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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Formative Evaluation of Digital Health Interventions

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has made tremendous efforts to promote the adoption of advanced technologies like artificial intelligence. While the successful adoption of AI is dependent on physician perception, there is a scarcity of data concerning KSA physicians’ perception towards the technology.

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Early Results in Infodemiology and Infoveillance

Haemaphysalis longicornis (Asian longhorned tick) presents a growing threat to cattle health in the United States, causing anemia, weight loss, and even death. Despite the expanding distribution of this tick and the need for prevention, there is limited research on how to effectively communicate tick-borne disease risks to agricultural communities, particularly cattle producers. Social media represents a potentially impactful channel for risk communication; however, its utility and optimal message design within this population remain insufficiently understood.

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Development and Evaluation of Research Methods, Instruments and Tools

The addition of simulated patients to medical and nursing training makes it possible to create a link between theory and practice. This makes what has been learned more realistic and allows the complexity and multilayered nature of many illnesses to be reflected in a real-life setting. However, the selection, training, and supervision of actors as simulated patients is time consuming and expensive. In this study, we investigated how differently students and nurses perceive 2 different methods of patient simulation.

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Formative Evaluation of Digital Health Interventions

The United States faces significant challenges in physical therapy (PT) access due to high demand, a shortage of professionals, and patient-related obstacles, which can adversely affect recovery and function. Limited access to PT may lead to increased dependence on medications for pain management, highlighting the need for non-pharmacologic options to reduce opioid over-prescribing. Low back pain, a leading cause of disability and high medical costs, is a common reason for requiring PT following surgery. Studies have shown that virtual reality (VR) guided movements can improve motor function and reduce pain intensity.

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Pilot studies (ehealth)

Understanding relationships among inhibitory control, attentional bias to food cues, and food consumption in nonclinical adolescent samples can inform preventive efforts for disordered eating and associated health risks.

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Pilot studies (ehealth)

Patients with multimorbidity have complex healthcare needs and are high-risk for adverse health outcomes. Primary care teams need tools to effectively and proactively plan care for these patients. We developed VET-PATHS (VETeran PAnel management Tool for High-risk Subgroups), a novel care planning informatics tool for complex primary care patients. VET-PATHS a) groups patients by chronic condition via latent class analysis of electronic health record (EHR) data, then b) jumpstarts care planning by suggesting ‘care steps’ based on data-driven high-priority care for the group.

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Pilot studies (non-ehealth)

Background: Hematuria is one of the most common urologic diseases seen within clinical practice with a prevalence range of 1.7-31.1%. In 2020, new American Urological Association (AUA) guidelines were revised which recommended that following initial evaluation, clinicians should categorize patients into three tiers (low risk, intermediate risk and high risk) based on various factors. Recent literature has shown the AUA guidelines to have high clinical utility when compared to other international guidelines such as the Hematuria Risk Index, Canadian Urological Association and Kaiser Permanente; however, this guideline remains unvalidated amongst the population of “well adults” within the United States.

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Formative Evaluation of Digital Health Interventions

Large Language Models (LLMs) have rapidly advanced across numerous fields, including mental health care. A shortage of trained therapists and mental health care providers has driven informal use of LLMs for therapeutic support. However, their clinical utility remains poorly defined. This study aimed to systematically evaluate the capabilities and limitations of LLMs in single-turn therapeutic interactions compared to psychotherapists-in-training.

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Pilot studies (ehealth)

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) has been widely used to evaluate students in medical education. However, it is resource-intensive, presenting challenges in implementation. We hypothesized that generative artificial intelligence (AI) such as ChatGPT-4 could serve as a complementary assessor and alleviate the burden of physicians in evaluating OSCE.

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Pilot studies (ehealth)

The ecological momentary intervention (EMI) is one of the most promising digital—primarily mobile—interventions to enhance physical activity (PA) and other health behaviors. It is a combination of ecological momentary assessment (EMA), in which participants are prompted to indicate their momentary states and ongoing behaviors in daily life, and the just-in-time delivery of interventions tailored to the EMA responses. The EMI has typically been implemented in message-based interventions (e.g., activity recommendations tailored to users’ physical locations), but its efficacy and feasibility have not been sufficiently established because of the variability in design and implementation.

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Pilot studies (non-ehealth)

Video games are becoming increasingly accessible and occupy a prominent position among students’ leisure activities. Recent studies have demonstrated that engagement with video games can facilitate the development of specific abilities, such as visuospatial skills and hand-eye coordination. Thus, it seemed relevant to investigate whether the practice of playing video games could enhance the technical capabilities of novice dental students.

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Formative Evaluation of Digital Health Interventions

Internet health care plays a crucial role in addressing the challenge of distributing high-quality medical resources and promoting the optimal allocation of these resources and health equity in China. Online medical consultation (OMC) plays a more significant role than online health information seeking (OHIS). Currently, the proportion of Chinese patients using OMC is low. Therefore, it is essential to enhance patient engagement with OMC and fully leverage the role of internet health care in optimizing the allocation of medical resources.

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Preprints Open for Peer-Review

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