Publication Guide
JMIR Publications is the leading open-access publisher for digital health, health informatics, and technology-enabled medicine. The company grew out of the Journal of Medical Internet Research, founded in 1999 by Gunther Eysenbach as one of the first fully open-access journals in medicine, and now publishes 30+ peer-reviewed journals from its head office in Toronto, Canada (with an EU office in Dublin). Every JMIR journal is 100% Gold open access under a CC BY licence - there is no subscription or hybrid route - and the publisher was a co-founder of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA).
If your research involves eHealth, mHealth apps, telemedicine, AI in medicine, digital mental health, serious games, medical education technology, or public-health informatics, a JMIR title is very likely on your shortlist. This guide covers how to pick the right JMIR journal, what publication actually costs, how the peer review works, and how to submit.
Which JMIR journal fits your paper?
JMIR titles are tightly scoped by topic rather than by prestige tier, so journal choice is mostly a matter of matching your subject - though the flagship is noticeably more selective. Fees below are the 2026 regular-article APFs; always confirm on the journal's fees page.
| You're most likely to... | Choose this route |
|---|---|
| Have a strong, broadly relevant digital-health study | Journal of Medical Internet Research - the flagship (Impact Factor 8.2, June 2026). Most selective; APF $3,350. |
| Study mobile apps, wearables, or ubiquitous health tech | JMIR mHealth and uHealth - IF 6.3; APF $3,150. |
| Work on digital mental-health interventions | JMIR Mental Health - IF 7.4. |
| Work in surveillance, epidemiology, or population health | JMIR Public Health and Surveillance. |
| Work on clinical informatics, EHRs, or hospital IT | JMIR Medical Informatics. |
| Want to publish a study protocol or early report | JMIR Research Protocols - APF 950 if you supply existing grant-agency peer-review reports. |
| Have a preprint on medRxiv/bioRxiv you want formally reviewed | JMIRx Med / JMIRx Bio - overlay journals, APF ~$1,000; JMIRx Med was the first medical overlay journal and the first indexed in PubMed (2022). |
What JMIR Publications actually publishes
30+ fully open-access journals, all in digital health and adjacent fields. Highlights from the June 2026 Journal Citation Reports: Journal of Medical Internet Research (IF 8.2, Q1), JMIR Medical Education (IF 13.9, Q1), JMIR Mental Health (IF 7.4, Q1), JMIR mHealth and uHealth (IF 6.3, Q1), JMIR Serious Games (IF 4.7, Q1), and JMIR Aging (IF 4.6, Q1). The portfolio also includes JMIR Formative Research for pilot and feasibility studies, JMIR Research Protocols for protocols, and the JMIRx overlay series that peer-reviews preprints already posted to repositories. Article types span original papers, reviews, viewpoints, and research letters (letters carry roughly half the regular APF).
Open access and APFs - actual numbers
JMIR charges an Article Processing Fee (APF) on acceptance; there are no submission fees for standard submission. All articles are published immediately under CC BY, and immediate self-archiving is permitted. Fees below are 2026 USD, before tax - check the journal's fees page before submitting, as JMIR revises fees periodically.
| Journal / tier | APF (regular article) |
|---|---|
| Journal of Medical Internet Research (flagship) | 2,680; research letters $1,675) |
| JMIR mHealth and uHealth | $3,150 |
| Most JMIR specialty titles | ~3,150 (varies by journal) |
| JMIR Research Protocols | 950 with prior grant-agency peer review) |
| JMIRx Med / JMIRx Bio (overlay) | ~$1,000 |
Authors without funding can request an APF waiver with a compelling justification under the APF Support Policy. Because the portfolio is fully open access, JMIR does not sign transformative agreements; instead, an institutional partner program lets member institutions cover or discount APFs for their authors - ask your library whether your institution participates.
Peer review process
- Default model: single-anonymized peer review; reviewer identities are hidden from authors.
- Overlay review: JMIRx titles review manuscripts already public as preprints, with published review reports.
- Fast-track option: select titles offer a paid expedited-review service; this has drawn debate in the community, though JMIR states editorial decisions are independent of payment.
- Reporting standards: JMIR strongly enforces reporting guidelines (CONSORT-EHEALTH for trials of web-based interventions, plus STROBE, PRISMA, and others as applicable).
How to submit
- Pick the journal. Match your topic to the scoped title above; check recent tables of contents to confirm fit.
- Read the author guidance. JMIR maintains detailed instructions, including its preferred-reporting requirements, in the knowledge base at jmir.org.
- Prepare your manuscript. JMIR uses a Vancouver-style numbered reference format; SciSpace templates handle the formatting for you.
- Submit via the JMIR platform. All titles use JMIR's own web-based submission and review system - create one account and it works across the whole portfolio.
- Budget for the APF. The fee is payable on acceptance; confirm current pricing and any institutional partnership coverage first.
Ethics and integrity
JMIR Publications is a member of COPE and was a co-founder of OASPA; it follows COPE guidance on corrections, retractions, and authorship disputes. Trials must be registered and reported against the relevant guideline, and data-sharing statements are encouraged across the portfolio. Early criticism of shared editorial boards across sister journals and of the paid fast-track option has been addressed publicly by the publisher, and JMIR titles remain widely indexed in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science.
