1. Scholarly
Publication
7 Article
types that journals publish
The types of publications are different in different fields. For
instance, a clinical trial is possible only in the field of medicine, while an
empirical study is more common in the field of social sciences. It is important
to remember that not all journals publish every kind of
article. Therefore, most journal publishers provide prospective authors
with accurate and specific guidelines for the different articles they
publish. Specifications about the types of articles published can be found
under the guidelines to authors section on a journal’s website. If you have a
target journal in mind, you should check whether it publishes the kind of manuscript,
you are planning to write.
Some of the possible types of scientific publications are:
1. Original research: These are detailed
studies reporting original research and are classified as primary literature.
They include hypothesis, background study, methods, results, interpretation of
findings, and a discussion of possible implications. Original research
articles are long, with the word limit ranging from 3000 to 6000 and can even
go up to 12,000 words for some journals. These require a
significant investment of time.
2. Review article: Review articles provide
a critical and constructive analysis of existing published literature in a
field, through summary, analysis, and comparison, often identifying specific
gaps or problems and providing recommendations for future research. These are
considered as secondary literature since they generally do not present new
data from the author's experimental work. Review articles can be of three
types, broadly speaking: literature reviews, systematic reviews, and
meta-analyses. Review articles can be of varying lengths depending upon the
journal and subject area. For narrative reviews or literature reviews, the
length could range anywhere between 8000 to 40,000 words
while systematic reviews are usually less than 10,000 words long.6 However,
some journals also publish shorter reviews, around 3000-5000 words long.
3. Clinical case study: Clinical case studies present the
details of real patient cases from medical or clinical practice. The cases
presented are usually those that contribute significantly to the existing
knowledge on the field. The study is expected to discuss the signs, symptoms,
diagnosis, and treatment of a disease. These are considered primary literature
and usually have a word count similar to that of an original article. Clinical
case studies require a lot of practical experience and may not be a suitable
publication format for early career researchers.
4. Clinical trial: Once again, specific to the
field of medicine, clinical trials describe the methodology, implementation,
and results of controlled studies, usually undertaken with large patient
groups. Clinical trial articles are also long, usually of about the same length
as an original research article. Clinical trials also require practical work
experience, as well as, high standards of ethics and reliability. Therefore,
this format is more useful for experienced researchers.
5. Perspective, opinion, and
commentary:
Perspective pieces are scholarly reviews of fundamental
concepts or prevalent ideas in a field. Usually these essays present a personal
point of view reviewing widespread notions pertaining to a field. A perspective
piece can be a review of a single concept or a few related concepts. These are
considered as secondary literature and are usually short articles, around 2000
words.2
Opinion articles present the author’s viewpoint on the
interpretation, analysis, or methods used in a particular study. It allows the
author to comment on the strength and weakness of a theory or hypothesis.
Opinion articles are usually based on constructive criticism and should be
backed by evidence. Such articles promote discussion on current issues
concerning science. These are also relatively short articles.
Commentaries are short articles usually around
1000-1,500 words long that draw attention to or present a criticism of a
previously published article, book, or report, explaining why it interested
them and how it might be illuminating for readers.
6. Conference papers
Conference papers can be an effective
way to try out new ideas, introduce your work to colleagues, and hone your
research questions. Presenting at a conference is a great opportunity for
gaining valuable feedback from a community of scholars and for increasing your
professional stature in your field. A conference paper is often both a written
document and an oral presentation. You may be asked to submit a copy of your
paper to a commentator before you present at the conference. Thus, your paper
should follow the conventions for academic papers and oral presentations.
7. Short Communications
Short Communications are short papers
that present original and significant material for rapid dissemination. For
example, a Short Communication may focus on a particular aspect of a problem or
a new finding that is expected to have a significant impact. Short articles
include, but are not limited to: discovery or development of new materials,
cutting-edge experiments and theory, novelty in simulation and modeling,
elucidation of mechanisms. As Short Communications are expected to have higher
than average impact on the field rather than report on incremental research,
they will receive prioritized and rapid publication. Short Communications are
limited to 3000 words and are not subdivided. The paper should contain an
abstract, main body and references, and contain no more than 6 figures or
tables, combined. The abstract is limited to 100 words.
2.
Digital Object Identifier (D.O.I)
A Digital
Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique, persistent identifying number for
a document published online. It appears on a document or in a bibliographic
citation as an alphanumeric string of characters that that acts as an active
link to the original digital object (journal article, report, etc.). Resolve a DOI Name
https://www.doi.org/index.html
3. Impact factor
(IF) or Impact Score (IS)
The impact score (IS), also
denoted as Journal impact score (JIS) or IF, of an academic
journal is a measure of the yearly average number of citations to recent
articles published in that journal. It is based on Scopus data.
Impact
Score is defined as the ratio of the number of citations a journal receives in
the latest two years (Including the year of calculation) to the number of
publications (published documents) of that Journal in those two years. It is
calculated as Cites / Doc. (2years).
It helps to
measure the relative importance of journals within particular areas and to
compare the journals within the same areas. The higher the JIS, the better it
is ranked. Typically, journals with more review articles or papers are able to
achieve higher JIS.
To find
Impact Score of any journal
https://www.resurchify.com/if/impact-factor-search
4. Order of authors on a scientific paper
The most common way authors are listed is
by relative contribution. The author who most substantially worked on the
draft article and the underlying research becomes the first author. The
others are ranked in descending order of contribution. For more information :
https://blog.wordvice.com/journal-article-author-order/