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What are the article types for JMIR journals?

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Virtually all JMIR journals publish Original Papers, Short Papers, Tutorials, Viewpoints, Commentaries, Editorials, Reviews, and Corrigenda and Addenda. Special article types only accepted by specific JMIR journals are specified below.

Protocols and Proposals are primarily published in JMIR Research Protocols, but JMIR Public Health and Surveillance also publishes Protocols and system descriptions if they are relevant for public health and form the basis for subsequent regular Rapid Surveillance Reports (see below). As of January 1, 2022, these are the only two journals that publish Protocols and Proposals.

Article Types

Original Paper

An original paper must have a structured abstract with the following headers: Background - Objectives - Methods - Results - Conclusions - (Optional: Trial Registration).

The main headings in the manuscript body must be IMRD: Introduction - Methods - Results - Discussion.

If an article does not fit into this structure (e.g., if it is thin on results or more of a system description), it should be framed as a Tutorial, Viewpoint, or Proposal.


Short Paper

Short papers typically contain 1500 words or less (excluding references, tables, etc.). The rest of the requirements are the same as those of Original Papers. 


Review

This article type includes scoping reviews, systematic reviews, and literature reviews.

Literature reviews of any type should follow their respective recommended study design and reporting guidelines and best practices for the review type (e.g., systematic reviews should be reserved for studies that follow guidelines for systematic review conduct and reporting). Abstracts must be structured. The main headings within the paper must be IMRD. 

Studies that review or systematically analyze apps or websites should be formatted as Original Papers, not as Review articles. The Review article type is reserved for studies that review other papers in the literature.   

If a paper has limited original data, it should be framed as a Viewpoint. 


Viewpoint

Opinion articles or papers that 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.

The abstract should be unstructured (narrative), although if data are presented, the abstract structure of an Original Paper can be used. The main headings within the paper can be IMRD or free.


Tutorial

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

The abstract should be unstructured (narrative), although if data are presented, the abstract structure of an Original Paper can be used.

The main headings within the paper can be IMRD or free. Include "Tutorial" in the second part of the study title.


Proposal

Only accepted by JMIR Research Protocols

The Proposal article type includes grant proposals and policy proposals. The main headings within the paper can be IMRD or free. The abstract can be unstructured (narrative) or structured (i.e., Background - Objectives - Methods - Results - Conclusions - Optional: Trial Registration). If data are presented, use a structured abstract.

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

For grant proposals, you may use the format you used for applying to the granting agency. However, we prefer that you fit your existing subheadings under the main IMRD headings ("Results" for proposals can be a very brief summary of timelines, current recruitment/enrolment status, timeline, when are results expected, screenshots of an application or flow diagrams, etc. (see: What should I put into the results section of a protocol or proposal?)


Protocol

Only accepted by JMIR Research Protocols and JMIR Public Health

All protocols should be submitted to JMIR Research Protocols. JMIR Public Health and Surveillance also publishes protocols and system descriptions if they are relevant for public health and form the basis for subsequent regular Rapid Surveillance Reports (see below).

The abstract must be structured, and a short results section must be included in both the abstract and the body text. (see: What should I put into the results section of a protocol or proposal?)

  • The abstract structure should be Background - Objectives - Methods - Results (see remark above) - Conclusions - (Optional: Trial Registration).
  • The article structure should be IMRD: Introduction - Methods - Results - Discussion.
  • 'Results' for protocols can be a very brief summary of progress to date, recruitment/enrolment status as of a specified date, timelines, when results are expected, screenshots of an application or flow diagrams, etc. (see What should I put into the results section of a protocol or proposal?), recognizing that the format may be different.
  • If you write a clinical trials protocol from scratch, we strongly recommend adhering to the SPIRIT Guidelines for a list of items to report in a clinical trial protocol.
  • Although most of the protocols we currently publish are "dry lab" research, we also publish "wet lab" protocols of methods in biochemistry, genomics, etc.


Commentary

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

The abstract can be a summary sentence or up to 300 words (unstructured, narrative format). The main text should be no longer than 1000 words. The main headings within the paper can be IMRD or free. Additionally, up to 10 references and a maximum of 1 figure or table can be included.


Editorial

Editorials may or may not be peer-reviewed (check the information at the bottom of an editorial). If an editorial contains data, we prefer to send it out for external peer review.

The abstract should be unstructured (narrative), although if data are presented, a structured abstract (Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusions) should be used. The main headings within the paper can be IMRD or free.


Guest Editorial

These editorials are invited and written by guest editors. They feature the perspectives of important researchers, clinicians, policy leaders, and patients. Guest Editorials may or may not be peer-reviewed (check the information at the bottom of an editorial). If an editorial contains data, we prefer to send it out for external peer review.

The abstract should be unstructured (narrative), although if data are presented, a structured abstract (Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusions) should be used. The main headings within the paper can be IMRD or free. 


Letter to the Editor

A Letter to the Editor contains substantial comments, feedback, a critique, or additional information related to a paper previously published in a JMIR journal. (see: How to Submit a Letter for further details.)


Research Letters

Only accepted by Journal of Medical Internet Research, JMIR mHealth and uHealth, JMIR Mental Health, and JMIR Dermatology

Standard Requirements

Research Letters should present new, early, or preliminary research findings. The text should use standard research headings of Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion and should be no longer than 750 words, with a maximum of 10 references and 2 tables or figures. An abstract is not required.

Special Requirements for JMIR Dermatology

A Research Letter can be used to present new, early, or preliminary research findings. If your submission is designed to comment directly on an article previously published in JMIR Dermatology, then you should submit it as a Letter to the Editor and not as a Research Letter.

Research Letters must have a maximum word count of 500 words, no more than 5 references, and a maximum of 2 tables or figures (multi-part figures are considered multiple figures). The word limit is only inclusive of the letter text itself. Tables, titles, figure legends, and acknowledgments are not considered within the word count limit. There are no specific headings required, and no abstract is required. Manuscripts that do not conform to these requirements will be returned for mandatory revision prior to peer review.


Rapid Surveillance Report

Only accepted by JMIR Public Health and Surveillance

JMIR Public Health and Surveillance is dedicated to supporting rapid open data sharing and rapid open access to surveillance and outbreak data. As one of the novel features, we plan to publish Rapid Surveillance Reports (examples) or even real-time surveillance reports and open data.

Rapid Surveillance Reports are brief reports with unstructured abstracts, which primarily report new data in table format from an existing well-described surveillance system, making some sections redundant. The idea of this new article type is to allow rapid publication of emerging trends or continuous publication in regular intervals of public health relevant data. If a method or system description has been published previously in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance or JMIR Research Protocols, the report does not have to be peer-reviewed again (although, in many cases, they still are).

An IMRD structure for the text is recommended but not mandated. Please follow this structure as closely as possible with relevant headings.

The methods and description of the surveillance system may be peer-reviewed and published only once in detail, in a  "baseline report" (in a JMIR Res Protoc or a JMIR Public Health & Surveill paper). Authors then have the possibility to publish data and reports in frequent intervals rapidly and with only minimal additional peer-review (we call this article type "Rapid Surveillance Reports"). JMIR Publications may even work with authors/researchers and developers of selected surveillance systems on APIs for semi-automated reports (e.g., weekly reports to be automatically published in JPHS and indexed in PubMed, based on data-feeds from surveillance systems and minimal narratives and abstracts).

Furthermore, during epidemics and public health emergencies, submissions with critical data will be processed with expedited peer review to enable publication within days or even in real-time.


Open Source/Open Data

Only accepted by JMIR Public Health and Surveillance

JPH also publishes descriptions of open data resources and open-source software. Where possible, we can and want to publish or even host the actual software or dataset on the journal website.

See the following author guidelines for the recommended article structure.


Notes from the Field

Only accepted by JMIR Public Health and Surveillance

Short practical case studies.

The abstract can be unstructured (narrative), although if data are presented, the structure of an Original Paper can be used.

The main headings within the paper can be IMRD or free.


Early Reports

Only accepted by JMIR Formative Research

Early reports, formative research articles (e.g., describing the development of an intervention), methods articles, articles describing recruitment and engagement, etc., all have the "Original Paper" format IMRD and a structured abstract (see above under "Original Paper"). However, sometimes the "Results" section may be very short.
If your submission is a Protocol, it should be submitted as such to JMIR Research Protocols.


Personal Perspectives

Only accepted by JMIR Mental Health

In addition to regular original papers and the other article types listed above, JMH features special sections entitled Personal Perspectives.

These articles will outline the opinions and views of leaders in the field (including industry and patients) and offer a forum to share evolving ideas. We welcome, in particular, the discussion of personal experiences with new tools, methods, apps, devices, or personal experiences about the role of technology in mental health. We will aim to publish one personal perspective per month and thus expect we will not be able to publish all potential submissions. In keeping with JMIR’s innovative publishing model, we encourage patients to submit their perspectives on mental health and technology.

Papers in this category should be 600 words or less and contain no more than 10 references. The headings are free. There should be a short unstructured abstract.

Article processing fees for Personal Perspectives in JMIR Mental Health will be heavily discounted (only US $350). They can be waived entirely for patients without funding and no commercial interest in the discussed topic.


Patient Perspectives

Only accepted by Journal of Participatory Medicine

This is a special article type in which patients provide free narratives on a topic. Since these papers are written by patients, they do not need a full address or phone number for the corresponding author; just City/State/Country is acceptable. We recommend including the author's Twitter handle and/or email address in lieu.

The structure of the text can be free. A short unstructured abstract is required.  

 

Case Report

Only accepted by JMIR Dermatology, JMIRx Med, and Interactive Journal of Medical Research


The abstract should be unstructured (narrative), although if data are presented, the structure of an Original Paper can be used. The main headings within the paper can be IMRD or free. A Case Report should include at least one clinical image (appropriate to the discipline).

Special Requirements for JMIR Dermatology

Any Case Report submitted to JMIR Dermatology requires a histopathological picture of each (and all) skin condition(s) described. All case reports without such images will be returned to the authors for revision.

How to State the Article Type in your Manuscript

Please state the article type at the beginning of your manuscript (just before the article title), particularly if it is not a standard Original Paper.

In Microsoft Word, use the default Heading Style H2 for the article type (H1 for the article title, and H2 for all IMRD subheadings, H3 to H5 for sub-subheadings). (see: How should headings be formatted?)

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