Guide to Science Information Resources

An example of the beginning of a scholarly article.  Lee, N.K., & Rawson, R.A. (2009).  A systematic review of cognitive and behavioural therapies for methamphetamine dependence. Drug and Alcohol Review, 27 (3): 309-317.  https://doi.org/10.1080/09595230801919494.  Image permission by CC-BY 2.0. 

A scholarly article, also known as a research or original article, is one of the main ways new knowledge and discoveries are communicated to a scientific or academic community.  It is a full-length document on original research.  A scholarly article generally consists of the background of a research topic, its study design and methodology, the results of the study, and then its conclusion.  The scholarly articles or publications used to inform the research are listed at the end of the article as its references or works cited.

Another main objective of a scholarly article is to give readers enough information about a study to reproduce it.  Redoing a study may confirm its initial findings or reveal its possible shortcomings.  When a study is repeated with consistent results, it possesses validity or is highly likely to have a truthful result.  The new findings then can be added to its subject's body of knowledge.  When a repeated study has different results than its initial study, it may signify that a gap still remains in that area of knowledge or that subsequent studies may be needed.

In order to effectively and efficiently communicate information, journal articles in many fields follow a particular structure and organization known as IMRAD.  An article will often begin with an abstract and then include its introduction, methods used, results, analysis, and discussion. 

One benefit of IMRAD is that readers can promptly read a particular section with the information they want.  The table below describes IMRAD's acronyms and what can be found in these sections of an article; some studies may use similar terms.  Certain sections may be left out due to a study's design or the communication norms for some scholarly fields.

See this example of a scholarly article that follows an IMRAD format; notice the article's headings and also the references cited at the end of the article.

Zhuang, L., Sun, Y., Hu, M., Wu, C., La, X., Chen, S., Feng, Y., Wang, X., Hu, Y., & Xue, L. (2016).  Or47b plays a role in Drosophila males' preference for younger mates.  Open Biology, 6(6).  DOI:  10.1098/rsob.160086