FIGURE 4-1 The Scientific Publication Cycle
Papers move into a less professional
publication format, such as reviews
or magazines. They are summarized
or compiled with other like-topic
papers to be searched for by a
general audience.4(^1) Develop and discuss ideas to
begin preliminary research
through raw data reports, grant
proposals, and conference
papers.
Researchers prepare findings
and presentations for the
publication of a professional,
scholarly paper.
2
Papers are accepted by
editors of scholarly journals
and indexed in literature
indexes and databases.
3
The most noteworthy information
from the paper may be cited in
textbooks or reference materials.
5
and perhaps as-yet-unpublished conference papers. At the next point, when
researchers are confident in the findings and their presentations, information
is prepared for dissemination as professional, scholarly papers. Papers judged
to be of high quality about studies using sound research methods are accepted
by editors of scholarly journals and indexed in literature indexes and databases
so that others may find them when conducting literature searches. After this
point, papers, or information contained within them, move into a more gen-
eralized publication format where they may be summarized or compiled with
other like-topic papers. They are typically published in reviews or magazines
directed toward a wider, less professionally focused audience. Finally, if find-
ings are considered noteworthy, they may be cited in textbooks or reference
materials, such as encyclopedias or bibliographies.
Keeping the scientific literature publication cycle in mind, you might now
realize that when looking for the most current, authoritative information on a
topic, you should be checking the published, scholarly literature. If the goal is to
compare evidence, systematic reviews are a useful way to locate similar topics
quickly. By keeping in mind the publication dates of the studies contained in
4.2 Types of Evidence 97