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JMIR Cancer

Patient-centered innovations, education, and technology for cancer care, cancer survivorship, and cancer research.

Editor-in-Chief:

Matthew Balcarras, MSc, PhD, Scientific Editor at JMIR Publications, Ontario, Canada


Impact Factor 2.6 More information about Impact Factor CiteScore 4.1 More information about CiteScore

JMIR Cancer is a peer-reviewed journal focusing on education, innovation and technology in cancer care, cancer survivorship and cancer research, and participatory and patient-centred approaches. This journal also includes research on non-Internet approaches to improve cancer care and cancer research.

We invite submissions of original research, viewpoints, reviews, tutorials, and non-conventional articles (e.g. open patient education material and software resources that are not yet evaluated but are free for others to use/implement). 

In our "Patients' Corner," we invite patients and survivors to submit short essays and viewpoints on all aspects of cancer. In particular, we are interested in suggestions on improving the health care system and suggestions for new technologies, applications and approaches (this section has no article processing fees).

JMIR Cancer is indexed in PubMed Central and PubMed, Scopus, DOAJ, MEDLINE, and the Emerging Sources Citation Index (Clarivate). 

JMIR Cancer received a 2025 Impact Factor of 2.6, ranking Q3 in Oncology (196/333).

JMIR Cancer received a Scopus CiteScore of 4.1 (2025), placing it in the 50th percentile (213/428) as a second quartile (Q2) journal in the field of Oncology.

Recent Articles

Woman's hands using a tablet displaying a pink ribbon icon and search bar
Reviews on Innovations in Cancer

Promotional activities, such as social marketing approaches, are important for raising cancer awareness and increasing breast cancer screening participation. Such interventions are designed to facilitate change and maintain positive health behaviors at both the community and society level. With the growing use of these promotional activities in public health, it is pertinent to map available studies to inform future evaluations and the development of effective interventions.

Elderly couple dancing joyfully, with the woman resting her head on the man's shoulder.
Emotional, Social, Psychological Support for Cancer

Informal caregivers play a fundamental role in the diagnosis, treatment, and care received by their family members. Caring for someone with dementia is particularly burdensome and can have negative effects on caregivers’ health. Despite caregivers being widely recognized as vulnerable, the psychosocial needs of caregivers who are managing cancer themselves remain unknown.

Woman using laptop with AI chatbot and search results on screen
Patient Education for Cancer

Patients with newly diagnosed gynecologic cancers often seek information online, but the quality of available resources may be inconsistent. Although GPT-4 may offer an alternative to traditional internet search engines, its performance remains largely under-studied in gynecologic oncology.

Hand holding iPhone displaying "Focus" app by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
Cancer Self-Management

People living with advanced cancer experience more frequent and severe symptoms than those with early-stage disease. Common, distressing symptoms include sleep difficulties, worry and uncertainty, fatigue, and depression. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) effectively manage these symptoms but are often too time intensive for patients with multiple appointments, limited energy, and competing priorities. Brief, mobile health (mHealth) interventions provide an accessible alternative, particularly for rural patients with limited access to palliative or psychosocial oncology services.

Doctor analyzes holographic medical data including CT scan and molecular structures
Viewpoints on Innovations in Cancer Care and Research

Cancer diagnosis depends on data from radiology, digital pathology, molecular profiling, laboratory testing, and longitudinal clinical records. AI performs well in selected tasks, but most systems remain narrow and disconnected from the iterative reasoning required in oncology. This Viewpoint defines an AI agent as a feedback-driven system that maintains task state, selects among governed tools, observes results, and revises its plan under explicit safety constraints. This definition separates agents from multimodal foundation models, retrieval-augmented generation, and fixed workflow automation. We organize the discussion across multimodal data collection, preprocessing, fusion and representation learning, and diagnostic decision support. We distinguished agent-level evidence, component- or infrastructure-level evidence, and prospective propositions throughout. Clinical translation will require resilient failure handling, guideline version control, prospective evaluation, computational and workflow feasibility, and clinician authority over final decisions. The near-term opportunity is therefore transparent and traceable clinical decision support rather than autonomous cancer diagnosis.

Nurse checks vital signs of elderly man with other seniors present
Cancer Survivorship

Cardiovascular disease and cancer are leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with cancer survivors facing elevated cardiovascular risk due to shared risk factors and cardiotoxic treatments. Physical activity (PA) is a well-established strategy to improve cardiovascular health and survivorship outcomes; however, most cancer survivors do not meet recommended PA guidelines. Understanding multilevel influences on PA engagement and promotion is essential to improving implementation in cardio-oncology care.

Mother and daughter looking at a smartphone together, smiling.
HPV Vaccination

Mobile health (mHealth) interventions may improve provider-parent communication on human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination to reduce concerns, and increase intention and uptake. HPVVaxFacts (233 Analytics) is a novel, mobile web app delivering tailored education based on the Health Belief Model and Theory of Reasoned Action, addressing parental concerns preclinic visit.

Phone showing emotional regulation app with videos for young children and adolescents.
Mobile Apps for Cancer Care and Cancer Prevention and Screening

Pediatric cancer presents many challenges for young patients and families that extend beyond active treatment. Families report significant unmet information and supportive care needs at the end of treatment (EOT). Digital health solutions, such as patient apps, offer a potential solution to address current gaps in care.

Woman in headscarf watches yoga class on tablet in sunroom
Innovations and Technology in Cancer Care

Breast cancer and its treatment can negatively affect women’s quality of life (QoL), including physical, psychological, and social well-being. Digital health interventions have been increasingly used to provide supportive care, but their effectiveness on QoL and related psychosocial outcomes remains unclear.

Preprints Open for Peer Review

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