diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index cc6394eb99..12f7876c71 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ Config/testthat/edition: 3
 Encoding: UTF-8
 LazyData: true
 Roxygen: list(markdown = TRUE)
-RoxygenNote: 7.2.1
+RoxygenNote: 7.2.3
 Collate: 
     'ggproto.r'
     'ggplot-global.R'
diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 9bf3e7a431..d0eedcb4d8 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -316,6 +316,7 @@ export(coord_trans)
 export(cut_interval)
 export(cut_number)
 export(cut_width)
+export(datetime_scale)
 export(derive)
 export(discrete_scale)
 export(draw_key_abline)
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index e217b3902a..915f82f9c9 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # ggplot2 (development version)
 
+* The `datetime_scale()` scale constructor is now exported for use in extension
+  packages (@teunbrand, #4701).
 * `geom_text()` drops observations where `angle = NA` instead of throwing an
   error (@teunbrand, #2757).
 * Using two ordered factors as facetting variables in 
diff --git a/R/scale-date.r b/R/scale-date.r
index 04ea4387b4..b5920ab364 100644
--- a/R/scale-date.r
+++ b/R/scale-date.r
@@ -275,7 +275,16 @@ scale_y_time <- function(name = waiver(),
   )
 }
 
-## rename to datetime_scale
+#' Date/time scale constructor
+#'
+#' @inheritParams scale_x_datetime
+#' @inheritParams continuous_scale
+#' @param trans For date/time scales, the name of a date/time transformation or
+#'   the object itself. Built-in transformations include "hms", "date" and "time".
+#' @inheritDotParams continuous_scale -aesthetics -trans -palette -breaks -minor_breaks -labels -guide
+#'
+#' @export
+#' @keywords internal
 datetime_scale <- function(aesthetics, trans, palette,
                            breaks = pretty_breaks(), minor_breaks = waiver(),
                            labels = waiver(), date_breaks = waiver(),
diff --git a/man/datetime_scale.Rd b/man/datetime_scale.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fe7e2865dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/datetime_scale.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/scale-date.r
+\name{datetime_scale}
+\alias{datetime_scale}
+\title{Date/time scale constructor}
+\usage{
+datetime_scale(
+  aesthetics,
+  trans,
+  palette,
+  breaks = pretty_breaks(),
+  minor_breaks = waiver(),
+  labels = waiver(),
+  date_breaks = waiver(),
+  date_labels = waiver(),
+  date_minor_breaks = waiver(),
+  timezone = NULL,
+  guide = "legend",
+  ...
+)
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{aesthetics}{The names of the aesthetics that this scale works with.}
+
+\item{trans}{For date/time scales, the name of a date/time transformation or
+the object itself. Built-in transformations include "hms", "date" and "time".}
+
+\item{palette}{A palette function that when called with a numeric vector with
+values between 0 and 1 returns the corresponding output values
+(e.g., \code{\link[scales:area_pal]{scales::area_pal()}}).}
+
+\item{breaks}{One of:
+\itemize{
+\item \code{NULL} for no breaks
+\item \code{waiver()} for the breaks specified by \code{date_breaks}
+\item A \code{Date}/\code{POSIXct} vector giving positions of breaks
+\item A function that takes the limits as input and returns breaks as output
+}}
+
+\item{minor_breaks}{One of:
+\itemize{
+\item \code{NULL} for no breaks
+\item \code{waiver()} for the breaks specified by \code{date_minor_breaks}
+\item A \code{Date}/\code{POSIXct} vector giving positions of minor breaks
+\item A function that takes the limits as input and returns minor breaks as
+output
+}}
+
+\item{labels}{One of:
+\itemize{
+\item \code{NULL} for no labels
+\item \code{waiver()} for the default labels computed by the
+transformation object
+\item A character vector giving labels (must be same length as \code{breaks})
+\item An expression vector (must be the same length as breaks). See ?plotmath for details.
+\item A function that takes the breaks as input and returns labels
+as output. Also accepts rlang \link[rlang:as_function]{lambda} function
+notation.
+}}
+
+\item{date_breaks}{A string giving the distance between breaks like "2
+weeks", or "10 years". If both \code{breaks} and \code{date_breaks} are
+specified, \code{date_breaks} wins. Valid specifications are 'sec', 'min',
+'hour', 'day', 'week', 'month' or 'year', optionally followed by 's'.}
+
+\item{date_labels}{A string giving the formatting specification for the
+labels. Codes are defined in \code{\link[=strftime]{strftime()}}. If both \code{labels}
+and \code{date_labels} are specified, \code{date_labels} wins.}
+
+\item{date_minor_breaks}{A string giving the distance between minor breaks
+like "2 weeks", or "10 years". If both \code{minor_breaks} and
+\code{date_minor_breaks} are specified, \code{date_minor_breaks} wins. Valid
+specifications are 'sec', 'min', 'hour', 'day', 'week', 'month' or 'year',
+optionally followed by 's'.}
+
+\item{timezone}{The timezone to use for display on the axes. The default
+(\code{NULL}) uses the timezone encoded in the data.}
+
+\item{guide}{A function used to create a guide or its name. See
+\code{\link[=guides]{guides()}} for more information.}
+
+\item{...}{
+  Arguments passed on to \code{\link[=continuous_scale]{continuous_scale}}
+  \describe{
+    \item{\code{scale_name}}{The name of the scale that should be used for error messages
+associated with this scale.}
+    \item{\code{name}}{The name of the scale. Used as the axis or legend title. If
+\code{waiver()}, the default, the name of the scale is taken from the first
+mapping used for that aesthetic. If \code{NULL}, the legend title will be
+omitted.}
+    \item{\code{n.breaks}}{An integer guiding the number of major breaks. The algorithm
+may choose a slightly different number to ensure nice break labels. Will
+only have an effect if \code{breaks = waiver()}. Use \code{NULL} to use the default
+number of breaks given by the transformation.}
+    \item{\code{limits}}{One of:
+\itemize{
+\item \code{NULL} to use the default scale range
+\item A numeric vector of length two providing limits of the scale.
+Use \code{NA} to refer to the existing minimum or maximum
+\item A function that accepts the existing (automatic) limits and returns
+new limits. Also accepts rlang \link[rlang:as_function]{lambda} function
+notation.
+Note that setting limits on positional scales will \strong{remove} data outside of the limits.
+If the purpose is to zoom, use the limit argument in the coordinate system
+(see \code{\link[=coord_cartesian]{coord_cartesian()}}).
+}}
+    \item{\code{rescaler}}{A function used to scale the input values to the
+range [0, 1]. This is always \code{\link[scales:rescale]{scales::rescale()}}, except for
+diverging and n colour gradients (i.e., \code{\link[=scale_colour_gradient2]{scale_colour_gradient2()}},
+\code{\link[=scale_colour_gradientn]{scale_colour_gradientn()}}). The \code{rescaler} is ignored by position
+scales, which always use \code{\link[scales:rescale]{scales::rescale()}}. Also accepts rlang
+\link[rlang:as_function]{lambda} function notation.}
+    \item{\code{oob}}{One of:
+\itemize{
+\item Function that handles limits outside of the scale limits
+(out of bounds). Also accepts rlang \link[rlang:as_function]{lambda}
+function notation.
+\item The default (\code{\link[scales:oob]{scales::censor()}}) replaces out of
+bounds values with \code{NA}.
+\item \code{\link[scales:oob]{scales::squish()}} for squishing out of bounds values into range.
+\item \code{\link[scales:oob]{scales::squish_infinite()}} for squishing infinite values into range.
+}}
+    \item{\code{na.value}}{Missing values will be replaced with this value.}
+    \item{\code{expand}}{For position scales, a vector of range expansion constants used to add some
+padding around the data to ensure that they are placed some distance
+away from the axes. Use the convenience function \code{\link[=expansion]{expansion()}}
+to generate the values for the \code{expand} argument. The defaults are to
+expand the scale by 5\% on each side for continuous variables, and by
+0.6 units on each side for discrete variables.}
+    \item{\code{position}}{For position scales, The position of the axis.
+\code{left} or \code{right} for y axes, \code{top} or \code{bottom} for x axes.}
+    \item{\code{super}}{The super class to use for the constructed scale}
+  }}
+}
+\description{
+Date/time scale constructor
+}
+\keyword{internal}