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Content and Phrasing in Titles of Original Research and Review Articles in 2015: Range of Practice in Four Clinical Journals

Author

Listed:
  • Mary Ellen Kerans

    (Freelance authors’ editor and translator, Carrer Indústria 331, àtic 2a, 08027 Barcelona, Spain)

  • Anne Murray

    (Freelance authors’ editor and translator, Carrer Major 17, 43422 Barberà de la Conca, Spain)

  • Sergi Sabatè

    (Department of Anesthesiology, Fundacio Puigvert, Carrer Cartagena 340-350, 08025 Barcelona, Spain)

Abstract

Reporting guidelines for clinical research designs emerged in the mid-1990s and have influenced various aspects of research articles, including titles, which have also been subject to changing uses with the growth of electronic database searching and efforts to reduce bias in literature searches. We aimed (1) to learn more about titles in clinical medicine today and (2) to develop an efficient, reliable way to study titles over time and on the fly—for quick application by authors, manuscript editors, translators and instructors. We compared content and form in titles from two general medical journals—the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) and the British Medical Journal —and two anesthesiology journals (the European Journal of Anaesthesiology and Anesthesiology ); we also analyzed the inter-rater reliability of our coding. Significant content differences were found in the frequencies of mentions of methods, results (between general and subspecialty titles), and geographic setting; phrasing differences were found in the prevalence of full-sentence and compound titles (and their punctuation). NEJM titles were significantly shorter, and this journal differed consistently on several features. We conclude that authors must learn to efficiently survey titles for form and content patterns when preparing manuscripts to submit to unfamiliar journals or on resubmitting to a new journal after rejection.

Suggested Citation

  • Mary Ellen Kerans & Anne Murray & Sergi Sabatè, 2016. "Content and Phrasing in Titles of Original Research and Review Articles in 2015: Range of Practice in Four Clinical Journals," Publications, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-22, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jpubli:v:4:y:2016:i:2:p:11-:d:68231
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kenneth F Schulz & Douglas G Altman & David Moher & for the CONSORT Group, 2010. "CONSORT 2010 Statement: Updated Guidelines for Reporting Parallel Group Randomised Trials," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(3), pages 1-7, March.
    2. Editorial Article, 0. "Abstracts," Economics of Contemporary Russia, Regional Public Organization for Assistance to the Development of Institutions of the Department of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, issue 3.
    3. David Moher & Alessandro Liberati & Jennifer Tetzlaff & Douglas G Altman & The PRISMA Group, 2009. "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-6, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Margaret Cargill, 2016. "Introduction to the Special Issue: Researching, Teaching, and Supporting Research Publication—Issues for Users of English as an Additional Language," Publications, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-2, August.
    2. Gianna Kexin Jiang & Yajun Jiang, 2023. "More diversity, more complexity, but more flexibility: research article titles in TESOL Quarterly, 1967–2022," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(7), pages 3959-3980, July.
    3. Nicole Heßler & Andreas Ziegler, 2022. "Evidence-based recommendations for increasing the citation frequency of original articles," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(6), pages 3367-3381, June.

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