Timeline

• October 31, 2026: Full paper submission deadline

Timeline

• July 30, 2027: Submission deadline

Lauri Wessel, European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)

Melanie Reuter-Oppermann, Maastricht University

Roxana Ologeanu-Taddei, University of Montpellier

Hannes Rothe, University of Duisburg-Essen

Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa, The University of Texas at Austin

Digital health is associated with the use and development of digital technologies to improve health. Use, development, and design of the according technologies have in recent years led to a considerable shift. Specifically, practices affecting an individual's health have been shifted from inside hospitals into wider digital health ecosystems where providers, patients, their loved ones, and laypersons interact to jointly shape how care is provided. IS research has greatly advanced in terms of better understanding the technological foundations of this shift such as artificial intelligence (AI) applications, sensor-based technologies, and smartphone apps. However, at least two major trajectories of research arise from this shift and its underlying technologies.

First, creating value in digital health ecosystems demands to take into account diverse kinds of value to be potentially created through these technologies. Financial value is an important kind of value to be created in digital health ecosystems; however, it is by far not the sole kind of value that matters in these settings. It is important to understand which kinds of value technology helps to create as well as how, why, and when it does so. Second, creating value is not per se synonymous with distributing it so that an important line of inquiry is about how to distribute value among ecosystem participants and over time.

We are asking for papers speaking to these topics and see two broad ways in which submissions to our special issue could do so. The first is cumulative and much in line with how research in IS and adjacent fields such as computer science, management, and medicine is conventionally done. It resides in furthering our understandings and toolkits for creating value in digital health ecosystems. However, the more data are available the higher is arguably the potential for misuse, especially when genomic and bio data are in question. This is why research about creating value from data logically calls for research about how to distribute value among ecosystems participants.

The second way to address the abovementioned research trajectories is consistent with promoting contrarian studies. We see much promise of contrarian studies investigating the creation and distribution of value in digital health ecosystems. Research about digital health is replete with assumptions touching on the outcomes that large volumes of data are likely to generate. This stands in stark contrast to the fact that on the ground floor where most clinicians work the data are hardly ever available in the format, quality or volume needed to even remotely live up to these expectations. It is, therefore, paramount to offer fundamentally new ways of thinking about creating and distributing value in digital health ecosystems.

Potential topics

• The role of data management and data sharing in digital health ecosystems
• Designing for measuring kinds of value arising from new digital technologies like XR, 5G, web 3.0, and machine or hybrid learning in digital health ecosystems
• The role of digital health ecosystems during pandemics or natural disasters; specifically with an eye toward how data help to distribute value among ecosystem participants
• (Data-driven) change of professional roles, identities, and institutions in digital health ecosystems
• The difference between creating value for intervention vs. for prevention
• Design of inclusive and responsible digital technologies for healthcare and well-being
• Digital tools and use of digital health data to connect different participants of health service networks, to support decision making and to improve organizational processes
• Negative consequences of digital technologies implementation in healthcare, such as health givers burnout and patients' anxiety
• The role of digital tools like virtual coaching for autonomy of health care providers and patients

Timeline

• March 1, 2026: Submission of extended abstracts/declaration of interest to submit papers to the special issue
• November 30, 2026: Full paper submission deadline
• March 31, 2027: First round decisions due
• September 30, 2027: Revisions due
• December 15, 2027: Second round decisions due
• February 28, 2028: Third round revisions due (if necessary)
• May 31, 2028: Final decisions due

Associate editors

• Aleksi Aaltonen, Stevens Institute of Technology
• Saeed Akhlaghpour, University of Queensland
• Aycan Aslan, IT University Copenhagen
• Anna Essén, Stockholm School of Economics
• Heiko Gewald, HS Neu-Ulm
• Martin Gersch, Freie Universität Berlin
• Camille Grangé, HEC Montréal
• Maike Greve, Copenhagen Business School
• Farkhondeh Hassan Doust, University of Auckland
• Alexander Kempton, University of Oslo
• Charlotte Koehler, European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)
• Johann Kranz, LMU
• Jan-Marco Leimeister, University of St. Gallen
• Wolfgang Maaß, Saarland University
• Bogdan Negoita, HEC Montréal
• Lemai Nguyen, Deakin University
• Guy Paré, HEC Montréal
• Scott Thiebes, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
• Manuel Trenz, University of Göttingen
• Cristina Trocin, Católica Porto Business School
• Marjolein van Offenbeek, University of Groningen
• Polyxeni Vassilakopoulou, University of Agder
• Till Winkler, Fernuniversität Hagen