JMIR Research Protocols

Ongoing trials and protocols, grant proposals, and current methods and approaches. 

Editor-in-Chief:

Xiaomeng (Simone) Ma, PhDc, MS, BS, Scientific Editor at JMIR Publications, Ontario, Canada

Impact Factor 1.4

JMIR Research Protocols  (JRP, ISSN 1929-0748) is a unique PubMed and Scopus-indexed journal, publishing peer-reviewed, openly accessible research ideas and grant proposals, study and trial protocols, reports of ongoing research, current methods and approaches, and preliminary results from pilot studies or formative research informing the design of medical and health-related research and technology innovations.

In 2023, JMIR Research Protocols received an inaugural Journal Impact Factor™: 1.7 (Source: Journal Citation Reports™ from Clarivate, 2023).

With a Scopus Citescore of 2.6, the journal ranks in the higher Q2 61% (317/830) in the General Medicine category.

It should be stressed however that most authors do not publish their protocols for "impact" or citations, rather to document their ideas to how to design experiments, to document their successful grant proposals, or to publish (and maybe brag a little about) their already funded protocols (which do not require additional peer-review). We offer this platform for scientists to publish peer-reviewed protocols for a very low APF, and unfunded protocols for a reasonable fee that includes peer-review. 

While the original focus was on eHealth studies, JRP now publishes protocols and grant proposals in all areas of medicine, and their peer-review reports, if available (preliminary results from pilot studies, early results, and formative research should now be published in JMIR Formative Research).

While the original focus was on the design of medical and health-related research and technology innovations, JRP publishes research protocols, proposals, feasibility studies, methods and early results in all areas of medical and health research.

JRP is fully open access, with full-text articles deposited in PubMed Central.

JRP publishes research protocols, grant proposals, pilot/feasibility studies and early reports of ongoing and planned work that encourages collaboration and early feedback, and reduces duplication of effort.

JRP is compatible with the concept of "Registered Reports" and since May 2018, published protocols receive a Registered Report Identifier (What is a Registered Report Identifier?) and acceptance of the subsequent results paper is "in principle" guaranteed in any JMIR journal and partner journals - see What is a Registered Report?

JRP will be a valuable resource for researchers who want to learn about current research methodologies and how to write a winning grant proposal.

JRP creates an early scientific record for researchers who have developed novel methodologies, software, innovations or elaborate protocols.

JRP provides a "dry-run" for peer-review of the final results paper, and allows feedback/critique of the methods, often while they still can be fixed.

JRP facilitates subsequent publication of results demonstrating that the methodology has already been reviewed, and reduces the effort of writing up the results, as the protocol can be easily referenced.

JRP demonstrates to reviewers of subsequent results papers that authors followed and adhered to carefully developed and described a-priori methods.

Studies whose protocols or grant proposals have been accepted in JRP are "in principle accepted" for subsequent publication of results in other JMIR journals as long as authors adhere to their original protocol - regardless of study results (even if they are negative), reducing publication bias in medicine.

Authors publishing their protocols in JRP will receive a 20% discount on the article processing fee if they publish their results in another journal of the JMIR journal family (for example, JMIR for e-health studies, i-JMR for others).

Need more reasons? Read the Knowledge Base article on "Why should I publish my protocol/grant proposal"!

JMIR Research Protocols is indexed in PubMed, PubMed Central (PMC), MEDLINE, Sherpa Romeo, DOAJ, Scopus, Web of Science(WoS)/ESCI/SCIE, and EBSCO. 

Recent Articles

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Scoping Review Protocols

In high-income countries (HICs), between 65% and 70% of community-dwelling adults aged 65 and older are at high nutrition risk. Nutrition risk is the risk of poor dietary intake and nutritional status. Consequences of high nutrition risk include frailty, hospitalization, death, and reduced quality of life. Social factors (such as social support and commensality) are known to influence eating behavior in later life; however, to the authors’ knowledge, no reviews have been conducted examining how these social factors are associated with nutrition risk specifically.

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RCTs - Protocols/Proposals (non-eHealth)

Curcuminoids and acupressure have beneficial effects in reducing pain and inflammation in patients with osteoarthritis. However, only a few clinical trials are investigating biomarkers to prove this objectively.

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RCTs - Protocols/Proposals (eHealth)

Cigarette smoking is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. For adults who smoke cigarettes and cannot or will not quit smoking, smoke-free products, such as nicotine pouches, have been recognized as a potential alternative to smoking combusted cigarettes to reduce harm due to cigarette smoking. The role of flavors in these smoke-free products in tobacco harm reduction has not been fully understood.

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Grant Proposals (funded, non-ehealth)

Emergency departments (EDs) are complex and fast-paced clinical settings where a diagnosis is made in a time-, information-, and resource-constrained context. Thus, it is predisposed to suboptimal diagnostic outcomes, leading to errors and subsequent patient harm. Arriving at a timely and accurate diagnosis is an activity that occurs after an effective collaboration between the patient or caregiver and the clinical team within the ED. Interventions such as novel sociotechnical solutions are needed to mitigate errors and risks.

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RCTs - Protocols/Proposals (non-eHealth)

Chronic stress is an important risk factor in the development of obesity. While research suggests chronic stress is linked to excess weight gain in children, the biological or behavioral mechanisms are poorly understood.

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RCTs - Protocols/Proposals (eHealth)

Interventions promoting physical activity (PA) among survivors of cancer improve their functioning, reduce fatigue, and offer other benefits in cancer recovery and risk reduction for future cancer. There is a need for interventions that can be implemented on a wider scale than that is possible in research settings. We have previously demonstrated that a 3-month peer-delivered PA program (Moving Forward Together [MFT]) significantly increased the moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) of survivors of breast cancer.

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Methods and Feasibility Studies

Receiving a diagnosis of cancer is a profound and often very stressful experience. Few studies have prospectively recruited patients prior to receiving a new diagnosis of cancer and included spouses or partners.

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RCTs - Protocols/Proposals (eHealth)

Depression poses a major threat to public health with an increasing prevalence in the United States. Mindfulness-based interventions, such as mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), are effective methods for managing depression symptoms and may help fortify existing efforts to address the current disease burden. The in-person group format of MBCT, however, incurs barriers to care such as expenses, childcare needs, and transportation issues. Alternate delivery modalities such as MBCT delivered via the web can be investigated for their capacity to overcome these barriers and still reduce symptoms of depression with adequate feasibility and efficacy.

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RCTs - Protocols/Proposals (eHealth)

Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) persistently impairs cognition and the ability to perform activities of daily living, seriously compromising patients’ quality of life. Previous studies have reported that disorders of serum iron metabolism and iron deposition in the brain can lead to inflammation, abnormal protein aggregation and degeneration, and massive neuronal apoptosis in the central nervous system, which in turn leads to a progressive decline in cognitive processes. Our previous clinical studies have found acupuncture to be a safe and effective intervention for treating VCI, but the specific mechanisms require further exploration.

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Grant Proposals (funded, non-ehealth)

Robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) has been rapidly integrated into surgical practice in the past few decades. The setup in the operating theater for RAS differs from that for open or laparoscopic surgery such that the operating surgeon sits at a console separate from the rest of the surgical team and the patient. Communication and team dynamics are altered due to this physical separation and visual barriers imposed by the robotic equipment. However, the factors that might comprise effective communication among members of RAS teams and the contextual factors that facilitate or inhibit effective communication in RAS remain unknown.

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Qualitative Methods

The Veteran-Directed Care (VDC) program serves to assist veterans at risk of long-term institutional care to remain at home by providing funding to hire veteran-selected caregivers. VDC is operated through partnerships between Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers (VAMCs) and third-party Aging and Disability Network Agency providers.

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Participatory Research Protocols and Proposals

The mental health of military personnel has garnered increased attention over the last few decades; however, the impacts of perpetuating, observing, or failing to prevent acts that transgress deeply held moral standards, referred to as moral injuries, are less understood, particularly in relation to encounters with children during deployment. This paper describes a multiphased research protocol that centers around the lived experiences of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Veterans to understand how encounters with children during military deployments impact the well-being and mental health of military personnel.

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Preprints Open for Peer-Review

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