How to Identify Primary and Secondary Research Articles
Primary Research Articles
Primary research articles present the results of the authors' original research, experiments, or observations.
- Tip Look for evidence of primary research in the article abstract, or in the body of the article:
- The authors themselves conducted the study.
- Look for words indicating that the authors "measured" or "analyzed" or "Investigated" the topic at hand.
- Methods section. The article will usually have a "methods" or "methodology" or "research design" section detailing how the research was conducted or performed.
- Results section and data visualizations. The article should include a "results" section that reports the authors' original findings.
- Look for statistics, graphs, tables, or other data visualizations here.
- Not a review or meta-analysis.
- Reviews and meta-analyses are secondary sources and do not present new experimental data.
- The authors themselves conducted the study.
Secondary Research Articles
Secondary research articles summarize, interpret, or analyze findings from existing primary studies. "Review" articles are the most common type of secondary research articles in the sciences.
Look for evidence of secondary research:
- Focus on reviews and summaries. The titles often contain words such as "review," "systematic review," or "meta-analysis."
- Methods section focuses on how articles were chosen for review, rather than how experiments were performed. Information might include:
- Which databases were searched to locate primary articles for review.
- What keywords or subjects were used to perform the search.
- Selection criteria for choosing or eliminating articles for the review
- A critical appraisal or evaluation of the quality of the articles included (most frequently included in systematic reviews and meta-analyses).
- No presentation or visualizations of original experimental data.
Examples: Determining Primary versus Secondary Using the Database Abstract
Information found in the database abstract (PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, and other databases) can help you determine whether the article you're looking at is primary or secondary.
Example 1: Primary research article abstract
- Note that in the Objective field, the authors describe their single, individual study.
- In the Materials and Methods section, they describe the number of patients included in the study and how those patients were divided into groups.
These are all clues that help us determine this abstract is describing is a single, primary research article, as opposed to a literature review.
Example 2: Secondary research / review article abstract
- Note that the words "systematic review" and "meta-analysis" appear in the title of the article.
- The Objective field also includes the term "meta-analysis" (a common type of literature review in the health sciences).
- The Data Source section includes a list of databases searched.
- The Study Selection Criteria section describes how the studies were selected for inclusion.
These are all clues that help us determine that this abstract is describing a review article, as opposed to a single, primary research article.
