Sources of journal paper content -6 Types of articles for Journal Publication

Sources of journal paper content -6 Types of articles for Journal Publication

What type of articles can be published in an academic journal? Many types of articles can be published in an academic and scientific journals, but before we scratch that surface, it would be befitting to begin from an apparent starting line. What is an academic journal? What purpose does it serve?

An academic journal is a peer-reviewed publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published.

An academic journal is a medium for addressing and overhauling novel research and critique of existing research. Most of its composition is mostly presented as original research, review articles, and book reviews. The term academic is strictly refined for only academic-based principles. Is that clear? Let’s proceed to the specific publishable contents in an academic journal.

1. Original articles

Original articles or articles originally written are well-sourced revisions reporting original research. They are often classified as primary literature. Original articles include a hypothesis, background study, results, methods, deliberation of a potential cause, and elucidation of a specific finding.

As a writer, you can achieve this type of article by engaging in copious research for authentic factors defining your thesis; these articles are usually as long as the number of pages 3000 words can fit, and that’s just the minimum word count, in some cases, its word counts can read up to 6000 or even 12,000.

2. Review the article

In writing a review article for publication, you are expected to give a literal and constructive analysis of an already existing publication in a spectrum. Achieving this can be by key means of summary, comparison, and plain analysis.

This beam with expectancy to frequently pinpoint gaps, errors, and problems and indorse possible solutions to those word and logic faults for future research. This is often considered subsidiary or secondary literature since they aren’t hinged on uncloaking new data from empirical work. Review articles are further broken down into 3 major denominations

• Literature reviews
• Meta-analyses
• Systematic review

Unlike the original articles that signpost an absolute length, the length of review articles are sometimes erratic depending on their demand and subject.  For example, the literature review that requires a narrative type of communication is expected to range between 8000-40,000, which differs from a systematic review that is usually lesser in word counts, anything

below 10,000 is acceptable; nonetheless, there are journals that do publish review articles with lesser words like I indicated earlier, it all depends on the demand and subject.

3.       Perspective, opinion, and commentary

These unambiguous types of articles are intellectual reviews of basic theories or established notions in a field.  These articles are pivotal to personal opinions and concrete individual sentiments; they are essays summarizing a personal viewpoint and how they perceive concepts pertaining to a particular reach.

A perspective piece is required to be originally written as it deals with basically a singular individual positioned in front of a blank piece of paper surrounded by his own 2 cents about a thorn in the flesh.

You aren’t expected to dub, place sentences by means of conjecture, or align words by order of an apriori. These articles are likewise considered secondary pieces of literature as they review already existing concepts they are usually brief, holding a rather uncelebrated figure of 2000 words.

Do not make the mistake of concluding that all three terms aren’t summarized with an umbrella definitive they may to some extent serve synonymously to the other, but they carry different methods of identification by way of definition

An opinion article is one that delivers the author’s insight on the analysis, technique, and devices used in a particular study. This renders the author with unmatched liberty to examine the potency and frailty of a given hypothesis. Opinion articles are founded upon constructive criticism and are expected to be backed by palpable and indisputable evidence. These articles are to be clear and concise as well as serve as a way maker for discussions revolving around current scientific issues.

Commentaries on the other hand are mapped by their relatively short expositions; they are usually embedded with words ranging from 1000-1,500. The function of this is to siphon human attention to criticized works, articles, books, etc., and detail major reasons on why and why not this or that are worth paying attention to.

4.       Clinical case study

These are studies that narrate, in detail, patient cases from medical or clinical practices. All cases presented aren’t configured to fall far from the tree as they all contribute to the thriving knowledge surrounding that particular field.

Writing a study of this exact definition would require you to discuss the diagnosis, symptoms, signs, and existing treatments of that ailment. Like an original article, this is seen as primary literature with similar word counts. Unlike most articles that can be written down with minute knowledge of the subject, a clinical case study necessitates years of experience and as such, publication format won’t go in likeable terms with beginners.

5.       Book review

Book reviews take up a large percentage of published works in most academic journals; as the name connotes, the significant purpose of a book review is to take readers on an unending journey to find an end. They provide insights and opinions about just-published books that aren’t displayed on the cover or cover page, this is usually brief and less time-consuming and demanding from the author’s end.

As a beginner and novice in writing, book reviewing can be a good foundation to structure your writing career; it is very suitable for novice researchers as much pressure isn’t mounted upon anyone; all that’s required is just an honest opinion and a brief analysis of the book.  This would also help give you a dilated view of the field of literature.

6.       Clinical trial

Just like a clinical case study, this is reserved strictly for the medical field. Clinical trials are exposé to medical methodology, implementation, and results-controlled studies. This is usually sourced from larger groups of patients.

These types of articles are usually lengthy and in constant demand for adepts, years of experience, reliability, and ethics. So, a publication like this is well reserved for medical veterans. Has this given you an insight into the type of articles published in an academic journal?

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