To enhance discoverability and citability—and to prevent readers from drawing incorrect conclusions from poorly written titles—JMIR enforces a specific format for its article titles. Editors, copyeditors, and typesetters may change a title according to the guidelines below.

Titles of journal articles come in a variety of formats. The most common formats are:

Descriptive titles

• Describe the subject of the article and the method but do not reveal the main conclusions
• Eg, “The Effects of Family Support on Patients With Dementia: Randomized Controlled Trial”
• This is the preferred JMIR style for original articles and protocols (if combined with a description of the method after a colon (see below)

Declarative titles

• Stating the main findings or conclusions
• Eg, “A Three-Month Weight Loss Program Increases Self-Esteem in Adolescent Girls”
• This is discouraged by JMIR because the findings of a study are rarely clear-cut

Interrogative titles

• Introduce the subject in the form of a question
• Eg, “Does Cognitive Training Improve Performance on Pattern Recognition Tasks?”
• This is discouraged for original articles, but sometimes used for opinion/viewpoint pieces (see What are the article types for JMIR journals? for additional info)

General JMIR guidelines for article titles

1. JMIR is trying to adhere to a consistent format of titles, roughly following the format "Issue or Intervention in Demographic/Disease/Condition: Method/Study Design"
   • Eg, "Usability of Wearable Devices for Patients with Heart Failure: Observational Study"
   • The method part after the colon (ie, the study design) should describe how something was done and/or what was done
     • A study design is, for example, a cohort study, questionnaire study, qualitative focus group study, randomized controlled trial, etc (see below)
     • This can be enhanced with further qualifiers (eg, "Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial" or "Pilot Questionnaire Study")
     • For a helpful list of commonly used methods / study designs, see What are some examples of methods/study designs that should appear in the article title?
   •  For randomized controlled trials, the title format is "Intervention in Condition/for Target Group: Randomized Controlled Trial" (per CONSORT-EHEALTH for Randomized Controlled Trials)
   • For systematic reviews, the title format is "Intervention in Condition/for Target Group: Systematic Review"
     • Identify the report as a systematic review, meta-analysis, or both, as per PRISMA (see Where to find PRISMA, SPIRIT and other reporting guidelines). Slight deviations in the first part of the title are permissible, but the method part must be consistent.
     • A title containing "Systematic Review" implies a specific type of paper where authors conducted a rigorous literature review of a specific topic as per PRISMA statement
       • Please do not use this title for other kinds of papers
       • In particular, a systematic search and review of apps on app stores, or systematic assessment of websites, should not be called a “Systematic Review”
       • JMIR prefers other titles such as “Systematic Search on App Stores and Content Analysis” for a search/review of apps
       • See our e-collection Reviews of Multiple Existing Apps for additional title examples
   •  “Feasibility Study” or “Pilot Study” does not sufficiently characterize a study design; it characterizes the purpose/objective of the study and is discouraged
     • If you have pilot/feasibility studies, we strongly suggest submitting this preliminary work to JMIR Formative Research rather than our other journals
   • Protocols and proposals (published primarily in JMIR Research Protocols) MUST mention “Protocol” or “Proposal” in the title, respectively
     • Eg, "Issue or Intervention in Demographic/Disease/Condition: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial”); see SPIRIT statement (Where to find PRISMA, SPIRIT and other reporting guidelines)
     • Even if the article is published in JMIR Research Protocols, do not assume it is evident from the journal title that the article describes a protocol because this journal also publishes original articles such as formative work
   • Viewpoints can have any style of title which appropriately summarizes the article
     • Note that the title of a Viewpoint will most likely not contain a study design of any kind since it's not reporting results of a study
   • Corrigenda, the format should be “Correction: Title of the Article Being Corrected“
     • You can replace “Correction” with more specific wording like “Metadata Correction” or “Figure Correction”
     • This is the only instance where two colons are allowed in a title (see item 9 below)
2. Questions in titles should be avoided
   • Eg, “Is a Web-Based Intervention More Effective Than...?”
   • However, questions can be used in exceptional cases where the result is really clear-cut
3. Titles should be concise, specific, informative, and should contain the key points of the work
   • However, too much detail should be avoided (you don’t need to mention all inclusion criteria in the title)
   • Omit redundancies such as “Study Protocol of a…” and fluff such as “Role of,” Effects of,” “Treatment of,” “Use of,” and “Report of a Case of”
4. Declarative titles (ie, a statement of the result/conclusion) should usually be avoided in titles
   • Eg, “XY Web-Based Intervention is More Effective Than...”
5. A country or geographic location (“...in Japan...”) should only be used in the title if it is essential for the article topic and if different results can be expected in other countries/geographic regions
   • Otherwise it is sufficient to mention the location of the study in the abstract (or only the methods section of the paper)
   • However, if the study has been conducted in specific locations/settings (ie, developing countries; low and middle-income countries), then the country should be mentioned
6. The indefinite article after the colon in front of the method is mostly not required
   • Eg, instead of “First Part of the Title: A Randomized Controlled Trial” simply use “First Part of the Title: Randomized Controlled Trial”
7. Ensure the title uses title case capitalization
8. Do not acronyms in titles except for well-known acronyms like “HIV/AIDS” and acronyms for the name of a study or an app
   • Acronyms of study names are permissible if it is not too long. They should appear in brackets if deemed necessary/useful.
9. Please do not use more than one colon in the title (corrigenda notwithstanding)
   • A title like “A Text Message Delivered Smoking Cessation Intervention: The Initial Trial of TXT-2-Quit: Randomized Controlled Trial” is not acceptable
   • In this case, the title should have been changed to either of the following:

The Initial Trial of a Text Message Delivered Smoking Cessation Intervention (TXT-2-Quit): Randomized Controlled Trial

OR

A Text Message Delivered Smoking Cessation Intervention (TXT-2-Quit): Pilot
Randomized Controlled Trial

11. Do not assume that readers know your application or website by its brand name
    • A title like “Randomized Evaluation of the Autobot” or “First Results From the ABCD Trial” is incomprehensible to most readers
    • Replace brand names and acronyms with a descriptive phrase that is understandable by everybody
    • Eg, “A Robot for Autistic Children (Autobot): Randomized Controlled Trial” is much more meaningful to readers than the brand name or acronym of the intervention, despite how connected authors may feel to the name
12. JMIR Publications tweets each title and shares it on multiple social media accounts, so we prefer to keep the titles short to fit into a single tweet without getting cut off
    • This is another reason for why we want the methods/design part at the end of the title — if the title is cut off, it should still invite readers to click on the title
    • A truncated title like “Evaluation and Pilot Evaluation of a....” is less enticing than “A Robot for Elderly Care: ...”
13. If you change the title, edit the title in the manuscript management system (How do I edit/correct/enter article metadata before publication?) as well as in the manuscript file if in peer-review or copyediting.

Related:

• How do I edit the abstract/title on revision of the manuscript or before publication?
• What kinds of studies do JMIR journals publish?
• What are the article types for JMIR journals?