Advertising Policy

The Digital Health & Telemonitoring Advances maintains a clear separation between scholarly publishing activities and commercial or promotional interests. The journal may consider limited advertising that is appropriate for its academic and professional readership, provided that such advertising does not compromise editorial independence, research integrity, reader trust, or the scholarly character of the journal.

Acceptance of an advertisement does not constitute endorsement of the advertiser, organization, product, technology, service, clinical intervention, medical device, software platform, or claim presented in the advertisement.

Advertising arrangements are administered independently of manuscript submission, peer review, editorial evaluation, and publication decisions.

1. Purpose of the Policy

The purpose of this Advertising Policy is to establish transparent standards governing the consideration, acceptance, presentation, management, and removal of advertisements associated with the journal.

The policy is intended to ensure that:

  • advertising remains clearly distinguishable from scholarly content;

  • advertisers cannot influence editorial decisions;

  • advertisements do not interfere with peer review;

  • commercial relationships remain separate from scientific evaluation;

  • advertisements are appropriate for an academic and healthcare-related audience;

  • misleading or unsafe promotional claims are not knowingly accepted;

  • confidential manuscript or user information is not used improperly for advertising purposes; and

  • readers can clearly identify content that constitutes advertising.

2. Editorial Independence

Advertising has no role in determining which manuscripts are submitted, reviewed, accepted, rejected, prioritized, corrected, or retracted.

Editorial decisions are based on scholarly considerations, including:

  • relevance to the journal's aims and scope;

  • originality;

  • methodological quality;

  • validity of the evidence;

  • ethical compliance;

  • research integrity;

  • clarity of reporting; and

  • contribution to digital health, telemonitoring, and related scholarship.

The Editor-in-Chief, editors, peer reviewers, and editorial-board members are not required to favor an advertiser, sponsor, commercial partner, or organization because of an advertising relationship.

3. Separation of Advertising and Editorial Content

Advertisements must be visually and contextually distinguishable from scholarly and editorial material.

Advertising should not be presented in a manner that could reasonably cause a reader to believe that the advertisement is:

  • a peer-reviewed article;

  • an editorial recommendation;

  • a journal endorsement;

  • a clinical guideline;

  • an independent product evaluation;

  • a research finding; or

  • an official recommendation from the journal.

Where advertising is displayed, appropriate labels such as “Advertisement,” “Sponsored,” or another clear designation should be used where necessary.

4. Responsibility for Advertising Decisions

Decisions concerning acceptance or rejection of advertising should be handled through the journal's administrative or publishing functions rather than through the academic peer-review process.

Editorial personnel may raise concerns when an advertisement could:

  • compromise scholarly independence;

  • conflict with publication-ethics standards;

  • mislead readers;

  • create an inappropriate association with published research;

  • present a significant safety concern; or

  • damage the integrity of the journal.

The journal retains the right to decline or remove advertising that is inconsistent with this policy.

5. Types of Advertising That May Be Considered

The journal may consider advertising relevant to its academic, research, healthcare, or professional readership.

Potentially appropriate categories may include:

  • academic conferences;

  • scientific meetings;

  • professional training programs;

  • research software;

  • scholarly books and publications;

  • educational programs;

  • research tools;

  • laboratory or healthcare technologies;

  • digital-health technologies;

  • telemonitoring systems;

  • professional services;

  • academic institutions;

  • research organizations;

  • healthcare technologies; and

  • other services reasonably relevant to the journal's readership.

Acceptance is subject to editorial-independence, ethical, legal, safety, and transparency considerations.

6. Healthcare and Medical Advertising

Because the journal publishes research concerning digital health, telemedicine, patient monitoring, healthcare technologies, artificial intelligence, and related fields, advertisements involving healthcare products or services require particular care.

The journal may decline advertisements that contain:

  • unsupported therapeutic claims;

  • misleading clinical-performance claims;

  • inaccurate safety statements;

  • exaggerated effectiveness claims;

  • unsubstantiated diagnostic claims;

  • misleading comparisons with competing technologies; or

  • statements that could reasonably create an inappropriate risk to patients or healthcare professionals.

An advertisement should not imply that publication in the journal constitutes evidence of regulatory approval, clinical effectiveness, safety, or superiority.

7. Digital Health and Telemonitoring Products

Advertisements relating to digital-health applications, remote-monitoring systems, wearable devices, healthcare software, connected medical technologies, telemedicine platforms, or artificial intelligence systems should not make claims that exceed the evidence or applicable regulatory authorization associated with the product.

Where relevant, claims concerning:

  • clinical effectiveness;

  • diagnostic accuracy;

  • patient safety;

  • data protection;

  • artificial intelligence performance;

  • remote-monitoring accuracy;

  • regulatory approval;

  • cybersecurity;

  • interoperability; or

  • healthcare outcomes

should not be presented misleadingly.

The journal does not independently certify commercial products merely by accepting an advertisement.

8. Artificial Intelligence Advertising

Advertisements relating to artificial intelligence should not present speculative or exaggerated claims as established scientific fact.

The journal may reject advertisements that misleadingly characterize an AI product as:

  • completely unbiased;

  • fully autonomous;

  • universally accurate;

  • clinically validated without evidence;

  • completely secure;

  • error-free;

  • equivalent to professional medical judgment without appropriate evidence; or

  • approved by the journal.

Claims regarding AI-assisted healthcare technologies should be presented responsibly and in accordance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

9. Prohibited or Unacceptable Advertising

The journal will not knowingly accept advertising that:

  • is unlawful;

  • is fraudulent or deceptive;

  • contains materially misleading claims;

  • promotes research misconduct;

  • encourages plagiarism or academic fraud;

  • sells authorship or fabricated academic credentials;

  • offers guaranteed journal acceptance or indexing;

  • impersonates the journal or its editors;

  • infringes intellectual-property rights;

  • contains discriminatory or hateful material;

  • promotes unsafe healthcare practices;

  • makes deceptive medical claims;

  • compromises patient welfare;

  • exploits vulnerable individuals;

  • promotes falsified research data;

  • encourages manipulation of citations or peer review; or

  • otherwise conflicts with responsible scholarly communication.

The journal may also decline advertising considered inappropriate for its readership or academic purpose.

10. Advertising and Manuscript Acceptance

Purchasing advertising space does not provide any advantage in manuscript consideration.

Advertisers receive no preferential treatment concerning:

  • manuscript screening;

  • reviewer selection;

  • peer-review speed;

  • editorial decisions;

  • publication scheduling;

  • article placement;

  • citation;

  • indexing claims; or

  • post-publication handling.

Authors, institutions, companies, or organizations that advertise with the journal are subject to the same editorial standards as all other contributors.

11. Advertising by Authors or Their Institutions

An author, university, hospital, research institution, healthcare provider, company, or other organization associated with a submitted manuscript may also have an advertising relationship with the journal.

Such a relationship must not influence editorial assessment.

Where a commercial relationship creates a relevant conflict of interest, it should be managed in accordance with the journal's Conflict of Interest Policy.

Editorial staff responsible for a manuscript should not be instructed to favor an author because the author or affiliated organization has purchased advertising.

12. Sponsored Content

Sponsored or commercially supported material must be clearly distinguishable from independently peer-reviewed scholarly content.

Sponsored material should not be presented as an original research article unless it has undergone the journal's normal scholarly and peer-review procedures.

Where content is sponsored, readers should be informed of the commercial relationship where applicable.

A sponsorship arrangement must not provide the sponsor with inappropriate control over:

  • peer review;

  • editorial interpretation;

  • conclusions;

  • correction decisions; or

  • publication-ethics procedures.

13. Advertorial Content

Content designed to resemble independent editorial material while functioning primarily as advertising should not be presented without clear identification.

Where advertorial material is considered, it must be prominently distinguished from peer-reviewed and editorial content.

The journal should avoid presentation formats that could reasonably mislead readers regarding the commercial nature of the material.

14. Placement of Advertisements

Advertisements should be positioned so that readers can distinguish them readily from scholarly content.

Advertising placement must not imply that:

  • a particular article endorses the advertisement;

  • the advertiser sponsored the article unless accurately disclosed;

  • the journal recommends a product;

  • an editor recommends a service; or

  • a peer-reviewed finding validates the advertised product.

Advertisements should not interrupt article content in a manner that materially interferes with scholarly reading or creates confusion between editorial and promotional information.

15. Relationship to Published Articles

Advertising should not be deliberately placed next to an article in a manner designed to imply endorsement by the article's authors or findings.

Where automated website systems determine advertisement placement, the journal should seek to avoid misleading associations between advertising and scholarly content.

Publication of research concerning a particular product, technology, clinical service, or company does not create an entitlement for the corresponding organization to advertise alongside that research.

16. Contextual Advertising

Where online advertising is used, advertisements may be selected according to broad academic or professional relevance.

However, advertising decisions should not rely on confidential information obtained from:

  • unpublished manuscripts;

  • peer-review reports;

  • editorial correspondence;

  • author declarations;

  • confidential research data; or

  • unpublished editorial decisions.

Confidential scholarly information must not be used for commercial advertising purposes.

17. Reader-Behavior-Based Advertising

The journal should clearly distinguish ordinary website analytics from individualized advertising practices.

Where advertising technologies use cookies, device information, or other online identifiers, such practices should comply with the journal's Privacy Policy and applicable data-protection requirements.

The journal should not represent advertising as non-personalized if user behavior is actually being used to determine advertisements.

Where applicable, users should receive appropriate information concerning cookie or tracking technologies.

18. Privacy and Advertising

Personal information collected through manuscript submission, peer review, journal registration, correspondence, or editorial processes must not be sold or improperly transferred to advertisers for marketing purposes.

Information such as:

  • author contact details;

  • reviewer information;

  • unpublished research interests;

  • confidential manuscript information;

  • editorial decisions;

  • patient information; or

  • research data

must not be disclosed to advertisers except where disclosure is legally permitted, transparently communicated, and appropriate for the specific purpose.

Advertising-related data processing should be consistent with the journal's Privacy Policy.

19. Advertiser Access to Editorial Information

Advertisers must not receive privileged access to:

  • manuscripts under review;

  • reviewer identities;

  • confidential editorial correspondence;

  • unpublished acceptance decisions;

  • embargoed research;

  • author personal information; or

  • confidential research data.

Commercial relationships do not create a right to access the journal's confidential editorial systems.

20. Claims of Journal Endorsement

Advertisers may not state or imply that the Digital Health & Telemonitoring Advances endorses their product, technology, service, organization, or claim merely because an advertisement has been accepted.

Use of the journal's:

  • name;

  • logo;

  • branding;

  • editorial-board names; or

  • publisher identity

for external promotional endorsement requires explicit authorization where applicable.

Acceptance of advertising should not be described as scientific validation.

21. Regulatory Compliance

Advertisers are responsible for ensuring that advertising materials comply with applicable laws, regulations, professional standards, and industry requirements.

This responsibility may be particularly important for advertising involving:

  • medical devices;

  • healthcare software;

  • diagnostic technologies;

  • pharmaceuticals;

  • digital therapeutics;

  • clinical services;

  • patient-monitoring technologies; or

  • artificial intelligence used in healthcare.

The journal's review of an advertisement does not transfer regulatory responsibility from the advertiser to the journal.

22. Evidence Supporting Advertising Claims

The journal may request clarification or supporting evidence for significant factual, scientific, clinical, or performance claims contained in an advertisement.

Failure to provide adequate support may result in rejection or removal of the advertisement.

Acceptance of supplied evidence does not constitute independent peer review or scientific endorsement of the advertised claim.

23. Comparative Advertising

Advertisements comparing one product, service, institution, or technology with another should not contain knowingly misleading or unfair comparisons.

Comparative statements should be appropriately supported and should not misrepresent competitors.

The journal may decline comparative advertising that creates significant legal, ethical, or reputational concerns.

24. Advertisements Relating to Academic Services

The journal may consider advertisements for legitimate academic services, but it will not knowingly accept advertising for services that encourage unethical publication practices.

Unacceptable services include those offering:

  • purchased authorship;

  • guaranteed publication;

  • fabricated peer review;

  • fake citations;

  • manipulated indexing;

  • ghostwritten research presented dishonestly;

  • fabricated datasets;

  • fraudulent academic credentials; or

  • other forms of publication misconduct.

Language-editing or legitimate research-support services should not imply that their use guarantees acceptance by the journal.

25. Conference Advertising

Advertisements for academic conferences may be considered when the event appears relevant to the journal's readership.

The journal may decline conference advertising where there is credible evidence of:

  • deceptive organization;

  • false indexing claims;

  • misleading speaker information;

  • fabricated affiliations;

  • inappropriate use of academic names;

  • unclear organizers; or

  • other practices inconsistent with legitimate scholarly activity.

Acceptance of a conference advertisement does not constitute journal sponsorship unless explicitly stated.

26. Recruitment Advertising

The journal may consider relevant recruitment or professional-development advertising where appropriate.

Recruitment advertisements should not discriminate unlawfully or contain misleading information regarding:

  • qualifications;

  • employment conditions;

  • compensation;

  • institutional affiliation; or

  • professional opportunities.

Acceptance of recruitment advertising does not imply journal endorsement of the employer.

27. Financial Separation

Advertising revenue, where received, must remain separate from individual editorial decisions.

Editors and reviewers should not be informed that acceptance or rejection of a manuscript could affect advertising revenue.

Financial targets must not be used to pressure editors to:

  • accept manuscripts;

  • accelerate peer review improperly;

  • suppress corrections;

  • avoid retractions; or

  • favor commercial partners.

28. Advertising and Article Processing Charges

Advertising and article processing charges, where applicable, represent separate financial activities.

Payment for an advertisement does not constitute payment for publication.

Similarly, payment of any legitimate publication charge does not purchase advertising or promotional treatment.

Both activities should remain transparent and independent of editorial judgment.

29. Advertising and Funding

Advertising relationships should be distinguished from research funding and journal sponsorship.

Where an organization funds research published in the journal, the relevant article should disclose that relationship according to applicable funding and conflict-of-interest requirements.

An organization should not be allowed to conceal research sponsorship by presenting the relationship solely as advertising.

30. Editorial Board Members and Advertising

Members of the editorial board should not use their journal position to obtain improper commercial benefit from advertisers.

Editorial titles should not be used in commercial advertising in a way that implies journal endorsement without appropriate authorization.

Where an editor has a financial relationship with an advertiser relevant to an editorial matter, the conflict should be managed under the journal's Conflict of Interest Policy.

31. Advertising Review

The journal may review proposed advertisements before publication to assess their compatibility with this policy.

Review may consider:

  • legality;

  • scholarly relevance;

  • clarity;

  • potential for misleading readers;

  • health and safety implications;

  • appropriateness of claims;

  • conflicts with journal values;

  • privacy concerns; and

  • separation from editorial content.

The journal is not obligated to accept advertising that technically meets minimum requirements.

32. Right to Refuse Advertising

The journal reserves the right to decline advertising at its discretion where acceptance could compromise:

  • editorial independence;

  • scholarly credibility;

  • reader trust;

  • legal compliance;

  • patient safety;

  • research integrity; or

  • the professional character of the journal.

The journal is not required to provide publication access to every prospective advertiser.

33. Withdrawal or Removal of Advertisements

The journal may remove an advertisement after acceptance or publication if:

  • important information was misrepresented;

  • a claim is later shown to be materially misleading;

  • the advertisement becomes unlawful;

  • the advertiser violates agreed conditions;

  • a significant safety concern emerges;

  • the advertisement creates confusion with editorial content; or

  • continued display would conflict materially with this policy.

Removal of advertising does not alter the scholarly record of independently published articles.

34. Complaints About Advertising

Readers, authors, healthcare professionals, institutions, or other stakeholders may raise concerns regarding advertisements appearing through the journal.

A complaint should identify:

  • the advertisement;

  • the nature of the concern;

  • supporting information where available; and

  • relevant legal, ethical, safety, or factual issues.

The journal may review the advertisement and request information from the advertiser before determining whether modification, removal, or another action is appropriate.

35. Corrections to Advertising

Where an advertisement contains an identifiable error that can be corrected without making the overall advertisement misleading, the journal may permit correction.

Materially misleading advertisements may be removed rather than silently amended.

Corrections to advertising do not constitute corrections to the journal's scholarly literature unless a separate published article is affected.

36. Separation From Peer Review

Advertisers must not:

  • nominate reviewers in exchange for advertising;

  • request reviewer identities;

  • contact reviewers through the journal;

  • influence review reports;

  • obtain confidential manuscript information; or

  • condition financial support on favorable editorial outcomes.

Any attempt to use advertising relationships to manipulate peer review may result in termination of the advertising relationship and further action where appropriate.

37. Advertising and Corrections or Retractions

Commercial interests must not prevent the journal from issuing:

  • corrections;

  • Expressions of Concern;

  • retractions; or

  • other necessary post-publication notices.

An advertiser whose product or organization is discussed in a published article has no authority to prevent legitimate correction of the scholarly record.

Similarly, the possibility of losing advertising revenue must not influence post-publication editorial action.

38. Independence From Advertiser Objections

Advertisers may raise legitimate factual or legal concerns about journal content through appropriate channels, but an advertising relationship does not grant special control over scholarly publication.

Criticism of an advertiser contained in legitimate peer-reviewed research is not grounds for suppressing an article merely because the organization purchases advertising.

39. Transparency of Commercial Relationships

Where an advertising or sponsorship relationship is sufficiently relevant to the journal's activities that readers could reasonably consider it important, the relationship should be disclosed appropriately.

The journal should avoid commercial arrangements that require secrecy where such secrecy could create a misleading impression of editorial independence.

40. Advertising Records

The publisher may maintain appropriate administrative records relating to advertisements, including:

  • advertiser identity;

  • advertising period;

  • contractual arrangements;

  • payment information;

  • approval records; and

  • relevant correspondence.

Such records should be managed in accordance with applicable financial, privacy, and legal requirements.

Advertising records should remain separate from confidential peer-review records where practicable.

41. Responsibilities of Advertisers

Advertisers are responsible for ensuring that their advertisements:

  • are lawful;

  • are accurate;

  • do not contain deceptive claims;

  • do not infringe third-party rights;

  • comply with relevant professional or regulatory requirements;

  • are clearly promotional in nature;

  • do not imply journal endorsement;

  • respect patient and consumer safety; and

  • do not interfere with editorial independence.

Advertisers should promptly notify the journal if information contained in an advertisement becomes materially inaccurate.

42. Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for protecting editorial independence from commercial influence.

Editors should report concerns where advertising:

  • creates an apparent conflict with an article;

  • compromises reader understanding;

  • creates inappropriate pressure on editorial decisions;

  • presents potential research-integrity concerns; or

  • appears to imply journal endorsement.

Editors should not negotiate favorable manuscript decisions in exchange for advertising support.

43. Responsibilities of the Publisher

The publisher is responsible for managing advertising arrangements in a manner consistent with this policy.

The publisher should:

  • maintain separation between advertising and editorial decisions;

  • identify advertising clearly;

  • avoid misleading placement;

  • protect confidential editorial information;

  • implement reasonable advertising review procedures;

  • address legitimate complaints; and

  • respect the authority of editors over scholarly content.

Commercial considerations should not override the integrity of the journal.

44. Relationship With Other Journal Policies

This Advertising Policy should be interpreted together with other applicable journal policies, including:

  • Publication Ethics Policy;

  • Conflict of Interest Policy;

  • Peer Review Policy;

  • Privacy Policy;

  • Revenue and Funding Model;

  • Article Processing Charges Policy;

  • Corrections and Retractions Policy; and

  • Complaints and Appeals Policy.

Where advertising raises a research-integrity or conflict-of-interest concern, the relevant specialized policy may also apply.

45. Policy Review

The Digital Health & Telemonitoring Advances may periodically review this policy to reflect developments in scholarly publishing, digital advertising, privacy requirements, healthcare regulation, online technologies, and publication-ethics standards.

Material changes to the journal's advertising practices should be reflected transparently on the official journal website.

Commitment to Advertising Transparency

The Digital Health & Telemonitoring Advances recognizes that commercial activities must remain subordinate to the integrity of scholarly publishing.

Advertising, where accepted, must be clearly identifiable, appropriately managed, and independent of manuscript submission, peer review, editorial decisions, corrections, retractions, and other scholarly processes.

The journal does not consider acceptance of an advertisement to constitute endorsement of the advertiser or its products, technologies, services, or claims. Editorial independence, research integrity, reader trust, and responsible scholarly communication remain the governing principles of the journal's approach to advertising.