Summary
Objectives: To provide an introduction to the 2018 International Medical Informatics Association
(IMIA) Yearbook by the editors.
Methods: This editorial provides an overview and introduction to the 2018 IMIA Yearbook which
special topic is: “Between access and privacy: Challenges in sharing health data”.
The special topic editors and section are discussed, and the new section of the 2018
Yearbook, Cancer Informatics, is introduced. Changes in the Yearbook editorial team
are also described.
Results: With the exponential burgeoning of health-related data, and attendant demands for
sharing and using these data, the special topic for 2018 is noteworthy for its timeliness.
Data sharing brings responsibility for preservation of data privacy, and for this,
patient perspectives are of paramount importance in understanding how patients view
their health data and how their privacy should be protected.
Conclusion: With the increase in availability of health-related data from many different sources
and contexts, there is an urgent need for informaticians to become aware of their
role in maintaining the balance between data sharing and privacy.
Keywords
Informatics, Medical - Health Information Technology - IMIA - Yearbook of Medical
Informatics - health data sharing - health data privacy
