JMIR Formative Research (JFR, ISSN 2561-326X) publishes peer-reviewed, openly accessible research 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, JFR 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.

This journal 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 JFR (and their evaluation protocols in JMIR Research Protocols).

JMIR Formative Research is indexed in MEDLINE, PubMed, PubMed Central, DOAJ, Scopus, Sherpa/Romeo, EBSCO, and the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI).

This paper is in the following e-collection/theme issue:

Critical Limitations in Comparing ChatGPT and DeepSeek for Orthopedic Assessment

Critical Limitations in Comparing ChatGPT and DeepSeek for Orthopedic Assessment