Medical Decision Making (MDM), a journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making, offers rigorous and systematic approaches to decision making that are designed to improve the health and clinical care of individuals and to assist with health policy development. The current Editor-in-Chief of MDM is Brian J. Zikmund-Fisher, PhD (University of Michigan), and the listing of current Associate Editors and Editorial Board members can be found here.

Published eight times a year, MDM presents theoretical, statistical, and modeling techniques and methods from a variety of disciplines including decision psychology, health economics, clinical epidemiology, and evidence synthesis. MDM promotes understanding of human decision-making processes so that individuals can make more informed and satisfying choices regarding their health. MDM’s audience includes researchers, clinicians, and policy-makers interested in methodologic contributions to, and applications of, medical decision making. A paper does not have to be “methodologic” to be considered for publication. For example, MDM is also particularly interested in exemplary applications of decision analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, risk prediction, Bayesian statistical analysis, and other modeling techniques to clinical, public health, and management problems. MDM also has an interest in well implemented systematic or narrative reviews of methodologic literature, decision tools, and economic analyses.

The editors of MDM are interested in articles that develop, advance, or evaluate methods or theory in clinical research, diagnosis, health economics, evidence synthesis, health policy, research on patient-centered outcomes (e.g., comparative effectiveness), informatics, health services research, judgment and decision psychology, mathematical models of diagnosis and treatment, assessment of preferences and quality of life, decision aids, risk communication, technology assessment, and statistical methods pertinent to any of these areas. Note, however, that in general MDM considers studies about diagnostic algorithm development and optimization that do not involve human decision making to be out of scope.

MDM focuses on important topics such as:

Optimal strategies for patient care and policy decision making
Understanding individual and group decision-making processes
Outcomes of decisions, their measurement, and valuation
Risk communication, risk attitudes, and judgment
Methods to teach about and improve actual decisions (e.g., decision aids)
Methods for technology assessment, literature synthesis, comparative effectiveness research, and evidence-based decision making
We are most interested in papers that involve innovative methods, though we also consider exemplary applications of standard methods, especially if they can serve as examples of best practices.

To submit a manuscript for consideration at MDM, please see Manuscript Requirements and Manuscript Submission. All manuscripts submitted to MDM are subject to a double-anonymized review process.

Editor
Alan J. Schwartz, PhD   University of Illinois at Chicago (United States)
Deputy Editor
Kenneth J. Smith, MD, MS   University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania, United States)
Associate Editors
Jessica S. Ancker, MPH, PhD Cornell University (New York City, New York, United States)
Lauren E. Cipriano, PhD       University of Western Ontario (London, Canada)
Stefano Conti, MSc, PhD     National Health Service England (London, United Kingdom)
Jeremy D. Goldhaber-Fiebert, PhD    Stanford University (California, United States)
Peder A. Halvorsen, MD, PhD     University of Tromsø (Alta, Norway)
Olga Kostopoulou, MSc, PhD      Imperial College London (United Kingdom)
Ivar Sønbø Kristiansen, MD, PhD, MPH      University of Oslo (Norway)
Josephine A. Mauskopf, PhD, MHA    RTI International (Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, United States)
Mary C. Politi, PhD Washington University in St. Louis (Missouri, United States)
Eleanor M. Pullenayegum, PhD   University of Toronto (Ontario, Canada)
Donald A. Redelmeier, MD  University of Toronto (Ontario, Canada)
Louise B. Russell, PhD   Rutgers University (New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States)
Marilyn M. Schapira, MD, MPH   University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, United States)
Paul A. Scuffham, PhD, PGDip (Arts)   Griffith University (Meadowbrook, Queensland, Australia)
Victoria A. Shaffer, PhD University of Missouri (Columbia, United States)
James E. Stahl, MD, CM, MPH     Dartmouth College (Lebanon, New Hampshire, United States)
Ewout W. Steyerberg, MSc, PhD Erasmus University (Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands)
Mark Strong, MBChB, MPH, PhD University of Sheffield (Sheffield, United Kingdom)
Erika A. Waters, PhD, MPH  Washington University in St. Louis (Missouri, United States)
Nicky J. Welton, PhD    University of Bristol (United Kingdom)
Feng Xie, BSc, MSc, PhD      McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada)
Brian J. Zikmund-Fisher, PhD      University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, United States)
Emeritus: Neal V. Dawson, MD    Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio, United States)
Editorial Board: Term Ending 2019
Lazaros Andronis, PhD University of Birmingham (United Kingdom)
Caroline Bascoul-Mollevi, PhD   UNICANCER (Montpellier, France)
Cornelia Betsch, PhD    University of Erfurt (Germany)
Kerri L. Cavanaugh, MD, MHS     Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tennessee, United States)
Su-Hsin Chang, PhD, SM     Washington University in St. Louis (Missouri, United States)
Elamin H. Elbasha, PhD Merck & Co., Inc. (North Wales, Pennsylvania, United States)
Paul K. J. Han, MD, MA, MPH      Maine Medical Center (Portland, United States)
Quang A. Le, PharmD, PhD Western University of Health Sciences (Pomona, California, United States)
Nan Luo, PhD National University of Singapore
Daniel D. Matlock, MD, MPH      University of Colorado (Denver, United States)
Daniella Meeker, PhD   University of Southern California (Los Angeles, United States)
Wendy L. Nelson, MPH, PhD, RN National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, Maryland, United States)
Daria O'Reilly, MSc, PhD      McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada)
José Luis Pinto Prades, PhD, MSc       University of Navarra (Pamplona, Spain)
Kim Rand-Hendriksen, PhD University of Oslo (Norway)
Carolyn M. Rutter, PhD RAND Corporation (Santa Monica, California, United States)
David J. Vanness, PhD  University of Wisconsin–Madison (United States)
Andrew J. Vickers, PhD Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, (New York City, New York, United States)
A. Simon Pickard, PhD  University of Illinois at Chicago (United States)
Todd H. Wagner, PhD  Stanford University (California, United States)
Jennifer A. Whitty, BPharm, Grad DipClinPharm, PhD     The University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia)
Editorial Board: Term Ending 2020
Pelham M. Barton, PhD University of Birmingham (United Kingdom)
Robert Böhm, PhD RWTH Aachen University (Germany)
James V. Codella, MEng, PhD    IBM Research (Yorktown Heights, New York, United States)
James G. Dolan, MD     University of Rochester (New York, United States)
Simon D. Eckermann, PhD   University of Wollongong (New South Wales, Australia)
Tom Fahey, MSc, MD, DCH, DObs, MEd, MFPH       Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (Dublin)
Negin Hajizadeh, MD, MPH New York University School of Medicine (New York, United States)
Malek B. Hannouf, PhD London Health Sciences Centre (United Kingdom)
David W. Hutton, PhD  University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, United States)
Christopher H. Jackson, MMath, PhD University of Cambridge (United Kingdom)
Sarah E. Lillie, MPH, PhD     Minneapolis VA Health Care System (Minnesota, United States)
Ankur Pandya, MPH, PhD    Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States)
Adam T. Perzynski, MA, PhD       Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Mary C. Politi, PhD Washington University in St. Louis (Missouri, United States)
Beate Sander, RN, MBA, PhD, MEcDev, PhD     Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion (Toronto, Canada)
Laura D. Scherer, PhD  University of Colorado Denver (United States)
Matthias Schwenkglenks, PhD, MPH  University of Basel (Switzerland)
Djøra I. Soeteman, MSc, PhD      Harvard University (Boston, Massachusetts, United States)
Ben van Calster, PhD    Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium)
Joost van Rosmalen, PhD    Erasmus University (Rotterdam, Netherlands)
Torbjørn Fosen Wisløff, MSc, PhD      Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services (Oslo, Norway)
Tracey Anne Young, PhD     Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium)
Editorial Board: Term Ending 2021
Dana L. Alden, PhD, MBA    University of Hawai'i at Manoa (Honolulu, United States)
Wändi Bruine de Bruin, PhD, MSc      University of Leeds (United Kingdom)
Jagpreet Chhatwal, PhD      Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, United States)
Barry D. Dewitt, PhD    Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States)
Darryl T. Gray, MD, ScD, FACC, FAHA Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, Georgia, United States)
Scott D. Grosse, PhD    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, Georgia, United States)
Janel Hanmer, MD, PhD      University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania, United States)
Felicity W.K. Harper, PhD     Wayne State University (Detroit, Michigan, United States)
Joanna L. Hart, MSHP, MD   University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, United States)
Robert L. Jayes, MD      The George Washington University (Washington, District of Columbia)
Petros Pechlivanoglou, MSc, PhD       Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Donna Rowen, PhD, MSc     University of Sheffield (United Kingdom)
Steffan Frosi Stella, MD, PhD      Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Porto Alegre, Brazil)
Jamie L. Studts, PhD     University of Kentucky (Lexington, United States)
JoAnne Wu, MS, MD    University of Southern California (Los Angeles, United States)
Past Editors
Lee B. Lusted, MD, 1981-1985     
Dennis G. Fryback, PhD, 1986-1988    
J. Robert Beck, MD, 1989-1994    
Arthur S. Elstein, PhD, 1995-1999       
Frank A. Sonnenberg, MD, 2000-2004       
Mark Helfand, MD, MPH, 2005-2012 Oregon Health & Sciences University (Portland, United States)
Editorial Manager
Rebecca J. Fiala, MA     University of Illinois at Chicago (United States)