Categoriesof Journal Submissions

Barbara Gastel, MD, MPHTexas A&M University

Knowledge Community Editor, AuthorAID

Overview:Some Common “Metacategories”

• Reports of original research• Other articles presenting new information• Review articles• Opinion pieces• News articles and feature articles• Other

Reports of Original Research

• The core of most journals• Subcategories– Full-length reports of research

• Can have different names in different journals• Examples of names: “Articles”, “Original Articles”, “Original

Contributions,” “Reports”, “Research”– Brief reports of research

• Sometimes brief because the research is preliminary , less extensive, or less important

• Examples of names: “Brief Communication”, “Research Letter”

Other ArticlesPresenting New Information

• Examples– Case reports– Descriptions of new methods– Program descriptions

• Sometimes included in a single category such as “Dispatches”

• Sometimes appear in separate categories

Review Articles

• Summarize and integrate the research published on a given topic

• Can include– traditional review articles– systematic review articles– meta-analyses

• In some journals: different categories for review articles on different types of subjects

Opinion Pieces

• Include such items as– Editorials– Sounding boards– Book (and other media) reviews– Most letters to the editor

• Present evidence-based opinion• Can have different names

News Articles and Feature Articles• Included in some journals• Can be by staff members, freelance journalists, or

volunteers• Examples of topics:– Conferences– Awards – Trends– Policy– Controversies– People (some article types: profiles, obituaries)

Other

• Personal essays—for example, in the section “A Piece of My Mind” in JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association

• Essays about cover art• Poems• Photos or other images of professional or

other interest• Other

A Suggestion:

For ideas of what article categories to include and what to call them,

look at other journals.

Thank you!