Infoway partners with publisher of health research

TORONTO – Canada Health Infoway is pleased to announce its partnership with JMIR Publications to publish evidence-based research that provides critical insights into Canada’s digital health landscape. The alliance will help to inform policy decisions, accelerate the adoption of digital health, and fuel innovation.

JMIR Publications is a leading scholarly publisher of more than 30 academic digital health journal titles, such as the Journal of Medical Internet Research, JMIR mHealth and uHealth, and JMIR Medical Informatics, and is disseminating cutting-edge research in this burgeoning field.

The JMIR Infoway e-collection spans several journals and includes peer-reviewed articles co-authored by Infoway, as well as Infoway-funded research by other Canadian digital health organizations, academics, and digital health leaders in the provinces and territories. The most recent article in the collection focuses on the timely topic of virtual care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This research about Canada’s experience with virtual care since the onset of the pandemic offers essential insights about the challenges and opportunities with this model of care,” said Simon Hagens (pictured), senior director of performance analytics at Infoway. “This evidence will be valuable to policy makers as they determine how to use or expand virtual care after the pandemic, so we are proud to partner with JMIR to make it widely available.”

Dr. Ramana Appireddy agrees. He is a neurologist in Kingston, Ontario, and a co-author of the article titled “Patient Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Use of Virtual Care.”

“There is tremendous value in this kind of research, and in having it validated through peer review,” he said. “But we also need to ensure that policy makers can access it, so publishing it in the highly respected Journal of Medical Internet Research is an excellent way to do that.”

“To allow for seamless publication processes, we are increasingly signing institutional membership agreements with universities, libraries, funders, and other organizations, who are supportive of our Open Access and Open Science publishing model,” said Dr. Gunther Eysenbach, a health informatics professor at the University of Victoria and publisher at JMIR Publications. “The collaboration with Infoway is exactly the kind of partnership we want to forge to disseminate high-quality science information.”

The Infoway e-collection also includes peer-reviewed articles about a wide range of other digital health topics such as sex and gender in electronic health records, the value of citizen access to digital health services, and web-based mental health services.

“With the help of researchers from across Canada, we are building a strong evidence base about the value, benefits, challenges and opportunities in digital health,” Hagens said. “The pandemic has underscored the importance of this research and its role in improving health outcomes for Canadians, so we look forward to growing our relationship with JMIR.”

The partnership between JMIR Publications and Canada Health Infoway is an excellent example of a Canadian-based collaboration that supports leading-edge research, quality publishing and peer review, and knowledge translation and dissemination for global impact.

About Canada Health Infoway
Infoway helps to improve the health of Canadians by working with partners to accelerate the development, adoption, and effective use of digital health across Canada. Through our investments, we help deliver better quality and access to care and more efficient delivery of health services for patients and clinicians. Infoway is an independent, not-for-profit organization funded by the federal government. Visit www.infoway-inforoute.ca.

About JMIR Publications
JMIR Publications is a leading, born-digital open-access publisher of academic journals and other innovative scientific communication products that focus on medicine, health and technology. Its flagship journal, the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is the leading digital health journal globally in terms of quality/visibility in the medical informatics category and is the largest journal in the field. The journal focuses on emerging technologies, medical devices, apps, engineering, telehealth, and informatics applications for patient education, disease prevention, population health and clinical care, and is read by clinicians, allied health professionals, informal caregivers, and patients. Visit www.jmirpublications.com.