Publishing Policies

These are primarily data from an existing surveillance system. If a system description has been published previously in JMIR Public Health Surveill or JMIR Res Protoc, then the report does not have to be peer-reviewed again. The methods section must cite the original system description.

Development and description of surveillance systems

Development and evaluation of public health informatics systems

Infodemiology (Eysenbach 2006, Eysenbach 2009) can be defined as "the science of distribution and determinants of information in an electronic medium, specifically the Internet, or in a population, with the ultimate aim to inform public health and public policy. Infodemiology data can be collected and analyzed in near real time. Examples for infodemiology applications include: the analysis of queries from Internet search engines to predict disease outbreaks (eg. influenza); monitoring peoples' status updates on microblogs such as Twitter for syndromic surveillance; detecting and quantifying disparities in health information availability; identifying and monitoring of public health relevant publications on the Internet (eg. anti-vaccination sites, but also news articles or expert-curated outbreak reports); automated tools to measure information diffusion and knowledge translation, and tracking the effectiveness of health marketing campaigns. Moreover, analyzing how people search and navigate the Internet for health-related information, as well as how they communicate and share this information, can provide valuable insights into health-related behavior of populations. " (Eysenbach 2009). This set of methods and approaches is a key pillar to manage infodemics (Eysenbach 2020).

See also related E-Collections: 

Infodemiology and Infoveillance (JMIR)  and Pharmacovigilance

Environmental health is the branch of public health that is concerned with all aspects of the natural and built environment that may affect human health. This includes issues of air pollution, global warming, housing, food safety, toxins in the environment, waste managements etc. JMIR Public Health focuses on technology solutions to improve, visualize, or monitor the environment for public health purposes.

Participatory epidemiology is an emerging field that is based on the use of participatory techniques for the harvesting of qualitative and quantitative epidemiological intelligence contained within community observations and/or consumer/patient data entries.

We support rapid open data sharing and rapid open access to surveillance and outbreak data. As one of the novel features we publish rapid or even real-time surveillance reports and open data. The methods and description of the surveillance system may be peer-reviewed and published only once in detail, in a "baseline report" (in a JMIR Res Protoc or a JMIR Public Health & Surveill paper), and authors then have the possibility to publish data and reports in frequent intervals rapidly and with only minimal additional peer-review (we call this article type "Rapid Surveillance Reports"). Furthermore, during epidemics and public health emergencies, submissions with critical data will be processed with expedited peer-review to enable publication within days or even in real-time.

See also E-Collection: mHealth in the Developing World/LMICs, Underserved Communities, and for Global Health

Some more subjective reports and "case studies" from public health organizations or individuals, with a focus on technology in Public Health.

For corrigenda that are discretionary and a result of author-oversight (e.g. corrections in the affiliation etc) we charge a $190 processing fee to make changes in the original paper and publish an erratum. To request a correction, please submit a correction statement (text similar to http://www.jmir.org/2015/3/e76/) as new submission from your author homepage.

Authors can publish corrigenda and addenda. While we publish true errata for free, authors can also submit "discretionary corrigenda and addenda", for example adding new information to published articles, for which we charge $190.

Theme Issue sponsored by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London UK (submissions by invitation only). Guest Editors: B Rice, J Hargreaves, S Baral, K Sabin, Paul Mee.

- by invitation only -

Key populations at higher risk for HIV infection, including people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men (MSM), and female sex workers (FSWs), are disproportionately affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This theme issue, co-sponsored by the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), is shedding light on the population size of these groups, and presents methods to estimate them.

Guest editors

Dimitri Prybylski, Associate Director for Science, US CDC in Namibia; Joyce Neal, US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Division of Global AIDS/HIV

Call for papers (archived)

http://publichealth.jmir.org/announcement/view/154

See also

E-collection 'HIV/AIDS/STI Prevention and Care'

Descriptions of open data resources and open source software. Where possible, we can and want to publish or even host the actual software or dataset on the journal website.

Mass Gatherings are defined as an aggregation of people ranging from as few as 1,000 individuals to upwards of 25,000 in a specific location for a designated period of time. Given the complex challenges of mass gatherings, the public authorities and supporting organizations need to be ready to accommodate masses throughout the event including pre-event preparation and post-event activities. For this special issue, guest editors Prof. Yousef Khader, Mark Smolinski, Adam Crawley, and Marlo Libel are seeking research and review articles on patterns and burden of diseases during mass gathering, emergencies during mass gathering, strengths and weakness of surveillance during mass gatherings, and quality and assessment of health care services for mass gatherings. For further details see Call for Papers.

EMPHNET works with countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) to strengthen public health systems in an effort to contribute to improved health outcomes. We aim at strengthening public health capacity with a specific focus on applied epidemiology. We are the only Public Health Network in the region and our work is an accumulation of collaborative efforts with Ministries of Health of countries in the region. This EMPHNET-sponsored theme issue is a collection of invited papers from EMPHNET members. Guest editors: Dr. Ezzeddine Mohsni, Dr. Magid Al-Gunaid, Dr. Haitham Bashier Abbas

See also Infectious Diseases (non-STD/STI) [Section Id: 569] and Surveillance Systems [Section Id: 257] as well as Theme Issue 2020: Coronavirus nCoV 2019 Outbreak Rapid Reports

We have created a new theme issue to enable rapid publication and dissemination of research releated to the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) Outbreak, which emerged in January 2020 in Wuhan and which reached pandemic proportions in March 2020.

We accept original papers including rapid surveillance reports, field reports, case studies, and raw datasets related to Covid-19. We are particularly interested in surveillance systems, surveillance data, and public health informatics / population health technologies. See JMIR Public Health & Surveillance COVID-19 Theme Issue Call for Papers.

See also: 

• JMIR Theme Issue 2020-2021: COVID-19 Special Issue (Articles submitted in response to the J Med Internet Res Call for Papers) 

• JMH Theme Issue COVID-19 and Mental Health: Impact and Interventions (JMIR Mental Health)

• JPP Theme Issue 2020-21: Digital Approaches for Pediatric Healthcare Delivery during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic (see JMIR Pediatrics & Parenting Call for Papers)

Other related themes:

• Digital Contact Tracing, Digital Proximity Tracing, Precision Public Health

• Outbreak and Pandemic Preparedness and Management

• Hygiene and Infection Prevention

• Infodemiology and Infoveillance 

• Infectious Diseases (non-STD/STI) 

Descriptive research, analysis and interventions that address disparaties in access to health care or that create/mitigate inequalities and health care quality divides across ethnic/racial lines. 

Theme Issue Guest Editors: Haitham Bashier, Global Health Development; Rami Saadeh, Jordan University of Science and Technology; Mohammad Alyahya, Jordan University of Science and Technology; Magid Al-Gunaid, sponsored by Global Health Development