3. HISTORY
The earliest references to a journal club was found in
a book of memoirs and letters by Sir James Paget, a
British surgeon who describes a group at St.
Bartholomew’s Hospital in London in the mid-19th
century as (a kind of club) a small room over a
baker’s shop near the hospital-gate where they would
sit and read the journals. (1)
The first organized journal club is credited by Sir
William Osler in Montreal, Canada, in 1857.(1)
4. DEFINITION
A journal club is an educational meeting in which a
group of individuals
discuss published articles,
to keep themselves abreast of new knowledge,
promoting in them the awareness of current
research findings,
teaching them to critique and appraise research
encourage them to utilize research in evidence
based practice of the speciality.
5. AIMS
• Keeping up-to -date with the recently published literature
To improve the knowledge of research methodology and
biostatistics.
To develop abilities to critically analyze the research
article.
Help people to learn and improve critical appraisal skills.
To provide improvement for clinical practice by
increasing exposure to the latest research findings.
To learn about the scientific method and its application to
solve a variety of current problems.
6. APPLICABLE IN
Medical field
Investment finance sector
Researches
Educational sector
Law sector
8. FORMATS
Traditional Journal Club: 1 trainee presents the previously selected articles,
the attendees discuss the results and findings. Senior faculty give comments
mainly based on their expertise and clinical experience.
Evidence Based Journal Club: papers are chosen based on clinical questions
arising from clinical practice.
(COMAPARISON: Packard K, Herink M, Lenz TL. Comparison of Traditional Versus
Evidence-Based Journal Club Formats. Inov Pharm. 2011;2(1): Article 27.
http://pubs.lib.umn.edu/innovations/vol2/iss1/4)
9. Flipped Journal Club: this format requests senior faculty to select an important
clinical topic and related landmark article, and trainees to select an accompanying
background paper and social media piece, while also preparing an in- depth
discussion in advance.
(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29383052/)
Virtual Journal Club: Unfortunately, attending meetings regularly is often a
challenge for nurses, and relatively few have the knowledge and expertise to
adequately critique research articles. One way to bridge the limitations of accessibility
and limited research expertise of journal club members is to establish a virtual journal
club.
(https://www.researchgate.net/journal/1538-
9049_Journal_for_nurses_in_staff_development_JNSD_official_journal_of_the_National_Nursing_
Staff_Development_Organization)
10. Formats
of a
journal
club
Specific aim Advantages Disadvantages
1.Traditional
format
Keep up-to-
date with recent
literature
No need to prepare in
advance for the attendees
Quality of
selected articles is
inconsistent;
audience might be
ill prepared and
disengaged
Grasp clinical updates in
an efficient way
Table. Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Formats of a Journal Club
11. Formats of a
journal club
Specific
aim
Advantages Disadvantages
2.Evidence-
based format
Improve
critique
skills
Promote
critical
appraisal skills
and research
skills
Biostatistical
and
methodological
knowledge is
needed3.Flipped
format
Engage all
learners
Provide in-
depth
Spend more
time on
organizing and
preparingAll learners
are involved
12. Formats of a
journal club
Specific
aim
Advantages Disadvantages
2.Evidence-
based format
Improve
critique
skills
Promote
critical
appraisal skills
and research
skills
Biostatistical
and
methodological
knowledge is
needed3.Flipped
format
Engage all
learners
Provide in-
depth
Spend more
time on
organizing and
preparingAll learners
are involved
13. Conducting a journal club session
ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE HORSE SHOE SHAPED
14.
15. JOURNAL CLUB SESSION CONTD…..
Presenter initiates and lead the discussion.
Moderator solicit the comments from participating to
stimulation discussion when they are not forthcoming.
Director should direct the session and break impass when
confronted by one.
An attempt should be made by the members to reach consensus
especially in the wake of divergent opinions.
16. Journal Club articles should include
Title
Author and place of work
Introduction
Material
Methods
Results
Discussion
What questions to ask?
General rules
17. A journal club could be structured through a series of
questions.
Why was this article or why were these articles chosen?
What question(s) were addressed in the article?
What was the main aim and hypothesis?
How was the study performed?
Were the methods sound?
18. What are the results?
How to interpret these results?
How do the presented results and conclusions fit into the
context of the current literature?
Will the results change current practice?
What other studies need to be conducted to elucidate the
question(s) in the future?
19.
20. JOURNALS INITIATING A JOURNAL CLUB
The American Journal of Critical Care has the AJCC Journal Club and
each issue of the journal featured an AJCC Journal Club article with a
website link
PRS has too initiated a journal club. With each issue of PRS one can read
3 discussion-worthy articles, each paired with classic papers and videos.
Lancet
New England Journal of Medicine
21. INDIAN JOURNALS
Indian Journal Of Medical Science
AIIMS
Apollo Hospital Educational And Research Foundation
PGIMER
Indian Journal Of Pediatrics
Indian Journal of Anesthesia
22. PROVING THE IMPACT OF JOURNAL CLUBS
The first randomised controlled trial looking at the impact of journal clubs on
knowledge and the critical appraisal was done in 1988. Medical interns received
either journal club teaching or a series of seminars.
Nearly 86% of the journal club group reported improvements in their reading habits
compared with 0% in the control group.
(Linzer M, Brown JT, Frazier LM, DeLong ER, Siegel WC. Impact of a medical journal
club on house-staff reading habits, knowledge, and critical appraisal skills. A
randomized control trial. JAMA. 1988;260:2537–41. [PubMed] [Google Scholar])