JMIR Formative Research

Process evaluations, early results, and feasibility/pilot studies of digital and non-digital interventions

Editor-in-Chief:

Amaryllis Mavragani, PhD, Scientific Editor at JMIR Publications, Canada


Impact Factor 2.1 CiteScore 3.5

JMIR Formative Research (JFR, ISSN 2561-326X) publishes peer-reviewed, openly accessible papers containing results from process evaluations, feasibility/pilot studies and other kinds of formative research and preliminary results. While the original focus was on the design of medical- and health-related research and technology innovations, JMIR Formative Research publishes studies from all areas of medical and health research.

Formative research is research that occurs before a program is designed and implemented, or while a program is being conducted. Formative research can help

  • define and understand populations in need of an intervention or public health program
  • create programs that are specific to the needs of those populations
  • ensure programs are acceptable and feasible to users before launching
  • improve the relationship between users and agencies/research groups
  • demonstrate the feasibility, use, satisfaction with, or problems with a program before large-scale summative evaluation (looking at health outcomes)

Many funding agencies will expect some sort of pilot/feasibility/process evaluation before funding a larger study such as a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT).

Formative research should be an integral part of developing or adapting programs and should be used while the program is ongoing to help refine and improve program activities. Thus, formative evaluation can and should also occur in the form of a process evaluation alongside a summative evaluation such as an RCT.

JMIR Formative Research fills an important gap in the academic journals landscape, as it publishes sound and peer-reviewed formative research that is critical for investigators to apply for further funding, but that is usually not published in outcomes-focused medical journals aiming for impact and generalizability.

Summative evaluations of programs and apps/software that have undergone a thorough formative evaluation before launch have a better chance to be published in high-impact flagship journals; thus, we encourage authors to submit - as a first step - their formative evaluations in JMIR Formative Research (and their evaluation protocols to JMIR Research Protocols). 

JMIR Formative Research is indexed in MEDLINEPubMed, PubMed CentralDOAJ, Scopus, Sherpa/Romeo, EBSCO/EBSCO Essentials, and the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI).

JMIR Formative Research received a Journal Impact Factor of 2.1 according to the latest release of the Journal Citation Reports from Clarivate, 2025.

With a CiteScore of 3.5 (2024) JMIR Formative Research is a Q2 journal in the field of Medicine (miscellaneous), according to Scopus data.

Recent Articles

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Pilot studies (non-ehealth)

Falls are a leading cause of injury among older adults, often resulting from dynamic balance disturbances. It is influenced by a complex interplay of intrinsic and extrinsic fall risk factors. To identify individual fall risk, it is important to understand the underlying associations.

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Formative Evaluation of Non-Ehealth Innovations

Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) - referred to as registered dietitians (RDs) in Japan - contribute to disease management, prevention of complications, and improvement of quality of life (QOL) through individualized nutritional guidance. However, these techniques often rely on individual experience, leading to variations in quality. The Nutrition Care Process (NCP) provides a standardized framework for nutritional care, but the specific techniques used in clinical practice and their interrelationships remain unclear. Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) is a method that visualizes and hierarchically organizes interrelationships among multiple elements, making it useful for structuring complex practical skills. Clarifying the structure of nutritional guidance techniques may therefore support the standardization of practice and the development of educational frameworks.

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Formative Evaluation of Digital Health Interventions

Hispanic youth in the United States have the highest rates of pediatric obesity and do not often meet national guidelines for physical activity and dietary intake. Family-based interventions can improve health outcomes in both youth and their parents and are highly relevant to Hispanics due to the cultural value of familismo (familism). However, few existing family-based obesity prevention interventions for Hispanics target adolescents and their parents, and those that do are not designed to facilitate widespread reach.

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Pilot studies (ehealth)

The ongoing opioid epidemic has been associated with increases in emergency department visits and hospitalizations for drug overdose and injection-related infections. These encounters with the healthcare system provide an opportunity to offer drug treatment linkage and support for people with opioid use disorder (PWOUD). There is a need for interventions that enhance linkage to and engagement in treatment with medications for OUD (MOUD) for PWOUD identified in hospital settings as they transition back to community settings.

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Research Letter

To elucidate the complex relationship between spirituality and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), we performed a qualitative analysis of messages (n=225) referencing spiritualities in r/OCD, a public online peer support forum for people with OCD with over 250,000 users. Two central themes emerged: (1) Influence of spirituality on OCD symptom manifestation and (2) impact of OCD on relationship with spirituality. Some users reported scrupulosity and/or disillusionment with their spirituality, while others reported remaining persistently faithful, which they sometimes attributed their recovery from OCD to.

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Early Results from COVID-19 Studies

In the UK, there was an increased demand for young people’s mental health helpline services during COVID-19, when face-to-face services were often inaccessible. Despite this, there is scant research examining young people’s experiences with these helplines during the pandemic and post-pandemic periods.

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Formative Evaluation of Digital Health Interventions

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) for mechanical ventilation in intensive care units (ICUs) holds great potential. However, the lack of transparency and explainability hinders the adoption of opaque AI models in clinical practice. Explanation user interfaces (XUIs), incorporating explainable AI algorithms, are considered a key solution to enhance trust and usability. Despite growing research on explainable AI in health care, little is known about how clinicians perceive and interact with such explanation interfaces in high-stakes environments such as the ICU. Addressing this gap is essential to ensure that AI-supported CDSS are not only accurate but also trusted, interpretable, and seamlessly integrated into clinical workflows.

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Pilot studies (ehealth)

Poor sleep is a concerning public health problem in the United States. Previous sleep interventions often face barriers such as high costs, limited accessibility, and low user engagement. Recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies offer a novel approach to overcoming these limitations. In response, our team developed a prototype AI sleep chatbot powered by a large language model to deliver personalized, accessible sleep support.

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Formative Evaluation of Digital Health Interventions

Although progress has been made in improving the efficacy of Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME) programs, there remains a dearth of research on culturally adapted, evidence-based DSMEs for Chinese Americans (CAs) with type 2 diabetes.

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Development and Evaluation of Research Methods, Instruments and Tools

Kazakhstan has lacked validated tools to comprehensively assess physicians’ perceptions, usability, and perceived effectiveness of telemedicine services. International frameworks such as the Telehealth Usability Questionnaire (TUQ) and the Model for Assessment of Telemedicine (MAST) have not previously been adapted to the national clinical and organizational context

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Formative Evaluation of Digital Health Interventions

Hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs) have shown promise in mitigating the effects of violence, but their impact is limited by time constraints and inefficient practices faced by the Violence Prevention Professionals (VPPs) who function as case managers. Mobile health (mHealth) applications (apps) offer the potential to enhance communication and service delivery between VPPs and clients, but few have been specifically designed for vulnerable populations.

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Development and Evaluation of Research Methods, Instruments and Tools

Digital Health Tools (DHTs), including wearables and mobile apps, offer promising avenues for personalized care and real-time monitoring, but user engagement and clinical utility—especially in pediatric populations—remain unclear. Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS) is a genetic mutation in the TP53 tumor suppressor gene, predisposing individuals to cancer, requiring lifelong surveillance and associated psychological stress.

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Preprints Open for Peer Review

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