Definition of

Scientific article

Scientific publication

A scientific article may be subject to a peer review process. This consists of the evaluation of the content by qualified experts to judge its formality, its level of novelty and its contribution to science.

Scientific article is the name given to any communication or research text that is disseminated from the pages of a scientific journal .

Among the most prestigious and renowned scientific journals on the planet is “Science” , which was founded in New York in 1880 and became the publication body of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) . A little older than it is “Nature” , a scientific journal that was founded by a British astronomer named Joseph Norman Lockyer and had its first issue in circulation in 1869. In 2007 , these two publications were awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities .

It should be noted that this type of scientific publication is characterized by offering content that is written in a formal style and with specialized vocabulary , as well as having an academic character. It is usually used to accurately disseminate the results of a work of scientific interest and to detail findings, for example. Sometimes, in this document, also defined as a paper, long theses or reports are summarized or synthesized.

Characteristics of the scientific article

The scientific article brings together characteristics that should be known in order to be able to distinguish in practice what and how this material is, which, in order to be published, must be admitted by an editorial committee .

First of all, this type of writing must be based on data obtained or arising from a research process that has had scientific rigor . This is achieved by using a scientifically valid and accepted methodology .

Originality should not be neglected either. Regardless of the subject matter being explored and developed, the work must add knowledge by providing new ideas. It must also follow a standard structure for organizing information, citing references, etc.

It is also worth noting that there is a peer review phase to review the submission. At this stage, improvements, corrections or justifications or extensions may be suggested before final approval .

Each scientific article must include a title (as brief and descriptive as possible), the identity of the author (or co-authors , if applicable) and a summary (which is usually classified as an abstract ). Next comes the introduction (to present the topic to be addressed and indicate the hypothesis that is sought to be demonstrated through the experimentation carried out).

In scientific articles, it is also necessary to specify the methods and materials used. This refers to procedures , techniques , samples or objects of study .

The results , the discussion section and a citation of the bibliography that has been consulted complete the outline.

Research and experimentation

A scientific article is a text that summarizes the work or research carried out, with scientific rigor, by someone specialized in a specific field of knowledge.

Guys

When focusing on scientific articles, it emerges from practice that there is a great variety of scientific publications and multiple editorial criteria . For this reason, numerous genres or types are distinguished within this segment.

There are, to name a specific case, research articles . This can be an original article (which includes information not previously published) or a review article (which offers, without being original in essence, outstanding data on a particular topic), for example.

Opinion articles (signed by specialists in a particular field of knowledge) and letters to the editor linked to academic issues are also common.

Scientific articles

Scientific papers or articles are disseminated through scientific journals.

Examples of scientific articles

To appreciate examples of scientific articles, it is enough to pay attention to the news that is disseminated by the media, official bodies, academic institutions, scientific entities, etc.

It is also useful to learn about awards and prizes that aim to reward the best scientific articles of the moment.

Some time ago, to mention a specific situation, the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) published a note warning about the danger posed by the massive use of artificial intelligence . In this regard, it was indicated that through GPT Chat there are chances of creating false scientific articles and passing them off as authentic and credible. This research was carried out in Prague by Charles University .

It is interesting to note, in the meantime, the figure of David Peris Navarro because this principal investigator who works within the University of Oslo in the area of ​​Genetics and Evolutionary Biology was able to stand out in the first edition of the María Blasco Award granted to the Best Scientific Article of the Year (2023) . This award came to him thanks to a material focused on the characteristic genomics of the yeast Saccharomyces , a work that appeared in “Nature Communications” .

A while ago, on the other hand, a scientific journal called “The Journal of Clinical Medicine” included in its mental health section a scientific article arising from research carried out by members of the Peruvian César Vallejo University. The title of this work, somewhat long, appears in English and focuses on the weight that the COVID-19 pandemic had on suicidal thoughts and deaths from this cause in Spanish-speaking nations.