2. What's a journal?
A journal is a scholarly publication containing articles written by
researchers, professors and other experts. Journals focus on a specific
discipline or field of study. Unlike newspapers and magazines, journals
are intended for an academic or technical audience, not general readers.
3. Are peer reviewed
Have original research
Focus on current developments
Cite other works and have bibliographies
Can be in print, online or both
Journals are published on a regular basis (monthly, quarterly, etc.) and are sequentially
numbered.
Each copy is an issue; a set of issues makes a volume (usually each year is a separate
volume). Like newspapers and magazines, journals are also called periodicals or serials.
4. IMPACT FACTOR
Impact Factor - What is it?; Why use it?
The impact factor (IF) is a measure of the frequency with which the average article in a journal
has been cited in a particular year. It is used to measure the importance or rank of a journal by
calculating the times it's articles are cited.
How Impact Factor is Calculated?
The calculation is based on a two-year period and involves dividing the number of times articles were
cited by the number of articles that are citable.
Calculation of 2010 IF of a journal:
A = the number of times articles published in 2008 and 2009 were cited by indexed journals during 2010.
B = the total number of "citable items" published in 2008 and 2009.
A/B = 2010 impact factor
6. EDITORIAL
An editorial may be written by the editor or someone invited by the editor.
It serves many other purposes, including
• Critiques of original articles published in the same issue of the journal,
• Concise reviews of topics that do not warrant a full-length invited review, and
• Other topics on very recent developments that are deemed by the editor to be
important to readers of the journal and the community.
As there is typically a limited space in which to deliver its contents, the message
contained in the editorial needs to be well thought out and concisely delivered.
It should contain the correct sequence of the elements of critical argument, ideally
supported by evidence, and end with a clear conclusion
7. 1. Purposes of an editorial:
• Personal message from the editor to journal readers.
• Commentary on a published article in the same issue.
• Concise review on a topic of current interest (not warranting a full invited
review).
• Drawing readers’ attention to very recent developments or innovations.
• Commentary on non-scienti c topics, e.g. health policy, economics, law or ethics.
8. Contents of an editorial
• Raises an issue or poses a question.
• Suggests one or more possible answers.
• Provides available evidence supporting the possible answers.
• Assesses counter-evidence.
• Concludes with an answer.
9. REVIEW ARTICLE
In the medical sciences, the importance of review articles is rising. When clinicians want to update their
knowledge and generate guidelines about a topic, they frequently use reviews as a starting point.
The value of a review is associated with what has been done, what has been found and how these
findings are presented. Before asking ‘how,’ the question of ‘why’ is more important when starting to
write a review
The main and fundamental purpose of writing a review is to create a readable synthesis of the
best resources available in the literature for an important research question or a current area of
research.
Good review methods are critical because they provide an unbiased point of view for the reader
regarding the current literature.
An essential part of the review process is differentiating good research from bad and leaning on the
results of the better studies.
The ideal way to synthesize studies is to perform a meta-analysis.
In conclusion, when writing a review, it is best to clearly focus on fixed ideas, to use a procedural and
critical approach to the literature and to express your findings in an attractive way.
10. ORIGINAL ARTICLES
An article is considered original research if…
• It is the report of a study written by the researchers who actually did the study.
• The researchers describe their hypothesis or research question and the purpose of the study.
• The researchers detail their research methods.
• The results of the research are reported.
• The researchers interpret their results and discuss possible implications.
The major subdivisions that should be present in a research article:
◦ Literature Review or Background
◦ Methods
◦ Results
◦ Conclusions
◦ Discussion
11. CASE REPORTS
• Case reports are a time-honored, important, integral, and accepted part of the medical literature.
• “Case Report A report of a single case of a disease, usually with an unexpected presentation,
which typically describes the findings, clinical course, and prognosis of the case, often
accompanied by a review of other cases previously reported in the biomedical literature to put the
reported case in context.”
• Case reports may contain a demographic profile of the patient, but usually describe an unusual or
novel occurrence. Some case reports also contain a literature review of other reported cases
12. LETTER TO EDITOR
A letter to the editor provides a means of communication between the author of an article and the
reader of a journal, allowing continued dialog about journal content to take place.
A letter may provide new insight, make corrections, offer alternate theories, or request clarification
about content printed in the journal. By providing additional information, the evidence may be
strengthened.
This paper provides first time writers some insight into the process of writing a letter to the editor.
13. CITATION
A citation is text that points to the author of a work from whom you have gathered information
that you’ve included in your report.
A "citation" is the way you tell your readers that certain material in your work came from
another source. It also gives your readers the information necessary to find that source again,
including:
1 information about the author
2 the title of the work
3 the name and location of the company that published your copy of the source
4 the date your copy was published
5 the page numbers of the material you are borrowing
14. The National Library of Medicine(NLM) uses the ANSI/NISO Z39.29-2005 (R2010)
Bibliographic References standard as the basis for the format of MEDLINE/PubMed
citations to journal articles. The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) is a
non-profit association accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to
identify, develop, maintain and publish technical standards in the area of library and
information science
PubMed citations in the Summary (text) display format are compatible with ANSI/NISO
Z39.29-2005 (R2010). This format is useful for a list of references or a bibliography. Here is a
sample citation in the Summary (text) display format:
Freedman SB, Adler M, Seshadri R, Powell EC. Oral ondansetron for gastroenteritis in a
pediatric emergency department. N Engl J Med. 2006 Apr 20;354(16):1698-705. PubMed
PMID: 16625009.
The last element in the citation above identifies the unique identification number in PubMed
(PMID).
