Primary sources of information

whare the 3 types of primary medical literature?

1. scholarly journal articles

2. conference proceedings

3. abstracts

analytical observational study designs

• cohort 

• case-control 

• cross-sectional 

descriptive observational study designs

• case report 

• case series 

• cross-sectional 

list the hierarchy of primary literature from strongest to weakest

1. meta-analyses

2. RCTs

3. Observational studies 

4. case reports/series 

5. letter to editors 

what are the advantages of primary medical literature 

• more detailed → critique 

• up-to-date 

  • faster time to publication

  • source of information for secondary/primary sources

disadvantages for primary medical literature

• steeper learning curve 

• time consuming 

• relevant for more focused questions 

• not all created equal 

list the complete publication process

1. pre print 

2. manuscript submission 

3. peer review 

4. manuscript acceptance 

5. pre-proof 

6. in-press

7. final publication 

what is pre-print

• article submitted to pre print repository PRIOR to peer-review 

advantages of pre-print

• fastest way to disseminate article

  • open to public for review

limitations of pre-print

• NOT peer-reviewed

• may have significant changes upon peer review 

what is the peer review process

• structured process for expert review PRIOR to journal publication 

  • editors/expert scholars critically assess quality + scientific merit of article and research 

how to determine if a journal is “peer-reviewed”

1. “information for Authors” section

2. “about” section on scope of journal 

typical steps of peer review process

1. submission

2. editor review for eligibility

3. rejection or sent to peer reviewers

4. (if sent to peer reviewers) rejection or revisions

• authors can accept revisions/make changes or make rebuttal for why changes are NOT appropriate

5. (if sent to revisions) publication

T/F: reviewers are compensated and the process works best if not blinded

• false 

  • not compensated 

  • works best if not blinded 

elements of peer review

• reviewers selected by expertise 

• confidentiality 

• conflict of interest 

• timely and constructive response 

• comments to editor/author 

• editor decision 

what are some potential reasons for rejection

• not within scope of journal

• lack of innovation/novelty

• significant flaws in methodology 

• poor writing/organization 

limitations of peer review

• only as good as the assigned readers 

• will not detect multiple publications of the same article/research 

• will not detect scientific fraud or misconduct 

• influenced by how impressive the results are 

what is journal supplement

• series of publications focused on specific topic

• often a mix of original research and reviews 

limitations of journal supplement

• may not be peer-reviewwed

• funding

  • may be supported by industry

what should journals be

1. peer-reviewed

2. academic 

3. refereed 

4. professional 

what is impact factor? how to calculate it? 

• common quantitative marker of journal influence 

  • average # of times journal’s publsihed articles are referenced over period of time 

Impact factor assumes that more citations equals …. journal impact

• more 

  • may be inflated by # of changing articles published 

  • specialty journals = lower IF than general journal journals 

what are open-access journals

• publicly available

  • free to read, download, print

  • authors pay to publish

T/F: free access and open access are interchangeable

• false

what are predatory journals

• open-access journals that publish work without proper peer review, editing/publishing services

  • charges money

  • targets less experienced-authors

author who made the largest contribution and/or primary investigator

a) senior author

b) primary author

c) corresponding author

d) guest author

e) ghost author

b) primary author

senior member who served as driving force behind concept and provided guidance throughout the project 

a) senior author

b) primary author

c) corresponding author

d) guest author

e) ghost author

a) senior author

author who takes primary responsibility for communication with journal 

a) senior author

b) primary author

c) corresponding author

d) guest author

e) ghost author

c) corresponding author

author who did not meet criteria for authorship 

a) senior author

b) primary author

c) corresponding author

d) guest author

e) ghost author

d) guest author

written by unidentified group of researchers

a) senior author

b) primary author

c) corresponding author

d) guest author

e) ghost author

e) ghost author

T/F: abstract can help make clinical decisions because it would be fraud if misleading

• false 

  • should NOT be used to make clinical decisions 

  • often misleading 

retraction of articles

removal of published article from journal

retraction of articles reasons

1. fraud

2. error 

retraction of articles consequences

1. reputation- author, institution, journal 

2. loss