biomedical research paper example

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• Structure of a Biomedical Research Article

Structure of Scholarly Articles and Peer Review: Structure of a Biomedical Research Article

Created by health science librarians.

Title, Authors, Sources of Support and Acknowledgments

Structured abstract, introduction, results and discussion, international committee of medical journal editors (icmje).

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Medical research articles tend to be structured in similar ways. This standard structure helps assure that research is reported with the information readers need to critically appraise the research process and results.

This guide to the structure of a biomedical research article was informed by the description of standard manuscript sections found in the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations chapter on Manuscript Preparation: Preparing for Submission .

If you are writing an article for submisson to a particular journal be sure to obtain that journal's instructions for authors for specific guidelines.

Example Article: Lyons EJ, Tate DF, Ward DS, Wang X. Energy intake and expenditure during sedentary screen time and motion-controlled video gaming. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Aug;96(2):234-9. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.111.028423. Epub 2012 Jul 3. PubMed PMID: 22760571; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3396440. (Free full text available)

Article title:  Should provide a succinct description of the purpose of the article using words that will help it be accurately retrieved by search engines. 

Author information:  Includes the author names and the institution(s) where each author was affiliated at the time the research was conducted. Full contact information is provided for the corresponding author. 

Source(s) of support: Specific information about grant funding or source of equipment, drugs, etc. obtained to support the research. 

Acknowledgments:  This section may found at the end of the article and is used to name people who contributed to the paper, but not fully enough to be named as an author. It may also include more information about the authors' specific roles.

The structure of quantitative research articles is derived from the scientifc process and includes sections covering introduction, methods, results, and discussion (IMRaD). The actual labels for the various parts may vary between journals.

Abstract:  A structured abstract reports a summary of each of the IMRaD sections. Enough information should be included to provide the purpose of the research; an outline of methods used; results with data; and conclusions that highlight the findings. 

The introduction provides background information about what is known from previous related research, citing the relevant studies, and points out the gap in previous research that is being addressed by the new study. Often, many of the references cited in a paper are in the introduction. The purpose of the research should be clearly stated in this section.

The sample paper's introduction links television watching to increased energy intake and obesity, notes that several studies have shown a similar link with video gaming, and states no study was identified that compared television and video gaming. Eighteen of the thirty-one references used in the paper are cited in the introduction. The final paragraph of the introduction has two sentences that clearly state the purpose and the hypothesized expected outcome of the study.

The methods section clearly explains how the study was conducted. The ICMJE recommends that this section include information about how participants were selected, detailed demographics about who the participants were, and explanations of why any particular populations were included or excluded from the study. The details of how the study was conducted should be described with enough detail that the study could be replicated. Selected statistical methods should be reported in enough detail that readers can evaluate their appropriateness to the data being gathered.

The sample paper’s methods section includes subsections covering:  recruitment; procedures used for each study subgroup (TV, VG, motion-controlled VG); what snacks and beverages were used and how they were made available; how energy intake and energy expenditure were measured; how the data was analyzed and the specific statistical analysis and secondary analysis that was used.

The results section reports the data gathered and the statistical analysis of the data. Tables and / or graphs are often used to clearly and compactly present the data.

The results section of the sample paper  has two subsections and two tables. One subsection and related table shows the analysis of participant characteristics, The other subsection and table covers the analysis of energy intake, expenditure, and surplus.

In order to critically appraise the quality of the study you need to be able to understand the statistical analysis of the data. Two articles that help with this task are:

• Greenhalgh Trisha.  How to read a paper: Statistics for the non-statistician. I: Different types of data need different statistical tests  BMJ 1997; 315:364
• Greenhalgh Trisha.  How to read a paper: Statistics for the non-statistician. II: “Significant” relations and their pitfalls  BMJ 1997; 315:422

Another aid to critically reading a paper is to see if it has been included and evaluated in a systematic review. Try searching for the article you are reading in Google Scholar and seeing if the cited references include a systematic review. The sample paper was critically reviewed in:

• Marsh S, Ni Mhurchu C, Maddison R. The non-advertising effects of screen-based sedentary activities on acute eating behaviours in children, adolescents, and young adults. A systematic review. Appetite. 2013 Dec;71:259-73. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2013.08.017. Epub 2013 Aug 31. PubMed Abstract . Full-text for UNC-CH .

The  discussion section  clearly states the primary findings of the study, poses explanations for the findings and any conclusions that can be drawn from them. It may also include the author’s assessment of limitations in the research as conducted and suggestions for further research that is needed.

The structure of biomedical research articles has been standardized across different journals at least in part due to the work of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. This group first published the  Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals  in 1978.

The  Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals  (2013) is the most recent update of ICMJE's work. 

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• Last Updated: May 14, 2024 12:50 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.unc.edu/scholarly-articles

Writing a Biomedical Research Paper

A Guide to Structure and Style

• © 2009
• Brian Stephen Budgell 0

Universitä du Quäbec à Trois-Riviäres, Trois-Riviäres, Canada

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• Focuses very precisely on the biomedical research article. Biomedical language is quite different in many respects from general English and other scientific dialects, and so biomedical language deserves to be treated separately
• Deals with research articles, the publications which biomedical scientists have to produce in order to keep their jobs
• Derived largely from analyses of biomedical corpora. Hence, the advice offered is evidence-based rather than opinion-based, and is derived from examination of successful biomedical writing, i.e. that which has been published in peer-reviewed journals
• Web-based resources are available for exercises
• Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (13 chapters)

Front matter, beginning a manuscript, the title: your last chance to make a first impression, writing an eff ective introduction, ensuring the flow of discourse: conjunctions and conjuncts, hedging your bets and minding your modals, writing an eff ective methods section, the passive voice and i, writing an eff ective results section, the special case of case studies, writing an eff effctive discussion, is it a discussion or a systematic review, writing an eff ective abstract, the process of manuscript submission and review, back matter, authors and affiliations.

Brian Stephen Budgell

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Bibliographic information.

Book Title : Writing a Biomedical Research Paper

Book Subtitle : A Guide to Structure and Style

Authors : Brian Stephen Budgell

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-88037-0

Publisher : Springer Tokyo

eBook Packages : Medicine , Medicine (R0)

Copyright Information : Springer-Verlag Tokyo 2009

Softcover ISBN : 978-4-431-88036-3 Published: 08 January 2009

eBook ISBN : 978-4-431-88037-0 Published: 05 December 2008

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : VIII, 66

Topics : Medicine/Public Health, general , Biomedicine general

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Writing Biomedical Research Papers

This rigorous course emphasizes that the goal of writing is clarity and reviews how clarity can be achieved via the basic components (words, sentences, and paragraphs) of all expository writing, as applied to each section of a biomedical reserach paper. The course and its associated textbook first reviews the special expectations of each section of a paper in each component and then reviewing examples of both well and poorly written components. Although students do not actually write any new text, they are expected to explicate and edit numerous examples of bad writing. Each hour and half of class requires about three times that amount of time to read the text and to work on its exercises. I try to keep the class interactive and lively by using an Aristotelan approach of asking questions of the students and by adding some of my dry humor. Dr. Robert B. Innis, M.D., Ph.D. Chief , Section on PET Neuroimaging Sciences Molecular Imaging Branch NIMH, IRP

REQUIREMENTS : This course is not a basic introduction to writing; instead, it is an intermediate to advanced level course. Students are expected, for example, to be proficient in English vocabulary, to know the parts of a sentence (subject, verb, and predicate), to readily know parts of speech (noun, adverb, adjective, etc.), and to differentiate active from passive voice. From prior classes, students who lacked these skills received little benefit from the course. To summarize, students appropriate for this course might well be novices at scientific writing, but they should not be novices at writing per se. Session Date Topic 1 9/3/2014 Introduction: Pages 1-8 2 9/8/2014 Chapter 1: Word Choice 3 9/10/2014 Chapter 2: Sentence Structure - first half 4 9/15/2014 5 9/22/2014 Chapter 2: Sentence Structure - second half 6 9/24/2016 7 9/29/2014 Chapter 3: Paragraph Structure - first half 8 10/1/2014 Chapter 3: Paragraph Structure - second half 9 10/6/2014 10 10/8/2014 Chapter 4: Introduction 11 10/15/2014 Introduction: exercise 12 10/20/2014 13 10/22/2014 Introduction: hypothesis-testing paper 14 10/27/2014 Chap 5: Materials & Methods; SI units; verb tense 15 10/29/2014 16 11/3/2014 Chap 5: Exercises 5.1 & 5.2 17 11/5/2014 Chapter 6: Results (first 80%) 18 11/10/2014 19 11/12/2014 Chapter 6: Results (last 20%) plus Chap 7 20 11/19/2014 Chap 7: Discussion 21 11/24/2014 22 12/1/2014 Chap 7: Exercise 7.2 & Chap 8 graphs 23 12/3/2014 Chap 8: Graphs plus Briscoe’s chap on graphs 24 12/8/2014 25 12/11/2014 * Thurs Chap 8: Tables 26 12/15/2014 Chap 8: Abstract 27 12/17/2014 28 12/22/2014 Chap 9: Title & seek students’ opinions of course TIME: Mondays & Wednesdays 3:30 - 5:00 PM (except * Thursday 12/11/2014) LOCATION: TBD TEXTBOOK: Essentials of Writing Biomedical Research Papers , Second Edition, Mimi Zeiger, McGraw-Hill: New York, 2000.