Journal Clubs: Where to Find Articles

The method of selecting an article varies. In the case of a student clinical rotation, the instructor may suggest articles or have specific criteria that must apply (e.g., it must be from a peer-reviewed journal, may not be more than 6 months old, etc.) or may even require his/her approval of your choice. In a club for practicing professionals, an article may be chosen based on areas such as a particular service unit (e.g., pediatrics), a new technology, an area of patient care that needs improvement, etc.

Regardless of the setting, there are some commonalities that you should consider:

• Research – Is it research? Don’t select reviews or theoretical articles. Look for the core components/divisions of a scientific paper.
• Quality – Is it from a respected/prominent/peer-reviewed journal?
• Audience – What are their needs and interests, scope of practice? Is it relevant to your listeners? You want something that is meaningful to their practice. You might also want to consider length; a typical research article is 3-7 pages; your colleagues may not appreciate your presenting one that is 22 pages in length!
• Currency – Is the article timely? Pick something from the recent literature.
• Issue – Is it on an important topic? Is it about a current problem or issue in the field?
• Importance – Will other research or practice be affected by the findings?
• Interest – Is it of interest to you? If it doesn’t engage you, you’re not likely to pull in your audience.

Bigby and Gaddenne have developed a short-cut method for reading clinical trials and identifying papers for your journal club. The method “allows you to decide not to read the majority of poorly conceived, designed, executed, or reported trials and those trials with insignificant results.”¹ At each step the reader asks a question regarding continuing interest and the value of the time spent in reading. Stopping or continuing to read follows from the response to the question.

1. Bidby M, Gadenne AS. Understanding and evaluating clinical trials. J Am Acad Dermatol. 1996;34:550-90. Available via Science Direct.

Various digital resources are available to help you select important and timely research articles, some of which are free and others which are fee-based. Here are a few free options:

Evidence Updates (free registration required), from the BMJ Group and McMaster University, offers a searchable database and an email alerting system for the current best evidence from research.

Journal Watch, from the publishers of the New England Journal of Medicine, offers Physician’s First Watch, a daily news service, delivered to your inbox each weekday morning. There are also over 30 daily, weekly and monthly free email alerts to notify you when new content is published in specific  areas that matter to you.

The ACP Journal Club helps you stay current with the latest evidence-based clinical information relevant to internal medicine and its subspecialties. Reviewing over 130 leading medical journals, it is a monthly feature in Annals of Internal Medicine and contains easy to read one-page summaries of articles that report original studies and systematic reviews that warrant immediate attention. Because Wilkes has a subscription to the Annals, you will have free access to the online version of Journal Club.

Or you can search the Faculty of 1000 web site where scientists highlight certain papers that they think are particularly valuable. You can narrow your search to specific areas such as infectious diseases or cardiovascular disorders. Although there is a fee to see all article recommendations, the top rated article of the week is free to view.