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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 2.4 More information about Impact Factor CiteScore 4.2 More information about CiteScore

JMIR Formative Research 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 2025 Impact Factor of 2.4, ranking Q2 in Health Care Sciences & Services (97/194).

JMIR Formative Research received a Scopus CiteScore of 4.2 (2025), placing it in the 68th percentile (149/466) as a second quartile (Q2) journal in the field of Medicine, and in the 52nd percentile (81/168) as a second quartile (Q2) journal in the field of Health Informatics. 


Recent Articles

Woman uses a wellness app on her phone showing mood, energy, hydration, and mindfulness tracking.
Formative Evaluation of Digital Health Interventions

Despite the effectiveness of bariatric surgery in the treatment of severe obesity, a substantial proportion of patients experience insufficient weight loss or weight regain over time. Evidence indicates that behavioral factors and mental health conditions play a central role in these outcomes, representing strategic targets for educational and technology-based self-monitoring interventions.

Person checking fitness tracker on wrist, showing time and steps.
Formative Evaluation of Digital Health Interventions

Consumer wearable activity monitors are increasingly being used as end points in exercise-oncology trials and in clinical decision-making, yet their accuracy is unvalidated in lung cancer, where slow, fragmented gait may challenge step-counting algorithms.

Woman in pink t-shirt with breast cancer awareness graphic performing self-exam
Formative Evaluation of Digital Health Interventions

Breast cancer is a leading cause of mortality among Thai women. Breast self-examination (BSE) is a low-cost practice that promotes breast health awareness and familiarity with breast changes; however, adherence and correct technique remain suboptimal, partly due to limited guidance and reminder systems. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions could support BSE practice.

Close-up of hands holding smartphone and smartwatch displaying health data
Formative Evaluation of Digital Health Interventions

Physical activity, sedentary behavior, sleep, and eating behavior are recognized as key contributors to physical and mental health. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) can capture both the temporal variations and contextual correlates of these behaviors.

Computer screen displays "Ujala" logo on a white background, with a person typing
Pilot studies (non-ehealth)

South Asian American gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) experience multiple minority stressors, such as internalized homophobia, racial prejudice, and homonegative discrimination, thereby elevating their risk of HIV. Due to the scarcity of HIV scientific literature focusing on South Asian American GBM, little is known about their use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) or the upstream factors influencing its uptake.

Person using a smartphone calendar app showing "September 2020" and "Spazieren" activity.
Pilot studies (ehealth)

Patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) often struggle to develop and maintain heart-healthy physical activity habits, even after completing a cardiac rehabilitation program. Digital tools offer opportunities to support long-term behavior change in secondary prevention. The aktivplan digital health intervention (DHI) was designed to help patients establish heart-healthy physical activity routines.

Sad boy in bed with blanket, looking bored
Formative Evaluation of Digital Health Interventions

Approximately one-third of Canadian children have insomnia or symptoms of insomnia, defined as chronic and frequent difficulties falling and/or staying asleep. Most health care providers (HCPs) in Canada do not receive comprehensive formal training in the screening, assessment, or management of pediatric insomnia.

Doctor reviewing medical research on computer screen in office
Formative Evaluation of Digital Health Interventions

Open-source, mid-scale large language models (LLMs) have emerged as scalable, privacy-preserving alternatives to ultra-large foundation models (eg, GPT-4) in health care systems. Techniques such as retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) enable sub-100-billion-parameter models to address highly specialized medical domains such as anesthesiology. However, studies evaluating RAG architectures on complex medical examinations remain scarce, highlighting the need for rigorous benchmarking to bridge the gap between raw parametric knowledge and clinically relevant application.

Doctor performing ultrasound on pregnant woman's belly
Development and Evaluation of Research Methods, Instruments and Tools

Limited access to prenatal care, particularly in maternity care deserts and other underserved communities, contributes to maternal and fetal health disparities. Advances in telehealth and wearable fetal monitoring technologies, including fetal electrocardiography, offer opportunities to support remote fetal assessment and supplement traditional prenatal care. Understanding the acceptability of these technologies among potential users is important for informing future device development and implementation.

Man listening to music in bed at night vs. morning
Formative Evaluation of Digital Health Interventions

Many individuals use audiobooks at bedtime to unwind and facilitate sleep, yet little is known about how this practice relates to sleep health. Understanding these patterns may inform behavioral strategies to support sleep.

Teenager plays a video game about choosing goals, with options like "Resist peer pressure" and "Have a good party.
Formative Evaluation of Digital Health Interventions

Accidents and injuries are the leading causes of preventable death among adolescents and are often related to substance use. About 60% of US high school students have tried alcohol and 22% report current alcohol use. Preventing and reducing adolescent alcohol use would contribute to substantial health benefits and prevent major health morbidity and mortality. Advances in interactive narrative learning technologies hold promise for designing games for health that effectively deliver age-appropriate and personalized behavior change interventions. The Interactive Narrative System for Patient-Individualized Reflective Exploration (INSPIRE) is designed to serve as an extension to clinical preventive care, engaging adolescents in a theoretically grounded alcohol prevention intervention by leveraging the dual mechanisms of interactive narrative and 3D game technologies.

Preprints Open for Peer Review

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