Scholarship and Research

Literature search

• Biomed Library

• Trip Database

Literature search assistance

• Contact Caitlin Bakker, cjbakker@umn.edu

• Librarians for research

• Librarians for systematic review

Visit the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health Research Services Hub Portal

• Department of Family Medicine and Community Health Research Services Portal

• Institutional Review Board Manuals

The Ethical Oversight Submission System (ETHOS) is the new web-based platform for Institutional Review Board (IRB) submissions. ETHOS is specifically designed to improve the research community’s experience during the IRB application process.

• Common workspace for the research community to prepare and submit information to the IRB

• Transparency of review status

• Significantly expanded reporting capabilities for the IRB and University of Minnesota stakeholders

• Increased opportunities for integration with other enterprise systems, including Oncore, Sponsored Projects, ULearn, and Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI)

• Transparency among research partners such as Fairview Health Services, Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, research teams, and the IRB

Log in to ETHOS using your University of Minnesota x500 ID and password.

All data needs to be on a secure server and/or an encrypted machine.

Biostatistical Design and Analysis Center (BDAC)
BDAC provides statistical and data management support, from study design to final analysis and publication of results.

• • Complete a service request on the University of Minnesota Clinical Translational Research Portal.

  • For assistance, contact Jill Bengtson, 612-624-0896, jeronco@umn.edu.

REDCap
A HIPAA compliant web application for building and managing surveys and databases.

Qualtrics
Used for employee, student, or resident surveys. Qualtrics is the preferred online survey tool of the University of Minnesota.

A research facilitator is an experienced research staff member that offers faculty support services at most of our clinic sites. They are here to help increase scholarly activity across the entire department.

Learn more and contact a research facilitator

Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) resources

• CTSI online training courses

  • 1. Research Career Development Seminar

    2. Clinical Research Professional Development Series

• CTSI Research Toolkit

• Recruitment and Participant Engagement Support

Get the latest updates from CTSI by signing up for the CTSI newsletter at the bottom of the home page.

Original research articles
Original research articles are detailed studies that report original research and are classified as primary literature. They contain the following sections:

• Hypothesis

• Background study

• Methods

• Results

• Interpretation of findings

• A discussion of possible implications

Original research articles are long, with the word limit ranging from 3,000 to 12,000 words. These require a significant investment of time.

Clinical trials
Clinical trials are specific to the field of medicine. They describe the methodology, implementation, and results of controlled studies, usually undertaken with large patient groups. Clinical trial articles are also long, usually of about the same length as an original research article. They also require practical work experience as well as high standards of ethics and reliability.

This kind of article is more for experienced researchers.

Review articles
Review articles give an overview of existing literature in a field, often identifying specific problems or issues and analyzing information from available published work on the topic with a balanced perspective. These manuscripts are considered as secondary literature and can be a particularly efficient way for early career researchers to begin publishing.

Review articles can be of three types, broadly speaking:

• Literature reviews

• Systematic reviews

• Meta-analyses

Review articles are usually long, with the maximum word limit being 3,000 to 5,000 or more, depending on the journal. Some journals also publish short reviews.

Clinical case studies
Clinical case studies present the details of real patient cases from medical or clinical practice. The cases presented are usually those that contribute significantly to the existing knowledge on the field. Studies are expected to discuss the signs, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of a disease.

These manuscripts are considered as primary literature and usually have a word count ranging from 3,000 to 12,000 words. Clinical case studies require a lot of practical experience and may not be a suitable publication format for early career researchers.

Opinion and similar pieces
Perspective pieces

• Perspective pieces are scholarly reviews of fundamental concepts or prevalent ideas in a field. These are usually essays that present a personal point of view, critiquing widespread notions pertaining to a field

• A perspective piece can be a review of a single concept or a few related concepts. These are considered as secondary literature and are usually short articles, around 2,000 words.

Opinion articles

• Opinion articles present the author’s viewpoint on the interpretation, analysis, or methods used in a particular study. It allows the author to comment on the strength and weakness of a theory or hypothesis.

• Opinion articles are usually based on constructive criticism and should be backed by evidence. These articles promote discussion on current issues concerning science. These are also relatively short articles.

Commentaries

• Commentaries draw attention to or present a criticism of a previously published article, book, or report, explaining why it interested the author and how it might be illuminating for readers. They are short articles, usually around 1,000 to 1,500 words.

Choosing a journal that fits your project can be difficult, especially for your first submission.

Here are some general considerations:

• Does your content fit the mission of the journal?

• Has your review topic been covered recently in the journal?

  • Journals publish review manuscripts in cycles and will not repeat too often unless something has really changed.

• Do you have novel data that may affect patient care outcomes?

  • Novel data improves your chances in higher lever or higher impact factor journals.

Predatory Journals
Journals that publish work without proper peer review and charge huge fees are often not legitimate. Be aware before you commit your time and effort to a journal that you do not know well. Check the predatory journal and predatory publisher lists.

• Summary about predatory journals

• List of predatory journals

Tips to help you select a journal

• Look at the journals that published your references

• Ask your mentor for journal suggestions

• Try the web-based Journal / Author Name Estimator (JANE)

The following are contacts and links to resources that will help you with the writing and publishing process.

• Collaborative Scholarship Intensive (CSI)
  Learn how to develop a research question, write manuscripts, select a journal, and more in this six-month training program. 

• Manuscript development and review
  Contact Bill Roberts, MD, MS, rober037@umn.edu.

• Research facilitators
  A research facilitator is an experienced research staff member that offers faculty support services at most of our clinic sites. They are here to help increase scholarly activity across the entire department. Learn more and contact a research facilitator.

• Journal / Author Name Estimator (JANE)
  JANE will help you find the best matching journals, authors, or articles.

Manifold

Manifold is a web-accessible interface that generates profiles and reports of research impact and scholarly output for faculty and departments in the University of Minnesota Medical School. It also generates metrics, data, and profiles for faculty.

Like other systems on campus, including Experts@ Minnesota, Manifold provides aggregated lists of publication data for faculty. Unlike other systems, however, Manifold focuses particularly on measures of research impact and scholarly output and the contextualization of these measures.

For more information about or assistance with your profile, e-mail manifold@umn.edu. To access Manifold, you need to login in with your University of Minnesota login ID and password. Go to the Manifold website.

Experts@ Minnesota

Experts@ Minnesota helps you find networks and interest areas within the department and the University of Minnesota. It's a database that profiles university faculty and staff based upon their affiliations and their publications. Public data on faculty (names, contact information, department and college affiliations, and grant award information) forms the basis for these profiles. The data is matched with publication data harvested from Scopus, an extensive abstract and citation database. Experts@ Minnesota allows you to search for a researcher's distinctive expertise based on publication history and potentially identify collaborators.

For more information or assistance with your profile, please contact expertsmnhelp@umn.edu. Go to the Experts@ Minnesota website.

SCOPUS

Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature. It can track, analyze, and visualize research. Learn how to search in Scopus. You will need to log in using your University of Minnesota login ID and password.

Other Databases

Some of the following sites require membership or access through the University of Minnesota Bio-Medical Library website, in which you will need to log in using your University of Minnesota login ID and password.

• Google Scholar

• ORCID

• Academia

• ResearchGate

• Microsoft Academic Search

• Web of Science

"Gray literature" refers to reviewed and indexed literature that do not appear in scholarly databases.

Examples include, but not limited to, the following:

• Conference posters and slides

• Instructional materials

• Organizational white papers

• Pamphlets

How to track or share "gray literature"

The following sites allow you to store, track, and/or share your "gray literature."

• University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy

• SlideShare from LinkedIn

• figshare

• MedEdPORTAL

Use the following resources to find collaborators:

• Make connections with department faculty
  Collaborate with department faculty whose interests align with yours.

• Experts@ Minnesota
  A database that profiles of University of Minnesota faculty and staff based upon their affiliations and their publications. It allows you to search for a researcher’s distinctive expertise based on publication history.

• Manifold
  An online interface that generates profiles and reports of research impact and scholarly output for faculty and departments in the University of Minnesota Medical School. Scanning department faculty publications may allow you to find faculty with similar interests to yours.

Visit the "Department Collaboration" section in the Research Portal.

Michele Allen, MD, MS Sharon Allen, MD, PhD Jennifer Connor, PhD Milton "Mickey" Eder, PhD

Katie Loth, PhD, MPH Kristen Mark, PhD, MPH, CSE Terri McCarthy, MD, MS James Pacala, MD, MS

David Power, MBBS, MPH Rebekah Pratt, PhD Shailey Prasad, MBBS, MPH

Steven Stovitz, MD, MS April Wilhelm, MD, MPH Mark Yeazel, MD, MPH