Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Writing a narrative biomedical review: considerations for authors, peer reviewers, and editors

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Rheumatology International Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Review articles comprehensively covering a specific topic are crucial for successful research and academic projects. Most editors consider review articles for special and regular issues of journals. Writing a review requires deep knowledge and understanding of a field. The aim of this review is to analyze the main steps in writing a narrative biomedical review and to consider points that may increase the chances of success. We performed a comprehensive search through MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, and Web of Science using the following keywords: review of the literature, narrative review, title, abstract, authorship, ethics, peer review, research methods, medical writing, scientific writing, and writing standards. Opinions expressed in the review are also based on personal experience as authors, peer reviewers, and editors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Gasparyan AY, Banach M (2009) A medium of science communication in our times. Arch Med Sci 5:1–2

    Google Scholar 

  2. http://publicationethics.org/guidelines. Accessed 15 Oct 2010

  3. Gasparyan AY (2010) Thoughts on impact factors and editing of medical journals. Inflamm Allergy Drug Targets 9:2–5

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Werbin N (2005) [Review articles–to write, to read or to throw away?]. Harefauh 144:558–560, 598 (Hebrew)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Habibi E, Mirhosseini Z, Majidi M (2010) Medical publications (2002–2009) of islamic countries; a Medline-based study compared to non-islamic countries. Iran J Med Sci 35:226–235

    Google Scholar 

  6. Smith R (2006) The trouble with medical journals. J R Soc Med 99:115–119

    Google Scholar 

  7. http://www.icmje.org/ethical_1author.html. Accessed 15 Oct 2010

  8. Jacobs A, Wager E (2005) European Medical Writers Association (EMWA) guidelines on the role of medical writers in developing peer-reviewed publications. Curr Med Res Opin 21:317–322

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. EASE guidelines for authors and translators of scientific articles to be published in English. http://www.ease.org.uk/pdfguidelines/AuthorGuidelinesHighRes.pdf. Accessed 24 Nov 2010

  10. Moore A (2010) What’s in a title? A two-step approach to optimisation for man and machine: writing good titles is a crucial part of optimising articles’ chances of being peer reviewed, and later found in the literature via Google: here are some tips. Bioessays 32:183–184

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Luo YH (2010) How to write an effective English title for an andrological paper? Zhonghua Nan Ke Xue 16:99–105

    Google Scholar 

  12. Christensen NB, Kume H, Autorino R (2009) How to write titles and abstracts for readers. Int J Urol 16:2–3

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Onen F (2006) Familial Mediterranean fever. Rheumatol Int 26:489–496

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Panoulas VF, Metsios GS, Pace AV, John H, Treharne GJ, Banks MJ, Kitas GD (2008) Hypertension in rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatology (Oxford) 47:1286–1298

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Yurdakul S, Yazici H (2008) Behçet’s syndrome. Best Pract Res Clin Rheumatol 22:793–809

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Scott DL, Wolfe F, Huizinga TW (2010) Rheumatoid arthritis. Lancet 376:1094–1108

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Keiserman B, da Silva LF, Keiserman MW, von Mühlen CA, Staub HL (2010) Lupoid sclerosis. Rheumatol Int 30:431–434

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Hasani-Ranjbar S, Nayebi N, Moradi L, Mehri A, Larijani B, Abdollahi M (2010) The efficacy and safety of herbal medicines used in the treatment of hyperlipidemia; a systematic review. Curr Pharm Des 16:2935–2947

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Ligthart SA, van Charante EP, Van Gool WA, Richard E (2010) Treatment of cardiovascular risk factors to prevent cognitive decline and dementia: a systematic review. Vasc Health Risk Manag 6:775–785

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Yao Q, Altman RD, Brahn E (2009) Periostitis and hypertrophic pulmonary osteoarthropathy: report of 2 cases and review of the literature. Semin Arthritis Rheum 38:458–466

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Rashid-Farokhi F, Cheraghvandi A, Masjedi MR (2009) Pheochromocytoma crisis due to glucocorticoid administration: a case report and review of the literature. Arch Iran Med 12:190–194

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Trapani S, Mariotti P, Resti M, Nappini L, de Martino M, Falcini F (2010) Severe hemorrhagic bullous lesions in Henoch Schonlein purpura: three pediatric cases and review of the literature. Rheumatol Int 30:1355–1359

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Kornerup KN, Page CP (2007) The role of platelets in the pathophysiology of asthma. Platelets 18:319–328

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Eleftheriadis T, Lawson BR (2009) Toll-like receptors and kidney diseases. Inflamm Allergy Drug Targets 8:191–201

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Salari Sharif P, Abdollahi M (2010) The role of platelets in bone remodeling. Inflamm Allergy Drug Targets 9:393–399

    Google Scholar 

  26. Woollard KJ, Chin-Dusting J (2007) Therapeutic targeting of p-selectin in atherosclerosis. Inflamm Allergy Drug Targets 6:69–74

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Cocco G, Chu DC, Pandolfi S (2010) Colchicine in clinical medicine. A guide for internists. Eur J Intern Med 21:503–508

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Leaf A, Kang JX, Xiao YF (2008) Fish oil fatty acids as cardiovascular drugs. Curr Vasc Pharmacol 6:1–12

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Hosseini-Tabatabaei A, Abdollahi M (2008) Potassium channel openers and improvement of toxic stress: do they have role in the management of inflammatory bowel disease? Inflamm Allergy Drug Targets 7:129–135

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Endresen GK (2007) Fibromyalgia: a rheumatologic diagnosis? Rheumatol Int 27:999–1004

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Jacques SJ, Sebire NJ (2010) The impact of article titles on citation hits: an analysis of general and specialist medical journals. J R Soc Med Sh Rep 1:2. doi:10.1258/shorts.2009.100020

  32. Kitas GD, Erb N (2003) Tackling ischaemic heart disease in rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatology (Oxford) 42:607–613

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Gasparyan AY, Watson T, Lip GY (2008) The role of aspirin in cardiovascular prevention: implications of aspirin resistance. J Am Coll Cardiol 51:1829–1843

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Distler JH, Beyer C, Schett G, Lüscher TF, Gay S, Distler O (2009) Endothelial progenitor cells: novel players in the pathogenesis of rheumatic diseases. Arthritis Rheum 60:3168–3179

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Ben-Chetrit E, Touitou I (2009) Familial Mediterranean fever in the world. Arthritis Rheum 61:1447–1453

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Hartley J (2004) Current findings from research on structured abstracts. J Med Libr Assoc 92:368–371

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Salari Sharif P, Abdollahi M, Larijani B (2010) Current, new and future treatments of osteoporosis. Rheumatol Int 31:289–300

    Google Scholar 

  38. Vila PM, Zafar MU, Badimon JJ (2009) Platelet reactivity and nonresponse to dual antiplatelet therapy: a review. Platelets 20:531–538

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. Cleary M, Hunt GE, Horsfall J (2009) Conducting efficient literature searches. J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv 47:34–41

    Google Scholar 

  40. La Regina M, Gasparyan AY, Orlandini F, Prisco D (2010) Behçet’s disease as a model of venous thrombosis. Open Cardiovasc Med J 4:71–77

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Dotsenko O (2010) Stem/Progenitor cells, atherosclerosis and cardiovascular regeneration. Open Cardiovasc Med J 4:97–104

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Mulrow CD (1987) The medical review article: state of the science. Ann Intern Med 106:485–488

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. McAlister FA, Clark HD, van Walraven C, Straus SE, Lawson FM, Moher D, Mulrow CD (1999) The medical review article revisited: has the science improved? Ann Intern Med 131:947–951

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Falagas ME, Pitsouni EI, Malietzis GA, Pappas G (2008) Comparison of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar: strengths and weaknesses. FASEB J 22:338–42

    Google Scholar 

  45. http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/home. Accessed 26 Oct 2010

  46. http://extranet.who.int/hinari/en/journals.php. Accessed 26 Oct 2010

  47. Merat S, Khatibzadeh S, Mesgarpour B, Malekzadeh R (2009) A survey of the current status of web-based databases indexing Iranian journals. Arch Iran Med 12:271–278

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Satyanarayana K, Sharma A (2010) Biomedical journals in India: some critical concerns. Indian J Med Res 132:119–122

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  49. Chand V, Rosenfeldt FL, Pepe S (2008) The publication rate and impact of abstracts presented at the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (1999–2005). Heart Lung Circ 17:375–379

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  50. Van Royen P, Sandholzer H, Griffiths F, Lionis C, Rethans JJ, Galí F, Eilat-Tsanani S, Hummers-Pradier E (2010) Are presentations of abstracts at EGPRN meetings followed by publication? Eur J Gen Pract 16:100–105

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  51. Song J, Li M, Hwang DH, Ricciotti RW, Chang A (2010) The outcome of abstracts presented at the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology annual meetings. Mod Pathol 23:682–685

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  52. Davidoff F, DeAngelis CD, Drazen JM, Hoey J, Højgaard L, Horton R, Kotzin S, Nicholls MG, Nylenna M, Overbeke AJ, Sox HC, Van Der Weyden MB, Wilkes MS (2001) Sponsorship, authorship, and accountability. Lancet 358:854–856

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  53. Drazen JM, de Leeuw PW, Laine C, Mulrow C, DeAngelis CD, Frizelle FA, Godlee F, Haug C, Hébert PC, James A, Kotzin S, Marusic A, Reyes H, Rosenberg J, Sahni P, Van der Weyden MB, Zhaori G (2010) Toward more uniform conflict disclosures—the updated ICMJE conflict of interest reporting form. N Engl J Med 363:188–189

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  54. Hutchison BG (1993) Critical appraisal of review articles. Can Fam Physician 39:1097–1102

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  55. Ben-Chetrit E, Levy M (1998) Familial Mediterranean fever. Lancet 351:659–664

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  56. Sambrook P, Cooper C (2006) Osteoporosis. Lancet 367:2010–2018

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  57. Hochberg ME, Chase JM, Gotelli NJ, Hastings A, Naeem S (2009) The tragedy of the reviewer commons. Ecol Lett 12:2–4

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  58. de Mesnard L (2010) On Hochberg et al. “The tragedy of the reviewer commons”. Scientometrics 84:903–17. doi:10.1007/s11192-009-0141-8

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Dimitri P. Mikhailidis, academic head of the Department of Clinical Biochemistry (Vascular Prevention Clinic), Royal Free Hospital, University College London Medical School, University College London (UCL), London, United Kingdom, and Dr. Jayashree Shanker, head of Functional Genomics Department, Thrombosis Research Institute, Bangalore, India, for critical comments and editing of the final version of the review. AYG and GDK thank the Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK (A Teaching Trust of University of Birmingham, UK), for support.

Conflict of interest

AYG is a sponsored member of the European Association of Science Editors and member of the World Association of Medical Editors. He also serves as an editorial advisory board member and reviewer of more than 20 rheumatological, cardiological and general medical journals.

LA declares no conflict of interest.

HB is a member of the University of Cambridge British Heart Foundation 4-year PhD programme in Cardiovascular Research.

GDK is editorial board member of 5 international journals and reviewer for more than 30 international journals and research funding bodies.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rheumatology, Clinical Research Unit, Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching Trust of University of Birmingham, UK), Russell’s Hall Hospital, North Block, Dudley, West Midlands, DY1 2HQ, United Kingdom

    Armen Yuri Gasparyan & George D. Kitas

  2. Department of Medical Chemistry, Yerevan State Medical University, Yerevan, Armenia

    Lilit Ayvazyan

  3. Institute of Metabolic Sciences, Metabolic Research Laboratories, Addenbrookes Hospital, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

    Heather Blackmore

  4. Arthritis Research UK (AR UK) Epidemiology Unit, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

    George D. Kitas

Authors
  1. Armen Yuri Gasparyan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lilit Ayvazyan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Heather Blackmore
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. George D. Kitas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Armen Yuri Gasparyan.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gasparyan, A.Y., Ayvazyan, L., Blackmore, H. et al. Writing a narrative biomedical review: considerations for authors, peer reviewers, and editors. Rheumatol Int 31, 1409–1417 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-011-1999-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-011-1999-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation