Sensors, Signals, and Imaging Informatics: Best contributions from 2023.

Abstract

Objectives: To identify and highlight research papers that represent the advances and trends in the field of sensors, signals, and imaging informatics in 2023.

Method: We performed a bibliographic search on Scopus and PubMed databases using Medical Sub-ject Heading (MeSH) terms combined with keywords. Our aim was to build specific queries for sen-sors, signals, and imaging informatics. We disregarded journals that returned less than three papers on the query and then evaluated titles and abstracts of the papers using a 3-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (do not include) to 3 (should be included). Only the papers with a total score of 8 or more were re-evaluated again, this time considering the full text, and the top 14 papers with the highest scores were then reviewed by external reviewers and editors of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) Yearbook.

Results: Among the 643 returned papers published in 2023 in the various areas of sensors, signals, and imaging informatics (SSII), we selected 58 papers with at least 8 Likert points (in total). After a comprehensive evaluation, we identified 14 papers as the best contributions and sent them to eight external reviewers. The full review process resulted in a selection of the four best papers, which were then approved by consensus by the IMIA Yearbook Editorial Board. Although the imaging informatics sub-search returned all of these four papers, one is about sensorless freehand 3D ultrasound recon-struction (representing sensors), and another deals with video-based pulse rate estimation (representing signals).

Conclusions: Sensors, signals, and imaging informatics is a dynamic field of intensive research. The four best papers in 2023 represent advanced approaches focusing on DL-based image processing, analysis, and indicate a shift in the research field from sensor technology development to biosignal and image analysis.