Methodology plays one of the most important roles in medical articles, since the decision on whether an article is accepted for publication may depend on how correctly it is presented. The absence of information about the sample, failure to specify ethical standards, an overly generalised description of the data, and so on may raise doubts about whether the study was actually conducted, or even lead to rejection for publication. How can you write a high-quality methodology for a medical article? We will discuss this in our article.
Types of medical scientific publications
Disseminating research results is an important stage in the career of medical professionals; however, the success of a publication depends on many factors, including the methodology of the research.
First of all, it is necessary to determine the type of your work, since the structure of the methodology will depend on this.
There are the following types of medical publications:
- original clinical research
- review article
- case study
- short communication
- editorial articles
- letter to the editor
A methodology section is mandatory for original clinical research and review articles. For case studies and short communications, the methodology section may have its own particular features.
Structure of a medical scientific article
The generally accepted and most widespread structure for medical articles is the IMRAD structure (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion), in which the methodology section is mandatory. If a researcher submits for publication a paper that does not contain this section, the editorial board may decide to reject the article.
Since the requirements for medical publications are quite strict, and the IMRAD structure is used by most medical journals, a medical scientific article must be prepared in compliance with the requirements of the relevant journal.
The classical structure of such an article usually includes the title, abstract, keywords, introduction, methodology, results, discussion, conclusions, and the list of references used. Journals also often require authors to indicate separately information about ethical approval of the study, sources of funding, conflicts of interest, the contribution of each author, and details of the patients’ informed consent.
Particular attention in medical articles should be paid precisely to the methodology section, since it demonstrates how the study was organised, according to which criteria the sample was formed, which diagnostic, treatment, or analysis methods were applied, and which statistical tools were used to process the results. It is this section that makes it possible to assess the scientific reliability of the work, the reproducibility of the study, and the validity of the conclusions obtained.
The “Results” and “Discussion” sections are no less important. In the results section, the author must present the obtained results clearly, consistently, and without unnecessary interpretation. In the discussion, they must explain their significance, compare them with the data of other studies, outline the strengths and limitations of the work, and also show its practical or clinical significance.
How to prepare a high-quality methodology for a medical article?
The methodology must be described in such a way that another scientist is able to replicate the study. The information in the section must be presented clearly and in a logical sequence of all stages of the work.
To prepare a high-quality methodology for a medical article, it is necessary to describe clearly how exactly the study was conducted. In this section, it is necessary to characterise the sample, selection criteria, data collection methods, the diagnostic or assessment tools applied, methods of statistical processing of the results, and so on.
It is also important to indicate the ethical aspects, in particular the approval of the ethics committee and the presence of patients’ informed consent. The methodology must be logically structured and correspond to the aim of the study, since it is precisely this that demonstrates the scientific reliability of the work, the validity of the data, and the reproducibility of the obtained results.
Before the start of the study and during its conduct, we recommend immediately recording all methods applied, materials, data used, instruments, and so on. This will help not to lose any of the necessary data and, if it becomes necessary to revise the work during peer review, to add the necessary data to the methodology section.
A high-quality research methodology requires a thorough approach and careful attention during writing, since the success of publication largely depends on the correctness of the information presented and the logic of the exposition.
Need to publish a medical article? You can contact the company Scientific Publications. We will help assess the quality of the manuscript, identify weak points, check compliance with the journal’s requirements, and prepare the article for submission. To receive a free consultation, fill in the form below, and our manager will contact you shortly. Together – towards a successful publication!
