JMIR Publications: Impact Factors and the Evolution of Superjournals
In the rapidly evolving landscape of digital health and medical informatics, JMIR Publications has established itself as a significant contributor to scholarly communication. By managing a diverse portfolio of journals, the publisher focuses on bridging the gap between traditional peer-reviewed publishing and the speed of modern preprint servers.
Key Facts
- As of June 2023, 14 out of 34 JMIR Publications journals have received Impact Factors.
- Many of these journals are ranked in the top quartile (Q1) of their respective disciplines.
- JMIRx Med is recognized as the world's first medical overlay journal and the first of its kind indexed in PubMed.
- The publisher utilizes a "superjournal" model to provide peer-review for preprints on servers like medRxiv and bioRxiv.
Journal Performance and Impact Factors
The quality and influence of a journal are often measured by the Journal Citation Reports, which assigns an Impact Factor based on how frequently articles are cited. While the flagship Journal of Medical Internet Research (J Med Internet Res) is well-known, several other titles in the JMIR family have shown strong performance.
Based on 2021 data, five additional journals achieved notable Impact Factors, reflecting their influence in specialized fields such as public health, mental health, and mobile health.
| Journal Name | 2021 Impact Factor |
|---|---|
| JMIR Public Health and Surveillance | 14.56 |
| JMIR Mental Health | 6.33 |
| JMIR mHealth and uHealth | 4.95 |
| JMIR Serious Games | 3.36 |
| JMIR Medical Informatics | 3.23 |
By June 2023, the publisher's reach expanded further, with 14 of its 34 journals receiving Impact Factors, many of which reached the prestigious Q1 ranking.
The Innovation of Superjournals and Overlay Publishing
In 2019, publisher Gunther Eysenbach introduced a novel concept during the publisher's 20th anniversary: the superjournal. This format takes the form of an Overlay journal, which is a publication that conducts peer-review on top of existing preprint servers rather than hosting the content on its own proprietary platform. This allows for the creation of a "version-of-record" while maintaining the openness of preprints.
To demonstrate this concept, the publisher featured a peer-reviewed preprint by Elon Musk and Neuralink regarding a brain-implantable neurochip, accompanied by expert comments.
JMIRx Series
The JMIRx series applies this overlay model to major preprint repositories. Specifically, JMIRx Med was created in 2020 to operate on top of medRxiv, and JMIRx-Bio was developed for bioRxiv.
According to a 2022 review, JMIRx Med is the first medical overlay journal in the world. Its legitimacy within the scientific community was further solidified in 2022 when it became the first overlay journal to be indexed in PubMed, the primary database for biomedical literature.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an overlay journal?
An overlay journal is a publication that performs peer-review and editorial selection on articles already hosted on preprint servers, providing a formal version-of-record without requiring the author to move the paper to a separate hosting platform.
Which JMIR journal had the highest 2021 impact factor among the listed specialized titles?
JMIR Public Health and Surveillance had the highest 2021 impact factor among the listed specialized journals, with a score of 14.56.
What is the significance of JMIRx Med's PubMed indexing?
JMIRx Med's acceptance into PubMed is significant because it marks the first time an overlay journal has been indexed in this major biomedical database, validating the superjournal model.
Who introduced the concept of superjournals at JMIR Publications?
The concept was announced by publisher Gunther Eysenbach in 2019 during the publisher's 20th anniversary special issue.
How many JMIR journals had Impact Factors as of June 2023?
As of June 2023, 14 of the 34 journals published by JMIR Publications had received Impact Factors.