JMIR Mental Health seeks pioneering studies that move beyond feasibility, exploring how AI-powered therapy bots and virtual companions transform mental healthcare, reveal their clinical potential, and address ethical challenges—submissions open until October 31, 2025.
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JMIR Publications invites submissions to a new theme issue titled "AI-Powered Therapy Bots and Virtual Companions" in its open-access journal JMIR Mental Health (2024 Impact Factor 4.8). The premier, peer-reviewed journal is indexed in PubMed Central and PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, Sherpa/Romeo, DOAJ, EBSCO/EBSCO Essentials, SCIE, PsycINFO, and CABI.
Artificial intelligence (AI)–driven mental health tools, including chatbots, avatars, and virtual agents, have gained traction for their accessibility and scalability. However, most studies to date have focused on feasibility and acceptability. This theme issue seeks to spotlight rigorous, critical, and forward-looking research that explores how and why these tools work, their limitations, and their place within broader care models.
The journal is especially interested in submissions that tackle questions such as:
- Are therapy bots more effective than digital placebos or attention controls?
- What constitutes meaningful and sustained engagement, and how should it be measured?
- What are the unintended consequences, risks, or ethical implications of using AI companions for mental health?
- How do these tools perform across diverse populations, diagnoses, and contexts?
- What clinical or therapeutic mechanisms are actually at play?
Contributors are encouraged to submit their work by October 31, 2025. All submissions will undergo a rigorous peer-review process, and accepted articles will be published in the theme issue "AI-Powered Therapy Bots and Virtual Companions in Digital Mental Health."
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