See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/275586323

How to write an original research paper (and get it published)I. Diane Cooper,
AHIP

Article  in  Journal of the Medical Library Association JMLA · April 2015

DOI: 10.3163/1536-5050.103.2.001 · Source: PubMed

CITATIONS READS

21 891

1 author:

I. Diane Cooper
National Institutes of Health
22 PUBLICATIONS   370 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by I. Diane Cooper on 10 November 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 EDITORIAL

How to write an original research paper

(and get it published)
I. Diane Cooper, AHIP

See end of article for author’s affiliation. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.103.2.001

The purpose of the Journal of the Medical Library can evaluate the persuasiveness of your study.
Association (JMLA) is more than just archiving data Describe the steps you took, as in a recipe, but be
from librarian research. Our goal is to present research wary of too much detail. If you are doing qualitative
findings to end users in the most useful way. The research, explain how you picked your subjects to be
‘‘Knowledge Transfer’’ model, in its simplest form, has representative.
three components: creating the knowledge (doing the You may want to break it into smaller sections with
research), translating and transferring it to the user, subheadings, for example, context: when, where,
and incorporating the knowledge into use. The JMLA is authority or approval, sample selection, data collec-
in the middle part, transferring and translating to the tion (how), follow-up, method of analysis. Cite
user. We, the JMLA, must obtain the information and a reference for commonly used methods or previously
knowledge from researchers and then work with them used methods rather than explaining all the details.
to present it in the most useable form. That means the Flow diagrams and tables can simplify explanations
information must be in a standard acceptable format of methods.
and be easily readable. You may use first person voice when describing
There is a standard, preferred way to write an your methods.
original research paper. For format, we follow the
IMRAD structure. The acronym, IMRAD, stands for
Results
Introduction, Methods, Results And Discussion. IM-
RAD has dominated academic, scientific, and public The Results section summarizes what the data show.
health journals since the second half of the twentieth Point out relationships, and describe trends. Avoid
century. It is recommended in the ‘‘Uniform Require- simply repeating the numbers that are already avail-
ments for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical able in the tables and figures. Data should be restricted
Journals’’ [1]. The IMRAD structure helps to eliminate to tables as much as possible. Be the friendly narrator,
unnecessary detail and allows relevant information to and summarize the tables; do not write the data again
be presented clearly in a logical sequence [2, 3]. in the text. For example, if you had a demographic
Here are descriptions of the IMRAD sections, table with a row of ages, and age was not significantly
along with our comments and suggestions. If you different among groups, your text could say, ‘‘The
use this guide for submission to another journal, be median age of all subjects was 47 years. There was no
sure to check the publisher’s prescribed formats. significant difference between groups (Table).’’ This is
preferable to, ‘‘The mean age of group 1 was 48.6 (7.5)
Introduction years and group 2 was 46.3 (5.8) years, a nonsignificant
difference.’’
The Introduction sets the stage for your presentation. It
Break the Results section into subsections, with
has three parts: what is known, what is unknown, and
headings if needed. Complement the information that
what your burning question, hypothesis, or aim is.
Keep this section short, and write for a general is already in the tables and figures. And remember to
audience (clear, concise, and as nontechnical as you repeat and highlight in the text only the most
can be). How would you explain to a distant colleague important numbers. Use the active voice in the Results
why and how you did the study? Take your readers section, and make it lively. Information about what
through the three steps ending with your specific you did belongs in the Methods section, not here. And
question. Emphasize how your study fills in the gaps reserve comments on the meaning of your results for
(the unknown), and explicitly state your research the Discussion section.
question. Do not answer the research question. Other tips to help you with the Results section:
Remember to leave details, descriptions, speculations, & If you need to cite the number in the text (not just
and criticisms of other studies for the Discussion. in the table), and the total in the group is less than
50, do not include percentage. Write ‘‘7 of 34,’’ not
Methods ‘‘7 (21%).’’
& Do not forget, if you have multiple comparisons,
The Methods section gives a clear overview of what you probably need adjustment. Ask your statisti-
you did. Give enough information that your readers cian if you are not sure.

J Med Lib Assoc 103(2) April 2015 67

 Editorial

Discussion and tell a complete story. Your readers should not

need to refer back to the main text.
The Discussion section gives you the most freedom.
Most authors begin with a brief reiteration of what Abstracts can be free-form or structured with
they did. Every author should restate the key findings subheadings. Always follow the format indicated by
and answer the question noted in the Introduction. the publisher; the JMLA uses structured abstracts for
Focus on what your data prove, not what you hoped research articles. The main parts of an abstract may
they would prove. Start with ‘‘We found that…’’ (or include introduction (background, question or hy-
something similar), and explain what the data mean. pothesis), methods, results, conclusions, and implica-
Anticipate your readers’ questions, and explain why tions. So begin your abstract with the background of
your results are of interest. your study, followed by the question asked. Next,
Then compare your results with other people’s give a quick summary of the methods used in your
results. This is where that literature review you did study. Key results come next with limited raw data if
comes in handy. Discuss how your findings support any, followed by the conclusion, which answers the
or challenge other studies. questions asked (the take-home message).
You do not need every article from your literature
review listed in your paper or reference list, unless you Tips
are writing a narrative review or systematic review.
Your manuscript is not intended to be an exhaustive & Recommended order for writing a manuscript is
review of the topic. Do not provide a long review of the first to start with your tables and figures. They tell
literature—discuss only previous work that is directly your story. You can write your sections in any order.
pertinent to your findings. Contrary to some beliefs, Many recommend writing your Results, followed by
having a long list in the References section does not Methods, Introduction, Discussion, and Abstract.
mean the paper is more scholarly; it does suggest the & We suggest authors read their manuscripts out
author is trying to look scholarly. (If your article is a loud to a group of librarians. Look for evidence of
systematic review, the citation list might be long.) MEGO, ‘‘My Eyes Glaze Over’’ (attributed to
Washington Post publisher Ben Bradlee and
Don’t overreach others). Modify as necessary.
& Every single paragraph should be lucid.
Do not overreach your results. Finding a perceived
& Every paragraph should answer your readers’
knowledge need, for example, does not necessarily
mean that library colleges must immediately overhaul question, ‘‘Why are you telling me this?’’
their curricula and that it will improve health care and
save lives and money (unless your data show that, in
which case give us a chance to publish it!). You can All sizes welcome
say ‘‘has the potential to,’’ though.
Always note limitations that matter, not generic The JMLA welcomes all sizes of research manuscripts:
limitations. definitive studies, preliminary studies, critical de-
Point out unanswered questions and future direc- scriptive studies, and test-of-concept studies. We
tions. Give the big-picture implications of your findings, welcome brief reports and research letters. But the
and tell your readers why they should care. End with JMLA is more than a research journal. We also
the main findings of your study, and do not travel too welcome case studies, commentaries, letters to the
far from your data. Remember to give a final take-home editor about articles, and subject reviews.
message along with implications.
Notice that this format does not include a separate I. Diane Cooper, AHIP,
Conclusion section. The conclusion is built into the [email protected],
Discussion. For example, here is the last paragraph of Editor-in-Chief, Journal of the Medical
the Discussion section in a recent NEJM article: Library Association

In conclusion, our trial did not show the hypothesized References

benefit [of the intervention] in patients…who were at
high risk for complications. 1. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.
Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomed-
However, a separate Conclusion section is usually ical journals: writing and editing for biomedical publication.
appropriate for abstracts. Systematic reviews J Pharmacol Pharmacother. 2010 Jan–Jun;1(1):42–58. (Avail-
should have an Interpretation section. able from: ,http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/
Other parts of your research paper independent of PMC3142758/?report5classic.. [cited 10 Nov 2014].)
IMRAD include: 2. Sollaci LB, Pereira MG. The introduction, methods,
results, and discussion (IMRAD) structure: a fifty-year
Tables and figures are the foundation for your survey. J Med Lib Assoc. 2004 Jul;92(3):364–71. Correction
story. They are the story. Editors, reviewers, and in: J Med Lib Assoc. 2004. Oct;92(4):506.
readers usually look at titles, abstracts, and tables and 3. Day RA. The origins of the scientific paper: the IMRAD
figures first. Figures and tables should stand alone format. Am Med Writers Assoc J. 1989;4(2):16–8.

68 J Med Lib Assoc 103(2) April 2015

View publication stats