Before proceeding to write your research paper, it is important to have an idea about the types of research articles you can submit to a journal and which type of research article works best for your research work. Not all journals publish all types of research articles. And the different types of journal articles carry their own value. Thus, it is a good idea to select your target journal before you finalize your paper, or if you have a target journal in mind, you should check whether it publishes the type of journal article you are intending to submit.
The different types of research articles published by academic journals may be categorized as below.
- Original research article: An original research article offers a detailed report of the techniques and methods used to conduct original research and their results. The results obtained are often through analytical and experimental studies with defined research questions and hypotheses. The findings of the study are mentioned in the discussion section with implications whether the findings have proved or disproved the hypothesis. These types of articles in journals may also contain survey/interview responses or detailed observations in place of wet-lab experiments.This type of journal article will have the basic IMRAD structure – Introduction, Methods, and Results and Discussion. Original research articles undergo a peer-reviewed process to ensure their quality before it is published. Usually, authors are asked to follow a dedicated format by the journals and are often asked to make revisions in response to the reviewer’s comments and suggestions. The article is expected to have scholarly excellence and communicate research with clarity. Original research articles are the most common and highly desirable type of research articles. These are considered as the primary literature. If a researcher aims to publish their key findings from their thesis work, an original research article will be the best choice1,2.
- Review article: Unlike original research articles, review articles are taken into consideration as secondary literature as they don’t present new statistics from the author’s work. This type of research article offers an important evaluation of published literature through comparison, analysis, pointing issues, or offering tips for future studies. Review articles are a vital part of academic writing as it identifies gaps in research, thereby providing explanation for new possible studies2.
There are 3 principal kinds of review articles:
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- Literature review – It provides detailed information about a published work that includes the methodology, research questions, and results of the published works on a specific topic.
- Systematic review – It Identifies and analyses criteria that answer specific research questions, thereby synthesizing findings qualitatively or quantitatively.
- Meta-analysis – This type of article in research combines and reports multiple scientific studies to compare their results and addresses some common research questions.
- Book review: This type of manuscript discusses recent publications and provides the readers a summary of the content and evaluation of the data from published scholarly books. The length and format of book reviews depend on the journals’ preferences2,3.
- A clinical study report details the procedures and outcomes of a clinical trial and is usually of the same length and structure as an original research article. When submitting a clinical study report, the author needs to include their clinical trial numbers and registration dates in the report.
- A medical case report, also known as a clinical case study, is a short report that details a single patient case. This type of scientific literature provides many new data in medicine by reporting detailed information on an individual patient’s symptoms, signs, diagnosis, and treatment.
- Commentaries and letters to editors: Letters to editors are anecdotal information, frequently short remarks on current public and political concerns connected to the journal’s research domain, or the readers’ replies and reactions to the literature published in the journal2.
Commentaries are similar to letters to editors, though slightly different as they might target a definite type of journal article published by the journal with detailed responses2. - Data notes are short notes that briefly explain research data in a repository. Data notes encourage the reuse of research data by providing information about why and how the data were created. These data can be linked to a research publication that includes an analysis of the provided dataset.
- Datasets are research data published in data repositories. It can be numerical datasets, data files or spreadsheets, images, and videos. Datasets allow people to cite the collected data and give credit to the author(s).
- Short communications also known as rapid communications are brief reports from an original study. This type of research article has a strict length/word count limit and some experimental data may not be included. This manuscript provides a quick and brief explanation of original research work and encourages further studies on a topic.
- Methodologies or Methods: These types of articles in research discuss new experimental methods or procedures and prove to be of special value to the domain of study. The aim of this type of research article is to minimize experimental errors and offer new ways to find results3.
Bibliography
- Types of journal articles, Author & reviewer tutorials, Springer. Available from: https://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/authorandreviewertutorials/writing-a-journal-manuscript/types-of-journal-articles/10285504
- Different types of research articles: A guide for early career researchers, Taylor & Francis, Author Services, Supporting Taylor & Francis authors. Available from: https://authorservices.taylorandfrancis.com/publishing-your-research/writing-your-paper/different-types-of-research-articles/
- Rene Tetzner, What Types of Articles Are Published in Academic and Scientific Journals?, Advice & Discussions on Preparing & Submitting Journal Articles for Publication, Proof-Reading-Services.com. Available from: https://www.proof-reading-service.com/en/blog/types-articles-published-academic-scientific-journals/
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