Editorial Policies

Focus and Scope

Scope

The "Journal of Medical Internet Research" (JMIR; ISSN 1438-8871, Medline-abbreviation: J Med Internet Res), founded in 1999, is a leading health informatics journal (ranked second by impact factor according to ISI/SCI Journal Impact Reports, while beating the #1 ranked journal in terms of immediacy index and turnaround times). JMIR was the first open access journal covering health informatics, and the first international scientific peer-reviewed journal on all aspects of research, information and communication in the healthcare field using Internet and Intranet-related technologies; a broad field, which is nowadays called "eHealth" [see also What is eHealth and What is eHealth (2)]. This field has also significant overlaps with what is called "consumer health informatics." This focus makes JMIR unique among other medical or medical informatics journals, which tend to focus on clinical informatics or clinical applications. As eHealth is a highly interdisciplinary field we are not only inviting research papers from the medical sciences, but also from the computer, behavioral, social and communication sciences, psychology, library sciences, informatics, human-computer interaction studies, and related fields. Manuscripts are invited which deal for example with

studies evaluating the impact of Internet use or specific eHealth interventions on individual health-related or social outcomes
descriptions of the design and impact of Internet applications and websites for consumers/patients or medical professionals
use of the Internet in the context of clinical information and communication, including telemedicine
use of the Internet in medical research and the basic sciences such as molecular biology or chemistry (e.g. bioinformatics, online factual databases)
medical information management and librarian sciences
e-learning and knowledge translation, online-courses, web-based programs for undergraduate and continuing education,
eHealth applications for public health and population health technology (disease monitoring, teleprevention, teleepidemiology)
evidence-based medicine and the Internet (e.g. online development or dissemination of clinical guidelines, measuring agreement about management of a given clinical problem among physicians, etc.)
the impact of eHealth, the Internet, or health care technology on public health, the health care system and policy
methodological aspects of doing Internet research, e.g. methodology of web-based surveys
design and validation of novel web-based instruments
analysis of e-communities or virtual social networks
comparisons of effectiveness of health communication and information on the Internet compared with other methods of health communication,
effects of the Internet and information/communication technology on the patient-physician relationship and impact on public health, e.g. the studies investigating how the patient-physician relationship changes as a result of the new ways of getting medical information
ethical and legal problems as well as cross-border and cross-cultural issues of eHealth
systematic studies examining the quality of medical information available in various online venues
methods of evaluation, quality assessment and improvement of Internet information or eHealth applications
proposals for standards in the field of medical publishing on the Internet, including self-regulation issues, policies and guidelines to provide reliable healthcare information
results and methodological aspects of Internet-based studies, including medical surveys, psychological tests, quality-of-life studies, gathering and/or disseminating epidemiological data, use of the Internet for clinical studies (e-trials), drug reaction reporting and surveillance systems etc.
electronic medical publishing, Open Access publishing, and use of the Internet for traditional scholarly publishing (e.g. collaborative peer review)
information needs of patients, consumers and health professionals, including studies evaluating search and retrieval behavior of patients
web-based studies, e.g. online psychological experiments

In addition, the Journal will publish original research, reviews and tutorials on related topics such as

Internet standards
cybermetrics
security and confidentiality issues
Internet demographics
social impact of the Internet
digital imaging and multimedia
health care records
high-speed networks
telecommunication
electronic publishing
software development

Submitted manuscripts are subject to a rigorous but speedy peer review process. This review process is designed to help authors to improve their manuscripts by giving them constructive comments on how to improve their paper, and to publish only those articles which comply to general quality criteria of a scholarly paper, especially originality, clarity, references to related work and validity of results and conclusions.

Journal Format

The Journal of Medical Internet Research publishes articles "continuously," i.e. articles are published online as soon as they are available (peer-reviewed and copy-edited). The Journal collates them into archival "issues" (about 4 issues per year) and "volumes" (one per year).

The journal is currently entirely free, subscription is not necessary. We have a subscription (membership) scheme where PDF reprints of single articles and "issues" are made available as value-added service, and bound hardcopies of "volumes" may be subscribed by libraries, other institutions and individuals, primarily for archival purposes.

Section Policies

General Original Articles (Editor: G. Eysenbach)

Submit all original papers here, unless they fall under another section category.

Editors

Gunther Eysenbach MD MPH, Editor/Publisher, JMIR & Senior Scientist, Centre for Global eHealth Innovation

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Commentary

These are usually invited commentaries published alongside other articles. They may or may not be peer-reviewed.

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Viewpoint

Opinion Articles or papers which would not otherwise qualify as "original papers", because they do not have much original data, but would also not qualify as reviews, because they are based on personal experiences, workshop results, etc.

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Tutorial

A"how-to" paper on an important practical or research issue. We recommend to contact the editor to discuss suitability of a topic before submitting it.Submission of slides or audio/video files as supplementary files is strongly recommended.

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Policy Proposal

Policy proposals should be based on a thorough review of the literature and stakeholder consultations, workshops or consensus building processes etc. If it is just the opinion of an individual (or small group of individuals), submit as viewpoint.

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Letters to the editor*

* Letters to the editor are exempt from Article Processing Fees.
While some other journals publish "Research Letters" (short articles containing original data), JMIR only publishes letters responding to a previously published article. Short articles containing original data should be submitted as general article.

Editors

Gunther Eysenbach MD MPH, Editor/Publisher, JMIR & Senior Scientist, Centre for Global eHealth Innovation

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Open Access Discussion & Research (Section Editor: J. Till)

Commentaries, opinion pieces, and original research related to Open Access to the research literature.

Editors

James Till PhD

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Journal Club CATCH-IT Reports*

CATCH-IT reports are "Critically Appraised Topics in Communication, Health Informatics, and Technology" and are typically short evidence-based critical summaries of a topic or a paper published in another journal. They are typically 1000-1500 words in length. Papers to be discussed in CATCH-IT reports should be selected from the current body of literature, and should not be older than 6 months (in exceptional cases up to 12 months). Selection criteria for papers discussed in a CATCH-IT report include one or more of the following: High quality papers with great potential impact on one or more groups of decision-makers in the health system; Papers illustrating methodological flaws worth discussing (seeking to prevent them in future studies) Papers providing an elegant solution to a (methodological) problem or otherwise addressing timely methodological issues or problems; Illustration of new ideas or concepts that could represent food for reflection and discussion; Direct impact on ongoing research CATCH-IT reports cannot be submitted by authors of the original paper. They should be an unbiased, balanced third-party appraisal of research published elsewhere. CATCH-IT reports may contain questions for the original author and may be peer-reviewed by the author of the original research. The author of the original research will have the opportuniy to publish a response.

Editors

Gunther Eysenbach MD MPH, Editor/Publisher, JMIR & Senior Scientist, Centre for Global eHealth Innovation

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Randomized trials (Editor: G. Eysenbach)

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are highly welcome. RCTs must be reported in accordance with the CONSORT statement. A diagram illustrating the flow of participants through the trial is required. Please fill in and enclose a CONSORT checklist with your submission (upload as "supplementary file"). In addition, application for and report of a International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN) is highly recommended. The ISRCTN should be mentioned in the Acknowledgements section next to funding information.

Meta-analyses and/or systematic reviews are also highly welcome and should be reported in accordance with the QUORUM statement.

Editors

Gunther Eysenbach MD MPH, Editor/Publisher, JMIR & Senior Scientist, Centre for Global eHealth Innovation

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Editorials*

Editorials are submitted by invitation only. *Article processing fees are waived.

Editors

Gunther Eysenbach MD MPH, Editor/Publisher, JMIR & Senior Scientist, Centre for Global eHealth Innovation

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Protocols/Grant Proposals**

The Journal of Medical Internet Research is now peer-reviewing (and - on request - publishing) research protocols. It is possible to have a research protocol peer-reviewed without subsequently publishing it (see here for further details).
**There is a submission (peer-review) fee of US$250 per peer-reviewer which needs to be paid on submission. Usually, a protocol will be reviewed by one reviewer, unless the submitting author requests 2 or more reviewers. The submitting author may ask that a particular reviewer be approached.
Authors will get back a peer-review report, and can choose to 1) not to publish the protocol (in some cases authors may not want to reveal ongoing research, or at least wait until the project becomes funded), 2) to respond to the reviewers comments and to resubmit the revised protocol for publication (if major changes are necessary an additional peer-review with a resubmission fee may be necessary), 3) not to make any changes, but to publish the submitted protocol alongside with the reviewers' comments. If the author decides to publish the protocol, addtional US$500 have to be paid to cover copoyediting and publishing costs.

Editors

Gunther Eysenbach MD MPH, Editor/Publisher, JMIR & Senior Scientist, Centre for Global eHealth Innovation

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Special Theme Issue: Web-Assisted Tobacco Interventions

This is a special theme issue on web-assisted tobacco interventions, slated to be published end of 2007, sponsored by the WATI group. Articles will be a mix of invited and unsolicited articles.

Editors

Gunther Eysenbach MD MPH, Editor/Publisher, JMIR & Senior Scientist, Centre for Global eHealth Innovation
Scott McIntosh, University of Rochester
Cameron Norman, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto
Peter Selby

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Special Theme Issue: Medicine 2.0

This is a special theme issue planned for 2008 on Web 2.0 applications in medicine. See <a href="http://www.jmir.org/announcement/view/12">call for papers</a>.

Editors

Gunther Eysenbach MD MPH, Editor/Publisher, JMIR & Senior Scientist, Centre for Global eHealth Innovation

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Privacy and Security

High-impact research and well-researched systematic reviews and opinion pieces on privacy issues

Editors

Khaled El Emam, University of Ottawa

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Peer Review Process

When we receive a manuscript, the Managing Editor and/or Assistant Editor and/or the Section Editor will first decide whether the manuscript meets the formal criteria specified in the Instructions for Authors and whether it fits within the scope of the journal. When in doubt, the editor will consult other members of the Editorial Board. Manuscripts are then assigned to a section editor, who sends it to 2-4 external experts for peer review. Authors are required to suggest at least 2 peer-reviewers (who do not have an conflict of interest) during the submission process. JMIR reviewers will not stay anonymous their names will be revealed and stated below the article in the event that the manuscript will be published. Authors and reviewers should not directly contact each other to enter into disputes on manuscripts or reviews.

Speed of Peer-Review The Internet is a fast-moving field and we acknowledge the need of our authors to communicate their findings rapidly. We therefore aim to be extremely fast (but still thorough and rigorous) in our peer-review process. For example, the paper "Factors Associated with Intended Use of a Web Site Among Family Practice Patients" (J Med Internet Res 2001;3(2):e17) was reviewed, edited, type-set and published within only 16 days. Including the two weeks time authors needed to revise their article, from first submission to final publication less than 1 month passed. (note that actual times needed to review and edit papers vary, and primarily depend on the quality of the paper upon first submission!). Normally we can not give any guarantees on the speed of peer-review or publication - except if a paper has been submitted under the new fast-track scheme, where we guarantee an editorial decision within 15 working days and publication of the article within 4 weeks after acceptance.
Criteria for Selection of Manuscripts Manuscripts should meet the following criteria: the study conducted is ethical (see below); the material is original; the writing is clear; the study methods are appropriate; the data are valid; the conclusions are reasonable and supported by the data; the information is important; and the topic is interesting for our readership. It is recognized that many submissions will describe websites and other Internet-based services. The Editorial Board strongly recommends that authors of such submissions make efforts to evaluate and if possible quantify the impact of these services. Submissions containing evaluations are more likely to be accepted than those containing descriptions of services alone, unless the service includes significant innovation.
Ethical Issues: Internet-based research raises novel questions of ethics and human dignity. If human subjects are involved, informed consent, protection of privacy and other human rights are further criteria against which the manuscript will be judged. Papers describing investigations on human subjects must include a statement that the study was approved by the institutional review board, in accordance with all applicable regulations, and that informed consent was obtained after the nature and possible consequences of the studies were explained. JMIR is also encouraging articles devoted to the ethics of Internet-based research. In addition, as mentioned in the conflicts of interest, we will ask authors to disclose any competing interests in relation to their work.

Publication Frequency

Author Self-Archiving

In JMIR, authors keep the copyright of their material and are allowed to self-archive their work as HTML or Word file in institutional repositories and on the web, or to republish it for example as a book chapter (note that publication in another scholarly journal - while possible from a copyright point of view - is generally considered duplicate publication and scientific misconduct). In all cases of republication or self-archiving, the original source (citation) should be provided, including the link to the original JMIR article on www.jmir.org, and a note should be included that the work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC-BY 2.0.

Why you should choose JMIR to publish your research - advantages of the journal

Fast-track review and rapid publishing: guaranteed peer-review and editorial decisions within 10 days, guaranteed publication within 4 weeks after acceptance (peer-reviewers are paid to deliver rapid and high-quality peer review reports)
Open Access: FREE access, NO subscription required to read articles, first open access journal in health informatics (since 1999)
Authors retain the copyright and can republish their work for example as book chapters or their personal homepage (as long as the original publication in JMIR is acknowledged)
Fully indexed in: Medline [Index Medicus], CINAHL, Information Science Abstracts, INSPEC (Institution of Electrical Engineers), Communication Abstracts, The Informed Librarian Online, and other databases and abstraction services
High impact: 2006 official ISI/SCI impact factor 2.9, #2 (out of 20) top journal in the health informatics category, #6 (out of 56) in Health Care Sciences and Services category
High visibility: JMIR website is among the most visited health informatics sites on the web - higher traffic than AMIA, JAMIA, IMIA websites
Official Journal of the Society for the Internet in Medicine
International Editorial Board
Printed version
Multimedia appendices" such as video (example) or Powerpoint-attachments (example)
Author-friendly services and
proofreading and copyediting services
Institutional affiliate status for departments and universities (Centers for Excellence in eHealth and Internet Research) available (http://www.jmir.org/support.htm)
Full web-based manuscript submission and tracking system: Authors can track their manuscript through the peer-review process online.
No space/length restrictions: JMIR also publishes full research reports with dozens or hundreds of pages. These articles, including book-length reports, will also be Medline indexed (copyediting surcharges may apply)
Special issues: JMIR is happy to publish special issues or theme issues around a certain topic, e.g. as accompanying/follow-up publication to a conference or workshop. Contact the editor for details.

Indexing and Impact Factor

JMIR is indexed in more than 18 bibliographic databases and abstracting services, including Medline [Index Medicus], CINAHL, Information Science Abstracts, INSPEC (Institution of Electrical Engineers), Communication Abstracts, The Informed Librarian Online, LISA (Library and Information Science Abstracts), EMBASE, Scopus, Science Citation Index Expanded, PsycINFO, LISTA (Library / Information Sciences & Technology Abstracts), ASSIA (Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts) database, CSA Social Services Abstracts database, Pubmed Central, and others. On June 20th, 2008, ISI/SCI released their 2006 Journal Citation Reports, reporting journal impact factors for the worlds' most important scholarly journals. As in the previous year, the J Med Internet Res (JMIR) received an outstanding impact factor of 3.0 (up from 2.9 in the previous year), placing the journal on #2 in the medical informatics category (out of 20 medical informatics journals) [in fact - almost equal with the #1, which has an IF of 3.1], and #6 in the very broad "Health Care Sciences & Services" journal category, which includes 57 other leading journals ! For a full list of bibliographic databases, indexes and abstracting services, as well as a comparison of impact factors, please see this page

Editorial Board Policy

Purpose: The Editorial Board is a group of outstanding individuals committed to helping JMIR to produce an excellent multidisciplinary scientific publication of the highest quality Selection criteria for EB members: Editorial Board members are appointed by the publisher/editor-in-chief for a 3-year-term that is renewable. Editorial Board members should have reviewed for JMIR and should have published at least one article in JMIR. Editorial Board members should not sit on editorial boards of competing journals during their term, but exceptions are possible. Editorial Board members are not paid. Nominations for Editorial Board appointments come from a variety of sources including self-nominations, the current Editorial Board, journal authors, and readers. The editorial board should constitute an appropriate interdisciplinary mix from a wide range of disciplines, including health care professionals, as well as researchers from the engineering sciences, and social sciences. EB members should be productive and respected members of the scientific community. Being a editorial board member for JMIR means that actual work is required, so EB members should have appropriate time and motivation. Main responsibilities • General advocacy for open access publishing in general and publishing high-quality work in JMIR specifically • Strategic and operational advice (unsolicited, as well as in editorial board meetings) • Guiding papers in their area of expertise through the peer-review process Individuals interested in sitting on the Editorial Board should contact the editor-in-chief.

Record Keeping and Research Policy

For record keeping, accountability and research purposes, JMIR preserves the right to retain all communications and manuscripts (including rejected manuscripts) indefinitely in its manuscript management system, unless submitting authors explicitly ask for removal of the records. While authors retain the copyright to their work, they agree with submitting a manuscript that JMIR has the right to (but is not obliged to) internally store and retain manuscripts and communications indefinitely. Submitting authors also acknowledge that the JMIR publisher, editor, or their designates have the right to analyze communications and statistics e.g. for peer-review research, education, marketing, or other purposes. Excerpts from communications may be quoted in a research, educational or marketing publications if the author remains anonymous.

Subscriptions

Readers are invited to join the FREE electronic content alert service by registering here. Registered readers also receive access to a free PDF sample issue.
JMIR is an open access journal - articles are available free of charge as HTML files. Frequent readers interested in downloading articles or entire issues as PDF files are encouraged to become an individual or institutional member. JMIR is a not-for-profit entity, and with becoming a member you support the overarching mission of the journal, which is to improve health through prudent use of information and communication technology.

Theme Issues and Guest Editors

We are continuously looking for guest editors who wish to compile a theme issue on a special topic (for example: electronic publishing, telemedicine, quality of health information, patient education, decision-support, Internet in psychiatry, theory in ehealth, mobile technologies, Web 2.0, ...). This may be particularly interesting for workshop and conference organizers putting together a grant-funded event (e.g. with invited experts) on an eHealth-related topic. JMIR is an excellent dissemination vehicle of ehealth-related workshop results. Theme issues may also be used as a knowledge dissemination vehicle for results from large collaborative grant-funded projects. Theme issues may contain for example state-of-the-art papers from selected/invited experts, research results from a large grant proposal (e.g. a series of connected studies), or simply articles submitted in response to a specific open call for papers. The task of the guest editor(s) is generally

* to solicit manuscripts from colleagues/experts concerning the selected topic,

* to select peer-reviewers for incoming manuscripts,

* to make decisions (together with the editorial board) on article revisions and acceptance,

* to write an editorial for the theme issue

* to secure funding to sponsor the APFs {Article Processing Fees) for published papers (usually in the $10-25k range, please budget $1590 per paper). If the guest editor has a network of colleagues who have indicated that they can carry the APF themselves, then author-funded theme issues are also possible.

Funding through grants or other sources is usually required and should be budgeted for in grant proposals. In the past, funding agencies such as NIH/NCI, CIHR, or private foundations have successfully been approached by the Guest Editor(s) to secure the funds. For example, CIHR has launched a new program called "End of Grant Knowledge Translation Supplement," worth $25k, which enables the funding of a theme issue (more information here). Peer-reviewers at granting agencies also expect a portion of the budget devoted to knowledge dissemination and knowledge translation, and JMIR theme issues can be proposed to facilitate dissemination of research results (due to the Open Access policy, results reach a broader audience beyond the research community). We urge principal investigators of any larger team grant proposals related to health and information/communication technology to budget for a theme issue (or at least a series of JMIR papers). Letters of support and quotes from JMIR are available on request (please contact the editor-in-chief). Another possible funding venue are workshop funding programs. Again, that granting agencies such as NIH or CIHR usually expect to see some sort of knowledge dissemination activities in workshop proposals, and have in the past funded the JMIR APFs.

Trademarks and Service Marks Policy

Certain names, graphics, logos, icons, designs, words, titles or phrases on this Web site or in JMIR articles may constitute trade names, trademarks or service marks of JMIR or other entities. As customary in scholarly articles, trademarks and service marks are not necessarily indicated as such by using the trademark (TM), service mark (SM), or registered trademark (R) symbols. The display of trademarks on pages at this Web site does not imply that a license of any kind has been granted.

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