The International Journal of Medical Informatics journal covers information systems, including national or international registration systems, hospital information systems, departmental and/or physician's office systems, document handling systems, electronic medical record systems, standardization, systems integration etc.; computer-aided medical decision support systems using heuristic, algorithmic and/or statistical methods as exemplified in decision theory, protocol development, artificial intelligence, etc.; educational computer based programs pertaining to medical informatics or medicine in general; and organizational, economic, social, clinical impact, ethical and cost-benefit aspects of IT applications in health care.