Scientific information : Primary – Secondary Literature
Scientific information evolves through a continuous process of communication among scientists. It develops in cycles moving from ideas, through research that tests the ideas, to publications reporting the results, first in the primary literature and later in the secondary and, if significant enough, in the tertiary literature.
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Types of Scientific Scholarly Articles:
You will encounter many types of articles and it is important to distinguish between these different categories of scholarly literature.
PRIMARY RESEARCH ARTICLE:
A primary research article describes an original research study that aims to gain new knowledge on a topic through direct or indirect observation and research and reports on results. These include quantitative or qualitative data and analysis. In science, a primary article will often include the following sections: Abstract; Introduction, Methods/Materials, Results, and Discussion (often called IMRD) plus References.
Peer-reviewed research papers are published in scholarly journals/periodicals and directed toward a scientific audience. Often in journal sections headed Research Articles. Examples: Nature, Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Biological Sciences
They may be accompanied in such journals by Research Reports, Research Letters which are not peer-reviewed
REVIEW ARTICLE:
In the scientific literature, this type of article provides a synthesis of existing research on a particular topic. Secondary Articles will summarize & interpret primary research. They may be termed as Literature Reviews because they will look at many primary articles and give an overview of the primary literature on a topic. These are useful when you want to get an idea of a body of research that you are not yet familiar with, and are a good sources for citations of primary articles
They do NOT contain an experiment, study, or research. If you are unsure, read the abstract (summary) of the article. Often the abstract will contain the word review or summary as a clue. Some reviews may include an introduction and methodology section to explain the nature of the review activity
Appear in peer-reviewed journals. Specific journals publish mainly review articles, such as Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, and Trends in Ecology and Evolution
There are different types of reviews see the table below for the features, pros and cons and examples for:
Reviews (Narrative) | Systematic Reviews | Meta-analyses
PEER-REVIEWED:
Refers to articles that have undergone a rigorous review process by peers/experts in their discipline, often including revisions to the original manuscript, before publication in a scholarly journal. Primary research articles in reputable life science journals are always peer-reviewed. Reviews are often peer-reviewed as well.
Type of Source | Pros | Cons | Examples |
Journal Articles | |||
Reviews (Narrative) |
Provide summaries of what is known on specific topics. Aim may vary from scoping ie. identifying nature and extent of research to a full exhaustive literature search, appraisal and synthesis of research evidence to produce a best evidence synthesis. Often tabular with narrative commentary |
Methodology used in compiling the summaries may not be scientific or systematic or, not included at all. No details of study inclusion/exclusion Susceptible to selection of study or publication bias. |
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Systematic Reviews |
Provide systematically derived summaries of research studies on specific topics. Employ strict methods when searching for, screening, critically appraising and synthesizing studies to maximise reliability, transparency, repeatability and objectivity Details of study inclusion/exclusion criteria. Studies included are appraised for quality. Use defined search strategies in multiple academic databases and by searching for grey literature where appropriate |
Addresses a single research question Requires some research to already have been done on the research question Resource- intensive
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Meta-analyses |
Provide systematically derived summaries of research studies on specific topics and applies statistical methods of analyses. "Study of studies" combining results from multiple studies Use defined search strategies in multiple academic databases, but not grey literature Graphical, tabular, narrative commentary |
Requires considerable amounts of research to have already been done on the specific research question Characterizes studies by quantitative methods. Some quality assessment of studies. |
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Research Reports/Articles |
Describes original research studies and reports on results | Can be time-consuming to read, and interpret. |
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