Primary research articles
In the sciences, primary research articles:
- present a first-hand report of research activities performed by the author(s) themselves.
- usually include a description of methods, tables and figures of original data and an analysis of results
- are very current (as of the date of publication) and highly specialized
- are published after undergoing peer review
More about peer review
Identifying primary research articles
To identify whether an article in a peer-reviewed journal is a primary research article, look for some internal clues:
- Does the abstract indicate that an experimental study was performed? Does it mention "this study" or include phrases such as "measured," "compared," "determined," "found," etc.?
- Does the article include a section describing the experimental methods that were followed?
- Does the article include a section describing the experimental results, usually with data tables and figures?
These are all indications that an article is a primary research article ("primary" because the experiments were carried out by the researchers who wrote the article). Note the entries for "Results" and "STAR*Methods" in the outline of the article below from the journal Cell. (STAR stands for Structured, Transparent, Accessible Reporting, and is the methods format used in Cell Press journals.)
