This change marked a pivotal moment in the journal’s transformation into a publication that meets international standards. Following this change, the editorial board expanded to include international experts, and contributions from global researchers were actively sought. This strategic move significantly increased the journal’s engagement with the international healthcare informatics community. During this period, digital healthcare became a prominent theme. The rise of mobile health and wearable technologies highlighted the importance of personal health management tools, while the application of artificial intelligence in healthcare, including diagnostic aids and the development of predictive models, began to accelerate.
Currently, HIR provides extensive coverage of various fields and topics within health informatics, presenting the most recent research from scholars worldwide. It explores a broad range of subjects such as digital healthcare, telemedicine, artificial intelligence and machine learning, big data analytics, precision medicine, and security and privacy. Additionally, it covers smart healthcare systems, among other areas, thus reflecting the forefront of advancements in contemporary healthcare informatics.
2. Academic Recognition
JKOSMI and HIR have gained recognition for their academic value through consistent efforts and achievements. In January 2003, eight years following the publication of its inaugural issue in 1995, the journal was nominated as a candidate for the Korea Citation Index (KCI) by the National Research Foundation of Korea. By January 2006, it had attained KCI status [2]. This designation acknowledged JKOSMI as a high-quality journal that makes significant academic contributions in Korea.
After transitioning to an English-only journal under the name HIR in 2010, the journal was listed in PubMed Central (PMC) in July 2011, marking its integration into the international academic community. PMC, managed by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, serves as a repository for freely accessible medical articles online [3]. In March 2013, the journal’s academic credibility was further bolstered when it was included in Scopus, a prestigious database of leading academic articles operated by Elsevier Publishing in the Netherlands [4].
In March 2016, HIR was included in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), enhancing its visibility and recognition among researchers. The ESCI serves as the initial phase in the journey toward inclusion in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE). It acts as a preliminary database of candidate journals that are searchable and citable within Clarivate Analytics, facilitating the evaluation of impact factors and citation metrics [5]. We are diligently working toward achieving SCIE status, which will further enhance our academic impact and reach.
3. Advancement of Online Platforms
Journals are widely available through online platforms, which aids researchers in accessing and disseminating the latest information. The adoption of journal management systems has made the review process faster and more transparent. Following the launch of HIR in 2010 and its later internationalization, KOSMI introduced an English-language website and established an article submission and review management system to improve accessibility for readers, authors, reviewers, and editors. However, due to budgetary constraints, the journal was required to use a system developed in Korea [7,8].
In 2018, we implemented the globally recognized Editorial Manager system to enhance our article submission and review process, aligning it with international standards [9,10]. This system has improved journal publishing management by offering features such as an extensive user community, flexible workflows, robust security, data protection, and a reviewer recommendation system [11]. In 2020, we further expanded our capabilities by introducing M2PI, a platform that manages the metadata and content of scholarly articles in eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format, adhering to the Journal Article Tag Suite (JATS) standard, on our journals’ homepage. This addition has significantly improved user-friendliness with a responsive design that is optimized for both web-based and mobile environments [12,13]. These platform enhancements have played a crucial role in increasing the journal’s accessibility and laying a solid foundation for the submission and publication of high-quality articles (Figure 2).
The current website of Healthcare Informatics Research.
4. Conclusion
For nearly 40 years, KOSMI has been a leader in healthcare informatics in Korea, significantly contributing to both academic development and practical applications. JKOSMI and HIR, KOSMI’s flagship journals, have developed through the historical processes described earlier and now function as essential academic platforms that lead international research and promote exchanges in healthcare informatics. Situated at the center of this rapidly evolving field, driven by advancements in IT and data analysis, HIR has become a prominent international journal recognized both in Korea and worldwide. It publishes and disseminates significant research findings, and the quality and impact of its articles have steadily increased. This success is attributable to the unwavering dedication and passion of former editors-in-chief, including Young Seol Kim, Gwang-Seok Park, Joon Hyun Hong, Ha-Young Park, and Young Moon Chae, as well as the active participation and support from KOSMI board directors and numerous members. Looking forward, I expect the journal to continue its growth as a leading academic platform, covering a wide range of topics in healthcare informatics and engaging researchers globally.
Notes
Conflict of Interest
No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.