Elsevier Medical Journal App User Needs Survey: Insights Driving Digital Innovation in Clinical Publishing

We recognize that among the categories of apps used by physicians, medical professional journals constitute a highly significant segment. Although, in essence, medical journals remain electronic publications even when adapted into app format—without undergoing any disruptive transformation—VCBeat believes that due to their exceptionally high stickiness among physicians, medical journal apps serve as influential and critical entry points to this professional community. Chad Carpenter and Rebecca Green. Chad Carpenter is a Senior User Experience Specialist at Elsevier Journals. His team conducted a survey to explore which features and values physicians prioritize most when accessing Elsevier’s journal content via mobile apps.

A survey covering numerous specialties, Elsevier article titles, and competitor analysis garnered over 160 responses from users worldwide, including those from Scotland, India, Egypt, and Ukraine. Respondents identified four key areas for improvement, and qualitative data were collected through user interviews. The survey yielded the following findings:

1. Physicians are more likely to own tablet computers than other consumers, with an ownership rate 250% that of the general consumer population. Seventy-six percent of physicians use the internet at work to access job-related content, believing it helps them save time, reduce costs, and improve the quality of care.

2. Three Major Uses of Journal Apps:

• Read journals online or offline, anytime and anywhere.




• View and share images, with convenient zooming for a better viewing experience.




• Access and Download the PDF File

3. Medical journals remain the primary source of information, while mobile apps can bring new advantages to journals and enhance the reading experience. For instance, internet-based apps allow users to watch videos or zoom in on images and charts with their fingers for better visualization. Apps also facilitate easier access to archives, enabling physicians to search for and read articles on specific topics of interest. Within these apps, doctors can take notes, highlight key points in articles, and then share both the articles and their notes with colleagues via email or social media. Another significant advantage of apps over traditional print formats is their ability to incorporate rich interactive content, such as videos.



In fact, according to VCBeat, Elsevier, a major publisher of medical journals, has launched 16 apps based on its existing high-quality content, each focusing on different specialized fields. Elsevier is actively promoting these apps in an effort to encourage more healthcare professionals to embrace this new way of reading. Below are the apps already launched by Elsevier.




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