Primary Research Articles

Primary research articles report on a single study. In the health sciences, primary research articles generally describe the following aspects of the study:

• The study's hypothesis or research question
• The number of participants in the study, generally referred to as the "n"
  • Some articles will include information on how participants were recruited or identified, as well as additional information about participants' sex, age, or race/ethnicity
• A "methods" or "methodology" section that describes how the study was performed and what the researchers did
• Results and conclusion section

Secondary Research Articles

Review articles are the most common type of secondary research article in the health sciences. A review article is a summary of previously published research on a topic. Authors who are writing a review article will search databases for previously completed research and summarize or synthesize those articles,  as opposed to recruiting participants and performing a new research study.

Specific types of review articles include:

• Systematic Reviews
• Meta-Analysis
• Narrative Reviews
• Integrative Reviews
• Literature Reviews

Review articles often report on the following:

• The hypothesis, research question, or review topic
• Databases searched-- authors should clearly describe where and how they searched for the research included in their reviews
• Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis should provide detailed information on the databases searched and the search strategy the authors used.Selection criteria-- the researchers should describe how they decided which articles to include
• A critical appraisal or evaluation of the quality of the articles included (most frequently included in systematic reviews and meta-analysis)
• Discussion, results, and conclusions

Information found in Science Direct, PubMed, SPORTSDiscus, and other databases can help you determine whether the article you're looking at is primary or secondary.

Primary research article abstract

• Note that in the "Objectives" field, the authors describe their single, individual study.
• In the materials and methods section, they describe the number of patients included in the study and how those patients were divided into groups.
• These are all clues that help us determine this abstract is describing is a single, primary research article, as opposed to a literature review.

Secondary research/review article abstract

• Note that the words "systematic review" and "meta-analysis" appear in the title of the article
• The objectives field also includes the term "meta-analysis" (a common type of literature review in the health sciences)
• The "Data Source" section includes a list of databases searched
• The "Study Selection" section describes the selection criteria
• These are all clues that help us determine that this abstract is describing a review article, as opposed to a single, primary research article.