All acronyms/abbreviations (with some exceptions; see below) must be expanded (with the abbreviation in parenthesis) at their first occurrence within each standalone section of a paper if used thrice or more.
Standalone sections include the abstract, main text, acknowledgments, authors' contributions, conflicts of interest, data availability statement, figures, and tables.
If any acronyms/abbreviations are used in the abstract or main text (excluding other standalone sections), please compile them in an "Abbreviations" section at the end of the paper.
Please do not retain author-invented acronyms in text, titles, and abstracts, except for long terms that hamper readability and have been used frequently (three or more times) in the text or abstract separately.
Abbreviations and acronyms for established terms/entities with lengthy names that are/will be better known under their acronym are allowed. They should be expanded at first mention. For example:
- instruments/scales (eg, "Diabetes Self-Management and Technology Questionnaire (DSMT-Q)"),
- trial names,
- software products, and
- reporting standards (eg, CONSORT).
The guideline for terms that are currently better known under their acronym (eg, PRISMA) is to list the acronym first and then expand it (this is relatively rare). The policy for entities that will be better known under their acronym (especially for new instruments and scales) is to mention the expanded version first followed by the abbreviated version. However, if readability is affected, the copyeditor can relax this guideline, listing the acronym first and then expanding it.
Some instrument names may resemble acronyms but are not. For example, “EQ-5D” is not an abbreviation and should not be expanded. Versions of EQ-5D (ie, EQ-5D-3L, EQ-5D-5L, and EQ-5D-Y) should also not be treated like acronyms. More information can be found here.
We also do not allow acronyms of "person-centered" phrases such as "PwD" for "persons with diabetes" or "persons with dementia" - please spell these out consistently. As electronic journal we have indefinite space, so except for tables there is no reason to obscure the meaning by using or inventing cryptic acronyms.
We follow AMA guidelines (in particular, sections 3.14.11, 4.20.10, and 19.6) in determining which abbreviations may be used without expansion:
- AIDS — acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
- ANOVA — analysis of variance
- C — complement
- CD — clusters of differentiation
- CD — compact disc
- CD-ROM — compact disc read-only memory
- cf — compare
- CI — confidence interval
- CST — central standard time
- DDT — dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (chlorophenothane)
- df — degrees of freedom
- DNA — deoxyribonucleic acid
- DOS — disk operating system
- dpi — dots per inch
- EDTA — ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid
- eg — for example
- EST — eastern standard time
- etc — et cetera
- F — French (add catheter)
- GB — gigabyte
- GMT — Greenwich mean time
- HIV — human immunodeficiency virus
- HLA — human leukocyte antigen (use "HLA antigen")
- HTML — hypertext markup language
- http — hypertext transfer protocol
- ie — that is
- IQ — intelligence quotient
- ISBN — International Standard Book Number
- ISSN — International Standard Serial Number
- JPEG — Joint Photographic Experts Group
- kB — kilobyte
- m- — meta-
- MB — megabyte
- MST — mountain standard time
- nb — nota bene (note well)
- Nd:YAG — neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet [laser]
- o- — ortho-
- OD — oculus dexter (right eye)
- OS — oculus sinister (left eye)
- OU — oculus unitas (both eyes) or oculus uterque (each eye)
- p- — para-
- PaCO2 — partial pressure of carbon dioxide, arterial
- PaO2 — partial pressure of oxygen, arterial
- PCO2 — partial pressure of carbon dioxide
- PDA — personal digital assistant
- PDF — portable document format
- pH — negative logarithm of hydrogen ion concentration
- PO2 — partial pressure of oxygen
- PST — Pacific standard time
- RAM — random access memory
- Rh — rhesus
- RNA — ribonucleic acid
- ROM — read-only memory
- SAS — statistical analysis system
- SD — standard deviation
- SE — standard error
- SGML — standardized general markup language
- SPSS — Statistical Product and Service Solutions (formerly Statistical Package for the Social Sciences)
- SSC — standard saline citrate
- SSPE — sodium chloride, sodium phosphate, EDTA [buffer]
- TB — terabyte
- TIFF — Tag(ged) Image File Format
- TNM — tumor, node, metastasis
- ul — uniformly labeled
- URI — uniform resource identifier
- URL — uniform resource locator
- URN — uniform resource name
- UV — ultraviolet
- UV-A — ultraviolet A
- UV-B — ultraviolet B
- UV-C — ultraviolet C
- VDRL — Venereal Disease Research Laboratory
- vs — versus
- XML — extensible markup language
- zip — zone improvement plan (zip code)
Additionally, JMIR has its own list of abbreviations that we feel can be used without expansion, since they will be familiar to the vast majority of readers or are more recognizable as an abbreviation:
- App — in the context of mobile apps, it is simply "app". "App" is not an acronym for "application".
- BMI — body mass index
- COVID-19 — coronavirus disease
- DVD — digital video disc/digital versatile disc
- eHealth — electronic health
- ID — identification
- IP — internet protocol
- IQ — intelligence quotient
- IQR— interquartile range
- JMIR (when used as brand name/referring to the publisher) — please do NOT expand for sister journal titles ("JMIR mHealth and uHealth") or the publisher ("JMIR Publications"). Do expand to "Journal of Medical Internet Research" ONLY when referring to the particular journal at http://www.jmir.org with the ISSN 1438-8871. See also What does "JMIR" in the title of your journals stand for?
- IT — information technology
- GPS — global positioning system
- PC — personal computer
- PNG (and other file names) — portable network graphics
- QR — Quick Response
- SARS-CoV-2 — severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
- SIM — subscriber identification module
- SMS — short message service
- USB — universal serial bus
- 3D — three dimensional, same guideline applies for alike terms
- Common database names (eg, Embase, CINAHL, MEDLINE)
- Common technology acronyms such as SQL, JSON, CSV, etc
The abovementioned guidelines apply to the abstract, title, main manuscript text, acknowledgments, authors' contributions, conflicts of interests, and any tables/figures/textboxes/appendices.
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