JMIR Publications employs professional copyeditors to revise all papers, so authors do not need to make revisions for journal style guidelines upon initial submission. Generally, JMIR follows the style guidelines of the AMA Manual of Style (11th edition); the guidelines in this document represent aspects of language either not covered by the AMA or for which we feel our mission as an inclusive publisher needs its own guidance. See The JMIR Copyediting Process: A Step-by-Step Guide for Authors.

Table of Contents

1. General Guidance

2. Punctuation

3. Capitalization

4. Grammar and Terminology

5. Abbreviations

6. Italics, Bold, and Underlining

7. Numbers, Letters, and Symbols

8. Bulleted and Numbered Lists

9. Quotations

10. Preferred Spellings and Formatting for Commonly Used Words

1. General Guidance

• JMIR Publications uses US English spellings and conventions.
• Questions of style and grammar follow the AMA Manual of Style (11th edition) and our house guidelines.
• Spelling follows the first-listed form in the online version of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
• Hyperlinks should not be included in the text or abstract, as they cause typesetting issues. If URLs are cited in the manuscript, they are converted to references and cited in place. If a direct quote contains a URL, it may be retained, but not as a live link.
• All sections of the abstract and main text must be written in complete sentences rather than sentence fragments. 

2. Punctuation

2.1 Comma

Use the serial comma. 

Example: “This was evident for children, teens, and adults.”

2.2 Ellipsis Points

The journal prefers to use 3 periods rather than a single-character ellipsis symbol, with no spaces before or after. 

Example: “This was...already discussed.”

2.3 Hyphen

Hyphens are not used with most common prefixes (eg, “antimicrobial,” “coauthor,” and “overrepresented”), except when they precede a proper noun or acronym, including, for example, anti, inter, mid, non, over, etc. See the AMA Manual of Style for a full list. In the absence of a rule or a dictionary entry, a hyphen can be used to avoid ambiguity.

A hyphen is used if the hyphen-less compound word can be misread (eg, “codesign” can be misinterpreted as "code" and "sign," so use “co-design”; other examples include “resent” vs “re-sent” and “unionized” vs “un-ionized”)

Use hyphens, not en dashes, for numerical ranges. When one of the values in the range is negative, use “to” instead of the hyphen. See table-specific guidelines on hyphens here.

2.4 En Dash

Use an en dash (not a hyphen) when attaching a prefix or a word to an open compound (eg, “mobile phone–based intervention”)

Use an en dash to represent the minus symbol, not a hyphen.

2.5 Em Dash

There is no space before or after an em dash. 

Example: “All these medications—antidepressants, barbiturates, antipsychotics, and sedatives—must be used with caution.”

3. Capitalization

If non–proper names that stylistically begin with a lowercase letter appear in titles and headings (eg, mHealth or eHealth), do not capitalize the first letter.

Example: An mHealth Intervention for People With Dementia...

Job titles are capitalized when they come before a person’s name (“Editor in Chief TH declares no conflicts…”), but in other contexts, they use lowercase (TH is the editor in chief of...).

In most contexts, names of models and frameworks are set in lowercase (unified theory of acceptance and use of technology; technology acceptance model) with some exceptions (eg, Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, which comprises a set of documents).

4. Grammar and Terminology

4.1 Inclusive Language

We recommend using inclusive language that avoids the introduction of bias or generalizations about groups based on gender, sex, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, disability, or disorder. See also section 5.4.1 of these guidelines, “Person-Centered Abbreviations.”

For detailed guidance, JMIR Publications adheres to the AMA Manual of Style (11th edition), specifically the section 11.12 Inclusive Language.

4.1.1 People-First Language

Person-first language places the person before the condition.

Examples: “patient with cancer” rather than “cancer patient”; “person with blindness” rather than “blind person” 

People are also not referred to by their condition.

Examples: “person with diabetes” rather than “diabetic”; “person who uses drugs” rather than “drug user.” 

However, we accept the use of identity-first language if preferred by the authors. 

4.1.2 Race or Ethnicity

We use the following capitalization style as per the most recent AMA guidelines: “Black” and “White” (adj) when describing race.

4.1.3 Descriptions of Countries Based on Socioeconomic Status

Use terms such as “limited-income,” “low-income,” “resource-limited,” “resource-poor,” and “transitional.” Avoid “first-world,” “third-world,” and “developed country” or “developing country.” See chapter 11 in the AMA Manual of Style, Correct and Preferred Usage.

4.2 Equipment, Reagents, Devices, and Software

Nonproprietary names (eg, “mobile phone”) are preferred to proprietary names (“Android device”) for devices, equipment, and reagents. However, if several brands of the same product are being compared or if the use of proprietary names is necessary for clarity or to replicate the study, proprietary names should be given at first mention along with the nonproprietary name.

When providing a proprietary name of any product (or software) in a paper, the name of the manufacturer, supplier, or developer is also important and should be included in parentheses after the name or description. If the developer name is already part of the software name, the parenthetical note can be omitted. Because the location of the manufacturer/developer is easy to look up online, this information is no longer required.

Examples:

• Average daily 24-hour activity was measured using a triaxial GT3x+ accelerometer (ActiGraph).
• Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS software (version 20.0; IBM Corp).
• All statistical analyses were performed using R software (version 4.1.2; R Foundation for Statistical Computing), including the tidyverse package (version 1.3.2)... [note the use of italics for the package name]
• Microsoft Excel was used to manage and analyze the data.

4.3 Tense

Generally, Methods and Results sections are written in past tense ("this study was conducted..."). 

Exception: In JMIR Research Protocols, papers sometimes deal with ongoing or future studies (if it is unclear, query the author). In these cases, use the future tense ("participants will be enrolled...") or present tense ("the ongoing study is currently recruiting...").

The Objective section of the abstract can be written in either the present or past tense. 

• The present tense is preferred if the study is the subject of the sentence.
  Example: "This paper explores/describes/presents..."
• The past tense is more appropriate when reporting on research that has already been conducted. However, the present tense is also acceptable in the cases below.
  Example: "Our research aims were to..." or "We aimed to determine..." or "The objective of this paper was to..."

4.4 Registered Trademarks, Trademark Symbols, and Service Marks

(™)/(®)/(℠) should never be used in scholarly articles (see our policy).

Per the AMA Manual of Style (section 5.6.15.9): Use an initial capital letter followed by all lowercase letters (eg, Xerox, Kodak, Scopus, Embase) unless the trademark name is an abbreviation (eg, IBM, JAMA, DSM-5) or uses an intercapped construction (eg, PubMed, iTunes). Online databases, if trademarked, can be listed in all capital letters (eg, MEDLINE, CINAHL, SCIE) without expansion.

4.5 Eponyms

Eponyms are terms derived from the names of people or places. The nonpossessive form of eponyms is preferred (see the AMA Manual of Style sections 15 and 19.5).

Examples:

• Diseases and conditions: Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, Down syndrome
• Statistical tests and measures: Cohen d, Spearman rank correlation, Fisher exact test

Exceptions: Retain the possessive form when it is part of an established nonmedical name (eg, Russell’s viper, St John’s wort), the name of an organization (eg, The Alzheimer’s Association), or when reproducing a quotation or citation exactly as published.
 

5. Abbreviations

5.1 General Guidelines

Expand all abbreviations at first mention, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. 

Example: World Health Organization (WHO)

In general, abbreviations are used for lengthy terms that are used excessively within the article, preferably 3 or more times. Some exceptions may apply to aid readability.

For a full list of abbreviations or acronyms that can be used without expansion, please see Which abbreviations don’t need to be expanded?

An abbreviation introduced in the abstract must be expanded again at its first mention in the main text. The Abbreviations end section must only include terms used within the abstract or main text, organized alphabetically.

The following sequence is preferred for organization: punctuation marks (- . ?), symbols ($ €), numerals (0-9), plain text (A-Z), and Greek letters (α-ω).

5.2 Using Abbreviations in Specific Sections

5.2.1 Title

Abbreviations are best avoided in the title but can be retained for readability. Of note, widely known abbreviations (AI, mHealth, NHS, USMLE, GLP-1), app/software names, collaborations/study groups and trial names are often acceptable if they are deemed useful for indexing. 

5.2.2 Keywords

If abbreviations are used in the title or keywords, include their expanded forms as additional keywords.

5.2.3 Subheadings

Abbreviations can be used in subheadings if they have been defined previously. 

5.2.4 Tables, Figures, Textboxes, Multimedia Appendices, and Checklists

• Tables: If undefined in the table or caption, provide the expanded form of each abbreviation in a footnote, listed in the order of appearance.
• Figures: If undefined in the image or artwork, provide the expanded form in the caption, listed in alphabetical order.  
• Textboxes: Expand at the first mention within the textbox or its caption.
• Multimedia appendix: Define any abbreviations used within the caption.
• Checklists: Retain the abbreviation in the caption without expansion and list it in the Abbreviations end section.

Abbreviations that appear exclusively in tables, figures, or textboxes do not need to be added to the Abbreviations end section.

5.2.5 End Sections

Abbreviations in end sections (eg, Acknowledgments, Funding, Conflicts of Interest, Data Availability, etc) should be expanded at first mention. Of note, abbreviations used only in end sections do not need to be included in the Abbreviations end section.

5.2.6 Quoted text

Abbreviations that occur in blockquotes or quoted text do not require expansion. Authors may optionally provide expansions in square brackets.

5.3 Abbreviations With Lengthy Expansions

To improve readability, lengthy expansions may be introduced with the abbreviation first, followed by the expanded form in parentheses.

• Names of checklists and instruments: PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) and DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [Fifth Edition])
• Study names: VIGILANCE (Vital Signs Monitoring With Continuous Pulse Oximetry and Wireless Clinician Notification After Surgery)
• Software or technology-related terms, models, and frameworks: BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers), GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation), and UTAUT (unified theory of acceptance and use of technology)

5.4. When to Avoid Using Abbreviations  

As JMIR is an online-only journal, space is not a limiting factor. Abbreviations may be used when they improve readability, reduce repetition, or align with commonly accepted terminology in the field, particularly for well-established terms that readers are likely to recognize. However, overuse of abbreviations can hinder clarity, interrupt reading flow, and place an unnecessary burden on readers who must repeatedly recall their meanings.

5.4.1 Person-Centered Abbreviations

Do not abbreviate terms referring to people with specific conditions or demographic groups. See the AMA Manual of Style, section 11.12.6 “Terms for Persons With Diseases, Disorders, or Disabilities.”

Examples: Use “people with diabetes,” not “PwD”; do not use “AAW” for “African American women”

Certain commonly used abbreviations with lengthy abbreviations can be retained for readability.

Examples: Adolescents and young adults (AYA), men who have sex with men (MSM)

5.4.2 One-Word Abbreviations

Avoid abbreviating short, single words. 

Examples: Avoid “Pt” for patients, “eqn” for equation, “No.” for number

Long words that have well-established abbreviations specific to the study domain can be retained to aid indexing.

Examples: Retain “ECG” for electrocardiogram, “TB” for tuberculosis

5.4.3 Geographic Regions

Do not abbreviate states and provinces in running text. The abbreviated form can be used in formal addresses (eg, author affiliations), however.

Examples: New York (not NY), Ontario (not ON), New South Wales (not NSW)

5.5 Latin Abbreviations

Do not use italics or periods for Latin abbreviations (ie, eg, et al, etc, vs).

Use "ie," and "eg," only within parentheses and followed by a comma. In running text, use "that is" and "for example" instead.

5.6 Punctuation

Do not include periods with honorifics (Dr), scientific terms (E coli), and abbreviations. Retain periods if present in proper nouns (Martin St. Croix and St. Jude Hospital, but St Louis, Missouri).

5.7 Author Initials

Use initials (not full names) when referring to authors in the main text and end sections. Ensure the initials clearly identify the intended author; expand the name as needed to avoid ambiguity. The following guidance is recommended:

Author initials should match the name used in the metadata. Use the first letter in each word separated by a space.

Examples: Ke Huy Quan → KHQ (not KQ), Ziyi Zhang → ZZ (not ZYZ)

Retain hyphens in last names only. Keep both initials in the hyphenated name.

Examples: Daniel Day-Lewis → DD-L (not DDL), Ming-Na Wen → MNW (not M-NW)

If two authors have the same initials, expand the last names.

Examples: Justin Timberlake → J Timberlake, Justin Trudeau → J Trudeau

6. Italics, Bold, and Underlining

Bold and underlining are never used.

Per the AMA Manual of Style, italics are used for the following:

• Titles of books and journals, proceedings, symposia, plays, paintings, long poems, video games, musical compositions, movies, space vehicles, planes, and ships
• Terms used as terms and letters as letters (quotation marks can also be used)
• Legal cases
• Epigraphs set at the beginning of a work
• Search terms (quotation marks can also be used)
• Some non-English words and phrases (check the current edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary; if a word has an entry without italics, it is considered to have become part of the English language (eg, café au lait, in vivo, in vitro, en bloc).
• Sparingly, for emphasis
• Blockquotes (see the “Blockquotes” section below)
• Other uses as defined by the AMA Manual of Style 

In addition, we use italics for packages that are part of a larger piece of software (eg, the tidyverse package in R).

7. Numbers, Letters, and Symbols

7.1 General Guidelines on Spelled-Out Numbers vs Numerals

Per AMA style, numerals are preferred for all numbers in scientific writing (eg, “3” instead of “three”); nevertheless, context remains a vital consideration and exceptions can be made based on context. “One” is often spelled out, and if  “two” or “three” are used in the Introduction or Discussion sections and the context is clearly not quantitative, words can be more suitable (eg, “this paper explores two main ideas”).

Table 1 presents specific exceptions when numbers should be spelled out. 

Table 1. When to use spell out numbers.

7.2 Time

Time should be reported conventionally (and not in European or military time, ie, on the 24-hour clock).

“AM” and “PM” are used (as opposed to “a.m.” or” A.M.”).

Report “12 PM” and “12 AM” as “noon” and “midnight,” respectively.

If time is reported on the hour, “:00” is not required.

Report dates as “January 1, 2026.”

7.3 Eras

The commonly used sets of era designations are

• CE (common era)
• BCE (before the common era)

7.4 Currency

When reporting monetary values in currencies other than US dollars, include the exchange rate applicable at the time of the study or reporting within parentheses, noting the exact date. The exchange rate only needs to be reported once in the paper.

Example: CAD $2450 (CAD $1=US $0.72 as of May 28, 2026).

Do not use zeros after whole numbers of currency. Always use 2 places past the decimal for decimal values. Use a space between the abbreviation for a country and the currency symbol.

Examples:

• US $99, US $1.50
• CAD $125.35
• €40
• Aus $100
• JP¥ 2000

7.5 Greek Letters

Use of Greek letters rather than spelled-out words is preferred, unless common usage dictates otherwise.

In titles, subtitles, headings, and at the beginning of sentences, the first non-Greek letter after a lowercase Greek letter should be capitalized. 

Examples:

• Cronbach α
• Beta-thalassemia
• tau protein
• β-Blockers help control heart rate... 

8. Bulleted and Numbered Lists

8.1 Bulleted Lists

Bulleted lists should be used with restraint and only when essential for clarity. Where feasible, transform list items, such as inclusion or exclusion criteria and single-word entries, into complete, running sentences.

For instance, a list structured as follows:

...including the following:

• websites
• newspaper articles
• journal articles

Should be revised to: “...including the following: websites, newspaper articles, and journal articles.”

Apply terminal punctuation to list items only if they constitute a full sentence. All list entries must maintain a parallel grammatical structure.

8.2 Numbered Lists

Similarly, numbered lists should be used sparingly and only if absolutely necessary. Numbered lists should use Arabic numerals followed by a period. 

Example:

1. The initial point, typically a concise sentence.
2. A subsequent point, also a concise sentence.
3. The concluding point of the series.

Numbered lists within a running sentence (typically used for shorter items) use numerals enclosed in parentheses.

Example: “Our research goals were (1) to evaluate..., (2) to analyze data..., and (3) to conduct follow-up...”

Each list item should generally be restricted to a single sentence. If expanded detail is required, provide an outline followed by ordinals (eg, first, second, third) to delineate the arguments. 

Example:

The following section explores three primary reasons why this trend persists. These include (1) the timeliness argument, (2) the internet paradox, and (3) the digital divide argument. 

First, the timeliness argument refers to the finding that...
Second, the internet paradox states that...
Third, the digital divide argument...

9. Quotations

9.1 Short Quotes

For one or two brief, singular quotes, integrate them directly into the main text using double quotation marks. Ensure that the spelling, punctuation, and styling of the original material are preserved exactly.

9.2 Blockquotes

Blockquotes are generally recommended in the following scenarios:

• When quotes are relatively lengthy 
• Multiple quotes appear in succession (eg, from different study participants/focus groups)
• A quote is used as an epigraph

Blockquotes are styled in italics and indented (not enclosed in quotation marks). The speaker (eg, a patient identifier, or an author) could optionally be indicated at the end of the paragraph in square brackets (not italic). 

Example:

I often feel disappointed by the very people who supposedly care for me. They make decisions about me without including me. [Patient #24, male]

Alternatively, for long, conversation-style, back-and-forth quotes between an author/interviewer and participant/interviewee, the entire conversation can be inserted in one blockquote. In this case, each speaker should be identified ahead of their responses with their initials (or general identifier) in bold, followed by a colon. 

Example:

Author: Okay. So, you have a little bit of a clue that there’s something wrong with the bracelet if it’s not moving then?

JP: Yeah. Especially when the bracelet, uh, is on the screen in one location and the patient is physically on a, in a completely different location.

Author: Okay. Do you think that it not working, um, will influence how you trust the system or how you use it?

10. Preferred Spellings and Formatting for Commonly Used Words

A

acknowledgments

app/apps — do NOT expand to “application” or “applications” if authors refer to a mobile app; copyeditors are asked to replace “application” with “app” (but only if authors are referring to a mobile app)

ante mortem (after the noun), antemortem (before the noun) (AMA)

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AMA)

B

behavior change technique/intervention — not behavioral

Black — referring to a person (adj)

C

cisgender (adj) — NOT cisgendered

cisgender person/people (n)

co-design — not codesign, since this may be misread as “code” and “sign”

cognitive behavioral therapy — NOT behavior

CT scan — not CAT scan

D

data — plural; eg, the data were collected...

dataset

data sharing (v)

disc — only for compact disc, videodisc, and optic disc

disk — for all cases other than the three listed above

E

e-community

eHealth — not e-health

e-learning

email

end point

end user (n)

enroll

enrolled

enrollment

F

field test (n)

field-test (v)

flowchart

flow diagram

follow up (v)

follow-up (n & adj)

forums — plural of forum

H

HbA1c (“1c” should be subscripted; see AMA guidance)

health care (n & adj)

I

internet

K

keyword

k-nearest neighbor (but K-nearest neighbor at the beginning of a sentence)

L

listserve

M

mHealth — not m-health

mixed methods (n & adj)

N

N/A — “not applicable”; for use in Tables, do not use NA (note the /)

O

open access (n & adj)

P

P value

peer review (n & v)

peer-reviewed (adj)

pilot test (n)

pilot-test (v)

post mortem (after noun)

postmortem (before noun)

post partum (after noun)

postpartum (before noun)

postoperative

posttest

pretest

preoperative

Q

quitline (as for helpline)

R

randomized controlled trial (RCT)

Rx (do not use the special character “℞”)

S

screen capture — for a still frame from a video (not screen shot)

screenshot

scroll bar

socioeconomic

socioemotional

sociopolitical

sociotechnical

T

t test

telemonitor

time-out

toward — not towards

transgender (adj) — NOT transgendered; never trans* as an umbrella term (see http://www.transstudent.org/asterisk)

transgender person/people (n)

Twitter vs X — retain “Twitter” and “tweet” in studies conducted prior to the rebranding and use “X” and “posts”/”reposts” for those conducted post rebranding. We recommend including phrasing such as “X, formerly known as Twitter” or “Twitter (subsequently rebranded X),” or something similar

W

wait-list or wait-listed (v)

waitlist or waiting list (n)

waitlist (adj)

White — referring to a person (adj)

#

3D — not “3-D” or “three-dimensional” when used as an adjective (the same guideline applies for similar terms, eg, 2D)

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