What is a Scientific Research Paper?

Reading a research article or research paper is different than reading about science in a newspaper, online journal or blog. A research article is written in technical language and jargon that is intended for trained scientists, not the general public. The purpose of a research article is to convey new discoveries to other scientists and take them along the process of their discovery, including experimental design, data analysis and conclusions. 

Here is an example of a research article on LGS. Once you know the title, this article can be found online through a simple Google search. We will cover where to find research articles in the next section.

Webpage View

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There are a few things that’s important to know from this initial look

Title of the article: 

• Evolution and course of early life developmental encephalopathic epilepsies: Focus on Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome
• Introduction to use of an acute seizure action plan for seizure clusters and guidance for implementation

Type of article:

• Full-length original research article: an original research article that describes a complete scientific study
• Review article: a literature review of a particular topic, where the authors summarizes other previously published “full-length original research articles”, which is a good place to start learning a particular topic.
• Special issue article: part of a special issue of this journal, focused on a particular topic, such as LGS. All of the articles included in this special issue will be on LGS.

Access:

• Open access, meaning this article is freely available for download for the full text, 
• For those that are not, the abstract will be available for viewing. To view the full text of a restricted paper, you may email the author directly to receive an electronic copy for free. 

Title of journal: 

• Epilepsia, these can be general like Nature or Science, or can be specific, like Epilepsia. The more specific the title, the more specific the type of article is included.

Publication date:

• The date of publication

Author List and Affiliation:

• The order of author names in academic articles often reflects the contributions and roles of each author. In this context, Anne Berg is listed as the first author, indicating her significant contribution to the study. Susan Levy, the second author, also contributed to the research, albeit to a lesser extent than the first author. Francine Testa, listed as the final author, is the principal investigator who supervised the entire study. The corresponding author is responsible for addressing any inquiries, concerns, or comments regarding the study and can be contacted via email.

Most journals have a similar layout for published research articles, including these sections: Abstract/Summary, Introduction, Results, Materials and Methods, and Conclusion. There are small deviations to this layout, but the contents are all the same.

Abstract/Summary

The Abstract or Summary is a brief summary of the research project, including why it was done, what was discovered and the importance of the findings.

This “Abstract/Summary” section may be further broken down into subsections, it is not usually the case for most other journals. There is also a “Keywords” section which is very useful in navigating what the research article is about.

Introduction

This section includes all the necessary background information that led to the study, including what is known, and what is the current gap in knowledge. This section usually accounts for 20% of a journal article.

Methods

A detailed description of how the experiments were carried out, so other researchers may perform the same experiments independently. This section would also include how many human subjects were included in this study, and where the participants were recruited. 

Result

The results of the study can be presented in figures/illustrations, tables and graphs, along with a detailed description of each. The result sections are further divided into subsections, and the subsection headings highlight a key finding.

There are often figures and tables that facilitate the understanding of the findings. Figures are graphical representations of the findings, and these figures will be discussed in greater detail in the result section. There is a figure legend next to each figure to give a summary of the figure, explain the abbreviations and color schemes.

Discussion

The Discussion section will make connections to previous research, interpret the meaning of the results presented answering the questions/gap in knowledge highlighted in “Introduction”.

It is often in the very last paragraph of the “Discussion” section that summarizes the paper and highlights future studies.

Contributions: this section lists the precise contribution of each author, ie which experiments they performed individually.

Funding Sources: this section lists where the authors received financial support from, whether it be NIH or patient advocacy groups.

Acknowledgements: this section acknowledges contributions to the study, including sharing reagents, critiquing the writing, and acknowledging the patients and families who participated in the study.

Disclosures: authors declare potential conflicts of interest, including paid consultant works.

Supplemental Materials: This section includes extra information that is relevant to the paper, including methods, data, or results. These are relevant to the study but are included in the “Supplemental” section due to word limits. Supplemental materials usually need to be downloaded separately from the main text.

References: A list of references of other papers or information sources that support information discussed in the manuscript.