Accessibility settings

JMIR Human Factors

(Re-)designing health care and making health care interventions and technologies usable, safe, and effective.

Editor-in-Chief:

Andre Kushniruk, BA, MSc, PhD, FACMI, School of Health Information Science, University of Victoria, Canada


Impact Factor 3.9 More information about Impact Factor CiteScore 5.6 More information about CiteScore

JMIR Human Factors is a multidisciplinary journal with contributions from design experts, medical researchers, engineers, and social scientists.

JMIR Human Factors focuses on understanding how the behaviour and thinking of humans can influence and shape the design of health care interventions and technologies, and how the design can be evaluated and improved to make health care interventions and technologies usable, safe, and effective. This includes usability studies and heuristic evaluations, studies concerning ergonomics and error prevention, design studies for medical devices and healthcare systems/workflows, enhancing teamwork through Human Factors based teamwork training, measuring non-technical skills in staff like leadership, communication, situational awareness and teamwork, and healthcare policies and procedures to reduce errors and increase safety.

JMIR Human Factors focuses aspires to lead health care towards a culture of "usability by design", as well as to a culture of testing, error-prevention and safety, by promoting and publishing reports rigorously evaluating the usability and human factors aspects in health care, as well as encouraging the development and debate on new methods in this emerging field. Possible contributions include usability studies and heuristic evaluations, studies concerning ergonomics and error prevention, design studies for medical devices and healthcare systems/workflows, enhancing teamwork through human factors-based teamwork training, measuring non-technical skills in staff like leadership, communication, situational awareness and teamwork, and healthcare policies and procedures to reduce errors and increase safety. Reviews, viewpoint papers and tutorials are as welcome as original research.

JMIR Human Factors is indexed in National Library of Medicine (NLM)/MEDLINE, PubMed, PubMed Central, DOAJ, Scopus, Sherpa Romeo, PsycINFO, and the Web of Science (WoS)/ESCI.

JMIR Human Factors received a 2025 Impact Factor of 3.9, ranking Q1 in Health Care Sciences & Services (46/194).

JMIR Human Factors received a Scopus CiteScore of 5.6 (2025), placing it in the 69th percentile (15/48) as a second quartile (Q2) journal in the field of Human Factors and Ergonomics, and in the 66th percentile (56/168) as a second quartile (Q2) journal in the field of Health Informatics.


Recent Articles

ECG monitor displays heart rate, brain activity, and patient vitals in hospital room.
Usability Evaluation Case Studies

Lung-protective ventilation (LPV) reduces complications of mechanical ventilation, yet adherence in intensive care units (ICUs) remains inconsistent. Digital dashboards may support LPV by improving situational awareness and supporting protocol adherence. However, adoption of such tools in high-acuity clinical environments depends on a range of cognitive, professional, and contextual determinants. The Measurement Instrument for Determinants of Innovations (MIDI) provides a validated framework to systematically assess these factors.

Three people playing wheelchair basketball on a wooden court.
Design and Usability of Websites for Special User Groups

Inclusive physical education (PE) plays a vital role in promoting participation and development among students with different abilities. However, many teachers do not have adequate tools to modify PE activities to meet these diverse needs. In addition, parents are essential partners, as their involvement helps reinforce strategies and provide useful information about their children. While online platforms provide a practical way to deliver such solutions, only a few have been intentionally created to support both teachers and parents in implementing inclusive PE learning. To address this gap, we codeveloped an online platform with adapted PE experts that digitizes an inclusion screening tool and delivers personalized, evidence-based inclusion strategies and resources to teachers and parents.

Woman on video call with doctor discussing health
Focus Groups and Qualitative Research for Human Factors Research

Online medical consultation (OMC) services have gained considerable attention as an integral component of telemedicine. Recently, AI has been increasingly integrated into OMC platforms, facilitating more efficient consultations and clinical decision-making. AI-driven OMC services can provide preliminary triage, medication guidance, and diagnostics for multiple medical conditions. Despite the availability and potential benefits of AI-driven OMC services, public acceptance and willingness to pay (WTP) for these services remain low.

Man in athletic wear with earbuds checks smartphone outdoors
Theories, Models, and Frameworks in Human Factors

Digital health platforms can expand access to HIV care, but among men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender people living with HIV and AIDS in Nigeria, adoption is shaped by structural stigma, criminalization, and fear of disclosure as much as by system functionality. Teleconsultation and medication-delivery platforms offer alternative pathways to care, but their acceptance within marginalized populations cannot be assumed and requires empirical investigation.

Doctor uses telemedicine cart for virtual patient consultation with senior man.
User Needs and Competencies

Telemedicine adoption among health care professionals is hindered by resistance to change (RTC), comprising routine-seeking, emotional reactivity, short-term focus, and cognitive rigidity, which interacts with perceived ease of use (PEU) and anxiety within the Technology Acceptance Model framework.

Doctor uses stethoscope to interact with digital healthcare icons and data visualization
Theme Issue: AI and Human Factors—Towards Successful Application of AI in Health Care

AI has the potential to enhance clinical decision-making in high-acuity settings such as intensive care units (ICUs) and emergency departments (EDs). However, despite promising performance, many AI-driven clinical decision support systems (AI-CDSSs) face poor adoption due to issues of trust, workflow disruption, and alert fatigue. Understanding the human factors that shape clinician acceptance is critical to guide safe and effective implementation of AI-CDSS in acute care. Theoretical frameworks, including the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) 2.0 model and the technology acceptance model (TAM), suggest that successful adoption requires addressing sociotechnical interactions among clinician trust, system design, organizational readiness, and task complexity, yet few empirical studies have applied these frameworks to AI-CDSSs in acute care settings.

Woman using Spire Stone wearable device and app to track breathing and stress levels
Psychological, Behavioral, Social, and/or Cultural Experiments and Interventions

Digital health interventions for psychosis, like SloMo, leverage smartphone technology to help transfer learning from therapy to real-life situations. Usage relies on motivation, recall, and awareness. Wearable devices that track physiological signs of stress can boost engagement by encouraging the use of coping strategies when most needed.

Doctor uses AI healthcare technology on computer for patient diagnostics and care.
Cognition and Information Processing in Human Factors Research

Administrative workload in general practice limits time for direct patient care. AI-assisted documentation has been proposed as a way to reduce the documentation burden, but evidence from routine primary care settings remains limited.

Woman in traditional Indian attire wearing a face mask, talking on a smartphone.
Theories, Models, and Frameworks in Human Factors

The ready-made garments (RMG) industry is a crucial component of Bangladesh’s economy, using over 4 million workers from low-income backgrounds who often neglect their health care needs. Historically, this sector has faced criticism for labor exploitation, unsafe working conditions, and rights violations, as highlighted by tragic accidents resulting in loss of life. Compliant factories may uphold higher labor standards, but many noncompliant factories expose workers to poor conditions, increasing health risks. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified vulnerabilities, leading to widespread factory closures and job losses, increased health risks, and left millions of workers without wages. Although the government attempted to provide some relief, it fell short in offering job security, social protection, health services, and emergency assistance. Limited access to technology due to digital literacy gaps further hinders these workers, who primarily use basic mobile phones for communication rather than accessing health or emergency services. Thus, there is a pressing need to develop a sustainable system that capitalizes on their existing technological familiarity.

Preprints Open for Peer Review

We are working in partnership with