JMIR Publications this week released seven feature News and Perspectives articles covering how digital tools are transforming clinical research, public health readiness, health care institutions, and consumer choices.
Public Health Science By, With, and For the People
Citizen science—scientific research conducted by people with no formal scientific training—continues to grow in the digital age, reports science writer and JMIR correspondent Katie Cottingham in " Making Citizen Science Work for Everyone ". Speaking with researcher directors and citizen scientists alike on several citizen science initiatives using mobile apps, Cottingham parses out three kinds of citizen science: with-the-people, which recruits people to collect data; by-the-people, which involves community members in the research design process itself; and for-the-people, in which "participants provide information about themselves to researchers, and the interaction ends at the clinic door".
How To (Actually) Digitally Transform Your Organization
In the second op-ed in his series on digital transformation and innovation, " Transformation Before Innovation: Getting the Foundations Right Is Harder, More Important Work ", physician and professor Boon-How Chew lays out what health care institutions need for genuine, structural digital transformation: continuous on-the-job training for all staff; a work culture receptive to change; central governance; and sustainable, resilient infrastructure. When these conditions are not met, argues Chew, digital transformation attempts fail to take. He describes the advancement of AI technologies as double-edged: their effect of amplifying patterns they learn from may accelerate positive outcomes and workflows, if the data and processes are high-quality to begin with—if not, this effect can instead exacerbate systemic problems. Chew advises clinicians and health administrators to build underlying adaptability and organizational health into their institutions to facilitate success.
Investigating the Validity of the Readiness Score
Many people increasingly turn to their wearables—and the wearables' interpretations of their vital signs—for fitness guidance. Should they? In " Can Your Fitness Tracker Actually Predict an Injury? ", JMIR Correspondent and certified personal trainer Anna Zucker investigates the evidence behind the claims. Speaking with two physical therapists on the "readiness score"—a broad estimation of a user's capacity to take on challenging physical activity, based a number of wearable-collected metrics like heart rate variability, sleep time and quality, and resting heart rate—as well as the individual metrics themselves, Zucker discusses how wearable scores can be helpful, but not definitive, in understanding sports injuries in a clinical context: "While wearable data offer extra clues for diagnosis and treatment, pain and injury can be subjective."
The AI Models Accelerating Rare Disease Diagnosis
In " How AI Is Speeding Up the Diagnostic Odyssey for Rare Diseases ", science journalist and JMIR correspondent Simon Spichak reports on AI initiatives at the Boston Children's Hospital (BCH) and Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) that have begun to help diagnose rare diseases. CHEO's ThinkRare algorithm, which scans electronic health records and flags possible rare diseases, "has already prompted genetic sequencing and follow-up in a handful of patients, leading to 21 new rare disease diagnoses and a 70% success rate so far". BCH's reasoning model works by reviewing clinical and genomic data in individual unsolved cases and suggesting possible disease candidates, speeding up the investigative process significantly. While Spichak notes the risk of clinicians failing to catch errors produced by these models, further research and model validation, as well as future initiatives to scale their use, have the potential to transform diagnosis and care for patients with rare diseases.
Is AI the Future of Peer Review?
Simon Spichak takes a close look at AI-driven research paper review tools in his second News and Perspectives article this week: " Can AI Judge Study Quality? Researchers Weigh In ". One of these tools, QED Science, controversially released a ranking of what it claimed to be the top 1% of preprints from 2025, prompting critique. According to Spichak, QED Science cofounder Oded Rechavi "believes AI could revolutionize peer review and eliminate some of the systemic biases"—but other sources are skeptical, saying that human expertise can't be replaced.
FemTech Initiative Bridging Gaps in Women's Health Research
Continuing her series on FemTech—the use of digital technologies to further women's health care—board-certified emergency medicine physician Jenny Castillo Cato speaks with Dr. Noémie Elhadad, endometriosis researcher and founder of the Citizen Endo project for " The Phendo Project: How FemTech Is Advancing Endometriosis Research and Women's Health ". Citizen Endo collects data from its Phendo app, which allows users to "track symptoms, document self-management strategies, and securely share their health histories with researchers," according to Cato. This initiative stands in contrast with the broader research landscape, which typically underfunds research into conditions that disproportionately affect women, leading to disparities in evidence-based women's health care. FemTech has the potential to bridge this gap, Cato argues, but funding must catch up.
Tackling Antifungal Resistance with Digital Surveillance
Fungal disease and antifungal resistance are emerging as public health threats, affecting immunocompromised patients in particular—but limited research and surveillance limits our ability to respond. Science journalist Sara Novak covers two tools looking to change this in " New WHO Blueprint and Digital Platform Look to Strengthen Surveillance of Fungal Disease and Antifungal Resistance ": the World Health Organization's June 2026 blueprint strengthening responses to fungal disease and antifungal resistance—intended for national health services to help systematize the often-fragmented antifungal response—and the Design Thinking Framework, and Australian digital platform which surveils the spread of fungal disease. The Design Thinking Framework "extracts information from electronic medical records … using AI that's trained to detect episodes of fungal disease even when it's not explicitly mentioned," writes Novak.
About JMIR Publications News and Perspectives
JMIR Publications is a leading open access publisher of digital health research. The News and Perspectives section is the newest addition to its portfolio, established to bring the rigor and integrity of academic publishing to scientific journalism. The section features well-researched, expert-driven content from the Scientific News Editor, Kayleigh-Ann Clegg, PhD, and a network of specialist JMIR Publications Correspondents to keep the digital health community informed, inspired, and ahead of the curve.
About JMIR Publications
JMIR Publications is a leading open access publisher of digital health research and a champion of open science. With a focus on author advocacy and research amplification, JMIR Publications partners with researchers to advance their careers and maximize the impact of their work. As a technology organization with publishing at its core, we provide innovative tools and resources that go beyond traditional publishing, supporting researchers at every step of the dissemination process. Our portfolio features a range of peer-reviewed journals, including the renowned Journal of Medical Internet Research.
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