Evaluating Health Information

Science Research Findings

Researchers share results in different ways for different reasons.  

Conference papers and posters help researchers communicate with others in their specialty. At a conference researchers can establish a record of their work and get feedback.

Preprints are early reports made freely available online. When researchers themselves upload a paper to a preprint server, results are available much more quickly than if they’d gone through publication. Think of preprints like rough drafts. Most preprints haven’t been accepted for publication. 

Peer reviewed journals give specialists a place to publish full papers with supporting details. Quality controls such as editing and peer review are important. But it can take 12 months to publish an article in a peer reviewed journal.

Source Description Examples Quality Control? Keep in Mind
Preprint Preliminary research report posted online. medRxiv Basic. Example: medRxiv screens for plagiarism and potential harm. These are rough drafts. Freely available online, usually without peer feedback.
Conference presentation or poster Brief report shared with peers. BMC Proceedings Sometimes only an abstract (summary) is evaluated before the meeting. They are short. Sometimes only an abstract is available, without peer feedback.
Peer reviewed journal article Full report, independently reviewed. BMC Psychology By editor and also other researchers or practitioners (peers).

Slower to be published, with 6-12+ months to publication. Problems can be found even after publication. Articles can be retracted.

Quality controls like editing and peer review are important. But be aware that any source at any stage can include mistakes.

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