Types of journal articles
Depending on the publisher, there are many types of articles that are included in any given journal.
Some examples include:
- Research articles
- Short reports
- Review articles
- Opinions
- Correspondence
As a graduate students, you will find yourself primarily consulting original research articles and review articles. Read more about each of these types of articles below.
A Research Article (sometimes called an Original Research Article, Research, or simply Article) contains research conducted by the authors, typically in the lab or in the field.
How to identify a research article:
Research articles follow the general format of:
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Method
- Discussion
- Conclusion
- References
Look for trigger words in the Abstract, such as those listed below, which are more likely to indicate that the authors conducted their own, original research:
- "We sampled..."
- "We collected..."
- "We show..."
- "We have identified..."
Here's an example of an original research article, with indicators highlighted:
- "Research Paper"
- "...two cDNAs ... were identified and cloned..."
A Review Article summarizes the research that has been done on a particular topic and discusses future directions for research in this area.
Finding a few review articles in your research area, especially when you are starting out in your field, can be extremely valuable. The author of the review article is already an expert in the field, and he or she has organized and summarized the content, which allows you to quickly locate relevant articles for your own research.
How to identify a review article:
Review articles typically do not follow the format of a Research Article (Abstract, Introduction, Method, Discussion, Conclusion, References), although they can take on a similar structure. Review articles may have subheadings organized by topic, and there may be a section entitled Future Research at the end of the article.
Look for trigger words in the Abstract, such as those listed below, which are more likely to indicate a review article:
- "We review..."
- "The objectives of this review are..."
- "This study reviews..."
- "In this review..."
- "We conducted a meta-analysis of..."
In article databases, look for the option to limit your results to review articles. Here's how to do this in Biosis Previews:
In PubMed, the option to limit to review articles is on the top left of your search results page.
Here's an example of a review article, with indicators highlighted:
- Review
- "We conducted a systematic literature search..."
