JMIR Research Protocols

Ongoing trials, grant proposals, and methods.

Editor-in-Chief:

Amaryllis Mavragani (Acting Editor-in-Chief), Scientific Editor at JMIR Publications, Canada


Impact Factor 1.7

 JMIR Research Protocols  (JRP, ISSN 1929-0748, Impact Factor: 1.7) is a unique Pubmed- and (new!) 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 2023, JMIR Research Protocols received an inaugural Journal Impact Factor™ of 1.7 (Source: Journal Citation Reports™ from Clarivate, 2023).

While the original focus was on eHealth studies, JMIR Res Protoc 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.

JMIR Res Protoc is fully open access, with full-text articles deposited in PubMed Central.

Publishing research protocols, grant proposals, pilot/feasibility studies and early reports of ongoing and planned work encourages collaboration and early feedback, and reduces duplication of effort.

JMIR Res Protoc 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?

JMIR Res Protoc will be a valuable resource for researchers who want to learn about current research methodologies and how to write a winning grant proposal.

JMIR Res Protoc creates an early scientific record for researchers who have developed novel methodologies, software, innovations or elaborate protocols.

JMIR Res Protoc 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.

JMIR Res Protoc faciliates 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.

JMIR Res Protoc 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 JMIR Res Protoc 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 JMIR Res Protoc 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 ehealth studies, i-JMR for others).

Need more reasons? Read the Knowledge Base article on "Why should I publish my protocol/grant proposal"!

 

Recent Articles

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NIH funded proposals with peer-review reports (USA)

Just-in-time adaptive interventions (JITAIs) are designed to provide support when individuals are receptive and can respond beneficially to the prompt. The notion of a just-in-time (JIT) state is critical for JITAIs. To date, JIT states have been formulated either in a largely data-driven way or based on theory alone. There is a need for an approach that enables rigorous theory testing and optimization of the JIT state concept.

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Non-Randomized Studies (funded, non-eHealth)

The toll associated with suicide goes well beyond the individual who died. This study focuses on a risk factor for veteran suicide that has received little previous empirical attention—exposure to the suicide death of another person.

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Non-randomized Protocols and Methods (ehealth)

The clinical usefulness of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for patients with depression who do not remit with pharmacotherapy has been recognized. However, the longer time burden on health care providers associated with conducting CBT and the lack of a system for providing CBT lead to inadequate CBT provision to patients who wish to receive it.

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Non-Randomized Study Protocols and Methods (Non-eHealth)

The US overdose epidemic is an escalating public health emergency, accounting for over 100,000 deaths annually. Despite the availability of medications for opioid use disorders, provider-level barriers, such as negative attitudes, exacerbate the treatment gap in clinical care settings. Assessing the prevalence and intensity of provider stigma, defined as the negative perceptions and behaviors that providers embody and enact toward patients with substance use disorders, across providers with different specialties, is critical to expanding the delivery of substance use treatment.

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Non-randomized Protocols and Methods (ehealth)

Ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) and digital wearables (DW) are commonly used remote monitoring technologies that capture real-time data in people’s natural environments. Real-time data are core to personalized medical care and intensively adaptive health interventions. The utility of such personalized care is contingent on user uptake and continued use of EMA and DW. Consequently, it is critical to understand user preferences that may increase the uptake of EMA and DW.

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Formative Studies and eHealth/mHealth Development

Hepatitis C is a disease with a strong social component, as its main transmission route is via blood, making it associated with lifestyle. Therefore, it is suitable to be worked on from the perspective of public health policy, which still has a lot of room to explore and improve, contrary to diagnoses and treatments, which are already very refined and effective.

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Non-randomized Protocols and Methods (ehealth)

Correction professionals are a highly stressed workforce with heightened risks for depression, suicide, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and injury. These professionals, largely hidden from view, have received little study concerning means to improve their safety, health, and well-being. In other settings, mindfulness has resulted in lowered stress, along with other benefits. We hypothesized that a program that promoted mindfulness combined with more typical health and safety components could uniquely benefit corrections professionals.

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Non-Randomized Studies (funded, non-eHealth)

 Since they are key witnesses to the systemic difficulties and social inequities experienced by vulnerable patients, health and social service (HSS) professionals and clinical managers must act as change agents. Using their expertise to achieve greater social justice, change agents employ a wide range of actions that span a continuum from the clinical (microsystem) to the societal (macrosystem) sphere and involve actors inside and outside the HSS system. Typically, however, clinical professionals and managers act in a circumscribed manner, that is, within the clinical sphere and with patients and colleagues. Among the hypotheses explaining this reduced scope of action is the fear of reprisal. Little is known about the prevalence of this fear and its complex dynamics.

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RCTs - Protocols/Proposals (eHealth)

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a prevalent anxiety disorder, with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) being the gold standard treatment. However, it is inaccessible and costly to many, as the mental health industry is overwhelmed by the demand for treatment. This means effective, accessible, and time-saving strategies must be developed to combat these problems. Web-based interventions for mental health disorders are an innovative and promising way to address these barriers. While electronically delivered CBT (e-CBT) has already proved productive and scalable for treating anxiety, other less resource-intensive interventions can be innovated. Checking up on mental health face-to-face has been shown to provide similar benefits to patients with anxiety disorders previously, but more research is needed to evaluate the efficacy of web-based delivery of this intervention.

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Non-randomized Protocols and Methods (ehealth)

Genetic heart diseases such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy can cause significant morbidity and mortality, ranging from syncope, chest pain, and palpitations to heart failure and sudden cardiac death. These diseases are inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion, meaning family members of affected individuals have a 1 in 2 chance of also inheriting the disease (“at-risk relatives”). The health care use patterns of individuals with a genetic heart disease, including emergency department presentations and hospital admissions, are poorly understood. By linking genetic heart disease registry data to routinely collected health data, we aim to provide a more comprehensive clinical data set to examine the burden of disease on individuals, families, and health care systems.

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Non-Randomized Studies (funded, eHealth)

Electronic health record (EHR)–integrated digital personal health records (PHRs) via Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) are promising digital health tools to support care coordination (CC) for children and youth with special health care needs but remain widely unadopted; as their adoption grows, mixed methods and implementation research could guide real-world implementation and evaluation.

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Non-Randomized Studies (funded, eHealth)

By 2030, approximately 75 million adults will be living with Alzheimer disease and related dementias (ADRDs). ADRDs produce cognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes for persons living with dementia that undermine independence and produce considerable stressors for persons living with dementia and their spousal care-partners—together called a “dyad.” Clinically elevated emotional distress (ie, depression and anxiety symptoms) is common for both dyad members after ADRD diagnosis, which can become chronic and negatively impact relationship functioning, health, quality of life, and collaborative management of progressive symptoms.

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Preprints Open for Peer-Review

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