Dear Colleagues,

The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data. The ultimate goal of data science techniques is not to collect more data, but to extract knowledge and insights from existing data in various forms. For the analysis and improvement of processes, event data are the main source of information. In recent years, a new research area has emerged combining traditional process analysis and data-centric analysis: process-oriented data science (PODS). The interdisciplinary nature of this new research area has resulted in its application for analyzing processes in different domains, especially healthcare.

This Special Issue aims to provide a high-quality forum for interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners (both data/process analysts and medical audiences) to exchange research findings and ideas on healthcare process analysis techniques and practices. Process-Oriented Data Science for Healthcare (PODS4H) research includes a wide range of topics from process mining techniques adapted for healthcare processes to practical issues on implementing PODS methodologies in healthcare centers’ analysis units.

This Special Issue includes the extended versions of the accepted articles in the ‘International Workshop on Process-Oriented Data Science 2021’, presenting novel research that demonstrates the potential of PODS approaches for analyzing the way healthcare is delivered. 

Dr. Carlos Fernandez-Llatas
Dr. Niels Martin
Dr. Owen Johnson
Dr. Marcos Sepúlveda
Dr. Emmanuel Helm
Dr. Jorge Munoz-Gama
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• process mining in healthcare
• process discovery and data-aided process modeling in healthcare
• conformance checking and compliance analysis of healthcare processes
• data-aided process enhancement and repair
• healthcare process prediction and recommendation
• healthcare process simulation
• healthcare process optimization
• process-aware hospital information systems analysis and data extraction
• interfaces for PODS4H
• disease-driven PODS4H
• methodologies and best practices for PODS4H
• case studies and application of PODS4H
• WACI (wild and crazy ideas) for PODS4H