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JMIR Serious Games

A multidisciplinary journal on gaming and gamification including simulation and immersive virtual reality for health education/promotion, teaching, medicine, rehabilitation, and social change.

Editor-in-Chief:

Amy Shirong Lu, PhD, Associate Professor, Northeastern University, Boston, USA


Impact Factor 4.1 More information about Impact Factor CiteScore 8.6 More information about CiteScore

JMIR Serious Games (JSG, ISSN 2291-9279; Impact Factor 4.1) is a multidisciplinary journal devoted to computer, web, virtual reality, mobile applications, and other emerging technologies that incorporate elements of gaming, gamification or novel hardware platforms such as virtual reality devices or wearables. The journal focuses on the use of this technology to solve serious problems such as health behavior change, physical exercise promotion (exergaming), medical rehabilitation, diagnosis and treatment of psychological/psychiatric disorders, medical education, health promotion, teaching and education (game-based learning), and social change. JSG also invites commentary and research in the fields of video game violence and video game addiction.

The journal is indexed in PubMedPubMed CentralDOAJScopusSCIE (Clarivate), CABI and PsycINFO.

While JMIR Serious Games maintains a strong focus on health, the journal also aims to highlight research exploring serious games in health-adjacent and other interdisciplinary contexts, including but not limited to military, education, industry, and workplace applications.

JMIR Serious Games received a Journal Impact Factor of 4.1 (ranked Q1 #26/185 journals in the category Health Care Sciences & Services; Q1 Public, Environmental & Occupational Health #50/419, Journal Citation Reports 2025 from Clarivate).

JMIR Serious Games received a Scopus CiteScore of 8.6 (2024), placing it in the 97th percentile (#4 of 165) as a Q1 journal in the field of Rehabilitation.

Recent Articles

Boy and woman playing video games on a laptop, with game visuals on screen.
Serious Games for Health and Medicine

Strabismus, commonly known as crossed eyes, is a condition characterized by the misalignment of the eyes, leading to impaired binocular vision and depth perception. Traditional management often involves occlusion therapy, which can be hindered by poor compliance. Video game therapy has emerged as a promising adjunct to traditional treatments, potentially improving compliance and directly stimulating visual and cognitive functions.

Nurses using VR headset and tablet for medical training
Serious Games for Education

Interprofessional education (IPE) is essential for developing teamwork and communication skills in health care training. Building interprofessional competency involves acquiring knowledge, cultivating readiness to engage in teamwork, and fostering effective collaboration. However, challenges include geographical barriers and faculty resistance that can hinder progress. Innovative solutions to enhance engagement and collaboration include serious games played using immersive virtual reality (IVR) and web-based platforms. Despite their potential, research comparing the effectiveness of these approaches for IPE remains limited.

Elderly couple experiencing virtual reality with VR headset and cane
Reviews

Perioperative stress hinders patient recovery and poses significant challenges for clinical nursing. It triggers a vicious cycle of negative psychological emotions and adverse physiological stress responses. Immersive virtual reality (VR), an innovative nonpharmacological intervention, has been gradually incorporated into perioperative care, showing promise in alleviating patient stress. However, comprehensive evaluations of its multidimensional efficacy remain lacking.

Man wearing VR headset, smiling and looking up in a living room
Games for Cognitive Assessment

Cognitive impairment is a core and enduring deficit in schizophrenia, severely affecting social functioning and quality of life. Traditional assessments such as the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery face limitations in validity and engagement. Virtual reality (VR) serious games may offer an immersive alternative, and machine learning (ML) can uncover complex behavioral patterns. However, integrating VR-based assessment with ML for discriminating stable-phase schizophrenia remains unexplored.

First-person view of a street with a soldier in the distance, urban warfare game.
Games for Cognitive Assessment

The relationship between video game experience and cognitive plasticity remains a central focus of research, particularly given its potential applications in clinical rehabilitation. Although both first-person shooter (FPS) and multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games have been shown to enhance cognitive functions, the specific associations between the cognitive effects of different game genres and brain network structure remain unclear.

Young girl blowing bubbles with a toy bubble machine
Serious Games for Health and Medicine

Asthma is a prevalent chronic respiratory condition among children worldwide. Inhalation therapy is the primary treatment method, but children often make errors in its use and exhibit poor adherence, which impacts treatment effectiveness. Therefore, interventions to improve inhalation techniques and enhance adherence are urgently needed.

Young woman with pink hair playing video games on a laptop with headphones and popcorn
Serious Games for Health and Medicine

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is increasingly prevalent among adolescents. Although socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP) and resilience are both related to IGD, longitudinal evidence on their temporal relationships and underlying mechanisms remains limited.

Father and son playing video games together on a couch, bonding over family fun.
Game Addiction and Other Unintended Consequences

Parental factors are known determinants of internet gaming disorder (IGD) among adolescents. However, the associations between gaming-specific parental factors (eg, parental gaming frequency and parental invitations for cogaming) and IGD have been less investigated, and relevant longitudinal evidence is lacking to inform effective IGD interventions.

Young girl wearing VR headset in a modern living room
Games for Rehabilitation

For children with chronic conditions affecting physical health and who require long-term care, the use of a connected treadmill for gait training as part of a home program can be a way to promote motivation in rehabilitation. Furthermore, the device must be evaluated by all user groups to ensure that its development best meets the rehabilitation needs of children.

Young man with headphones playing mobile game on phone with tablet and keyboard
Game Addiction and Other Unintended Consequences

Problematic gaming and internet gaming disorder (IGD) symptoms are prevalent in adolescence, yet the longitudinal interplay between physical activity (PA), loneliness, and IGD symptoms, as well as potential sexual differences, remains unclear.

Doctor and patient reviewing medical information on a tablet
Serious Games for Health and Medicine

Few game-based digital mental health interventions have been adopted in clinical practice, where mental health professionals (MHPs) play a critical role in the uptake of new technologies. Existing evidence suggests that MHPs’ views on game-based interventions and entertainment video games are mixed, reflecting broader tensions surrounding video games, which are perceived as both harmful and beneficial. However, the underlying reasons for these perceptions have remained unclear, even though they may substantially influence MHPs’ willingness to adopt or refuse new clinical solutions.

Senior couple stretching in a gym, promoting healthy aging and fitness
Game Development

Falls cause injury and mortality among older adults, necessitating reliable, scalable, engaging balance assessment tools to use in community settings. Traditional clinician-administered assessments like the Brief Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Brief-BESTest) are limited by subjectivity and accessibility constraints. Computer vision–based digitalization combined with gamification may address these limitations; yet, validation evidence remains limited.

Preprints Open for Peer Review

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