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 CiteScore 2.4

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 2024, JMIR Research Protocols received a Journal Impact Factor™ of 1. 4 (5-Year Journal Impact Factor™: 1.5) according to the latest release of the Journal Citation Reports™ from Clarivate, 2024. 

With a CiteScore of 2.4, JMIR Research Protocols ranks in the 66th percentile (#211 of 636) as a Q2 journal in the field of General Medicine.

It should be stressed however that most authors do not publish their protocols for "impact" or citations, rather to document their ideas to how to design experiments, to document their successful grant proposals, or to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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Proposals (non-eHealth)

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a disabling condition that affects more than one-third of people older than 65 years. Currently, 80% of these patients report movement limitations, 20% are unable to perform major activities of daily living, and approximately 11% require personal care. In 2014, the European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis (ESCEO) recommended, as the first step in the pharmacological treatment of knee osteoarthritis, a background therapy with chronic symptomatic slow-acting osteoarthritic drugs such as glucosamine sulfate, chondroitin sulfate, and hyaluronic acid. The latter has been extensively evaluated in clinical trials as intra-articular and oral administration. Recent reviews have shown that studies on oral hyaluronic acid generally measure symptoms using only subjective parameters, such as visual analog scales or quality of life questionnaires. As a result, objective measures are lacking, and data validity is generally impaired.

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RCTs - Protocols/Proposals (funded, already peer-reviewed, eHealth)

The lack of regular physical activity (PA) in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) in the United States is an ongoing health crisis. Regular PA and exercise-based interventions have been linked with improved outcomes and healthier lifestyles among those with SCI. Providing people with an accurate estimate of their everyday PA level can promote PA. Furthermore, PA tracking can be combined with mobile health technology such as smartphones and smartwatches to provide a just-in-time adaptive intervention (JITAI) for individuals with SCI as they go about everyday life. A JITAI can prompt an individual to set a PA goal or provide feedback about their PA levels.

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Non-Randomized Studies (funded, non-eHealth)

Pulmonary rehabilitation is widely recommended to improve functional status and as secondary and tertiary prevention in individuals with chronic pulmonary diseases. Unfortunately, access to timely and appropriate rehabilitation remains limited. To help close this inaccessibility gap, telerehabilitation has been proposed. However, exercise testing is necessary for effective and safe exercise prescription. Current gold-standard tests, such as maximal cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) and the 6-minute walk test (6MWT), are poorly adapted to home-based or telerehabilitation settings. This was an obstacle to the continuity of services during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is essential to validate tests adapted to these new realities, such as the 6-minute stepper test (6MST). This test, strongly inspired by 6MWT, consists of taking as many steps as possible on a “stepper” for 6 minutes.

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RCTs - Protocols/Proposals (funded, already peer-reviewed, eHealth)

Despite the potential to significantly reduce complications, many patients do not consistently receive diabetes preventive care. Our research team recently applied user-centered design sprint methodology to develop a patient portal intervention empowering patients to address selected diabetes care gaps (eg, no diabetes eye examination in last 12 months).

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Systematic Review Protocols

Artificial intelligence (AI) medical devices have the potential to transform existing clinical workflows and ultimately improve patient outcomes. AI medical devices have shown potential for a range of clinical tasks such as diagnostics, prognostics, and therapeutic decision-making such as drug dosing. There is, however, an urgent need to ensure that these technologies remain safe for all populations. Recent literature demonstrates the need for rigorous performance error analysis to identify issues such as algorithmic encoding of spurious correlations (eg, protected characteristics) or specific failure modes that may lead to patient harm. Guidelines for reporting on studies that evaluate AI medical devices require the mention of performance error analysis; however, there is still a lack of understanding around how performance errors should be analyzed in clinical studies, and what harms authors should aim to detect and report.

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Scoping Review Protocols

Sound therapy methods have seen a surge in popularity, with a predominant focus on music among all types of sound stimulation. There is substantial evidence documenting the integrative impact of music therapy on psycho-emotional and physiological outcomes, rendering it beneficial for addressing stress-related conditions such as pain syndromes, depression, and anxiety. Despite these advancements, the therapeutic aspects of sound, as well as the mechanisms underlying its efficacy, remain incompletely understood. Existing research on music as a holistic cultural phenomenon often overlooks crucial aspects of sound therapy mechanisms, particularly those related to speech acoustics or the so-called “music of speech.”

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Systematic Review Protocols

Governments and public health agencies worldwide experienced difficulties with social media–mediated infodemics on the internet during the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing public health crisis communication strategies need to be updated. However, crisis communication experiences of governments and public health agencies worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic have not been systematically compiled, necessitating updated crisis communication strategies.

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Systematic Review Protocols

Individuals at high risk for type 2 diabetes are also at an increased risk for developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). Although there are separate trials examining the effects of lifestyle interventions on absolute CVD risk among people at high risk for type 2 diabetes, a comprehensive evidence synthesis of these trials is lacking.

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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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Preprints Open for Peer-Review

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Open Peer Review Period:

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Open Peer Review Period:

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