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Types of journal articles

It is helpful to familiarise yourself with the different types of articles published by journals. Although it may appear there are a large number of types of articles published due to the wide variety of names they are published under, most articles published are one of the following types; Original Research, Review Articles, Short reports or Letters, Case Studies, Methodologies.

Original Research:

This is the most common type of journal manuscript used to publish full reports of data from research. It may be called an Original Article, Research Article, Research, or just Article, depending on the journal. The Original Research format is suitable for many different fields and different types of studies. It includes full Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion sections.

Short reports or Letters:

These papers communicate brief reports of data from original research that editors believe will be interesting to many researchers, and that will likely stimulate further research in the field. As they are relatively short the format is useful for scientists with results that are time sensitive (for example, those in highly competitive or quickly-changing disciplines). This format often has strict length limits, so some experimental details may not be published until the authors write a full Original Research manuscript. These papers are also sometimes called Brief communications .

Review Articles:

Review Articles provide a comprehensive summary of research on a certain topic, and a perspective on the state of the field and where it is heading. They are often written by leaders in a particular discipline after invitation from the editors of a journal. Reviews are often widely read (for example, by researchers looking for a full introduction to a field) and highly cited. Reviews commonly cite approximately 100 primary research articles.

TIP: If you would like to write a Review but have not been invited by a journal, be sure to check the journal website as some journals to not consider unsolicited Reviews. If the website does not mention whether Reviews are commissioned it is wise to send a pre-submission enquiry letter to the journal editor to propose your Review manuscript before you spend time writing it.

Case Studies:

These articles report specific instances of interesting phenomena. A goal of Case Studies is to make other researchers aware of the possibility that a specific phenomenon might occur. This type of study is often used in medicine to report the occurrence of previously unknown or emerging pathologies.

Methodologies or Methods

These articles present a new experimental method, test or procedure. The method described may either be completely new, or may offer a better version of an existing method. The article should describe a demonstrable advance on what is currently available.

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Research articles

Ultra-processed food consumption and all cause and cause specific mortality, comparative effectiveness of second line oral antidiabetic treatments among people with type 2 diabetes mellitus, efficacy of psilocybin for treating symptoms of depression, reverse total shoulder replacement versus anatomical total shoulder replacement for osteoarthritis, effect of combination treatment with glp-1 receptor agonists and sglt-2 inhibitors on incidence of cardiovascular and serious renal events, prenatal opioid exposure and risk of neuropsychiatric disorders in children, temporal trends in lifetime risks of atrial fibrillation and its complications, antipsychotic use in people with dementia, predicting the risks of kidney failure and death in adults with moderate to severe chronic kidney disease, impact of large scale, multicomponent intervention to reduce proton pump inhibitor overuse, esketamine after childbirth for mothers with prenatal depression, glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist use and risk of thyroid cancer, use of progestogens and the risk of intracranial meningioma, delirium and incident dementia in hospital patients, derivation and external validation of a simple risk score for predicting severe acute kidney injury after intravenous cisplatin, quality and safety of artificial intelligence generated health information, large language models and the generation of health disinformation, 25 year trends in cancer incidence and mortality among adults in the uk, cervical pessary versus vaginal progesterone in women with a singleton pregnancy, comparison of prior authorization across insurers, diagnostic accuracy of magnetically guided capsule endoscopy with a detachable string for detecting oesophagogastric varices in adults with cirrhosis, ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes, added benefit and revenues of oncology drugs approved by the ema, exposure to air pollution and hospital admission for cardiovascular diseases, short term exposure to low level ambient fine particulate matter and natural cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory morbidity, optimal timing of influenza vaccination in young children, effect of exercise for depression, association of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with cardiovascular disease and all cause death in patients with type 2 diabetes, duration of cpr and outcomes for adults with in-hospital cardiac arrest, clinical effectiveness of an online physical and mental health rehabilitation programme for post-covid-19 condition, atypia detected during breast screening and subsequent development of cancer, publishers’ and journals’ instructions to authors on use of generative ai in academic and scientific publishing, effectiveness of glp-1 receptor agonists on glycaemic control, body weight, and lipid profile for type 2 diabetes, neurological development in children born moderately or late preterm, invasive breast cancer and breast cancer death after non-screen detected ductal carcinoma in situ, all cause and cause specific mortality in obsessive-compulsive disorder, acute rehabilitation following traumatic anterior shoulder dislocation, perinatal depression and risk of mortality, undisclosed financial conflicts of interest in dsm-5-tr, effect of risk mitigation guidance opioid and stimulant dispensations on mortality and acute care visits, update to living systematic review on sars-cov-2 positivity in offspring and timing of mother-to-child transmission, perinatal depression and its health impact, christmas 2023: common healthcare related instruments subjected to magnetic attraction study, using autoregressive integrated moving average models for time series analysis of observational data, demand for morning after pill following new year holiday, christmas 2023: christmas recipes from the great british bake off, effect of a doctor working during the festive period on population health: experiment using doctor who episodes, christmas 2023: analysis of barbie medical and science career dolls, christmas 2023: effect of chair placement on physicians’ behavior and patients’ satisfaction, management of chronic pain secondary to temporomandibular disorders, christmas 2023: projecting complete redaction of clinical trial protocols, christmas 2023: a drug target for erectile dysfunction to help improve fertility, sexual activity, and wellbeing, christmas 2023: efficacy of cola ingestion for oesophageal food bolus impaction, conservative management versus laparoscopic cholecystectomy in adults with gallstone disease, social media use and health risk behaviours in young people, untreated cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 and cervical cancer, air pollution deaths attributable to fossil fuels, implementation of a high sensitivity cardiac troponin i assay and risk of myocardial infarction or death at five years, covid-19 vaccine effectiveness against post-covid-19 condition, association between patient-surgeon gender concordance and mortality after surgery, intravascular imaging guided versus coronary angiography guided percutaneous coronary intervention, treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms in men in primary care using a conservative intervention, autism intervention meta-analysis of early childhood studies, effectiveness of the live zoster vaccine during the 10 years following vaccination, effects of a multimodal intervention in primary care to reduce second line antibiotic prescriptions for urinary tract infections in women, pyrotinib versus placebo in combination with trastuzumab and docetaxel in patients with her2 positive metastatic breast cancer, association of dcis size and margin status with risk of developing breast cancer post-treatment, racial differences in low value care among older patients in the us, pharmaceutical industry payments and delivery of low value cancer drugs, rosuvastatin versus atorvastatin in adults with coronary artery disease, clinical effectiveness of septoplasty versus medical management for nasal airways obstruction, ultrasound guided lavage with corticosteroid injection versus sham lavage with and without corticosteroid injection for calcific tendinopathy of shoulder, early versus delayed antihypertensive treatment in patients with acute ischaemic stroke, mortality risks associated with floods in 761 communities worldwide, interactive effects of ambient fine particulate matter and ozone on daily mortality in 372 cities, association between changes in carbohydrate intake and long term weight changes, future-case control crossover analysis for adjusting bias in case crossover studies, association between recently raised anticholinergic burden and risk of acute cardiovascular events, suboptimal gestational weight gain and neonatal outcomes in low and middle income countries: individual participant data meta-analysis, efficacy and safety of an inactivated virus-particle vaccine for sars-cov-2, effect of invitation letter in language of origin on screening attendance: randomised controlled trial in breastscreen norway, visits by nurse practitioners and physician assistants in the usa, non-erosive gastro-oesophageal reflux disease and oesophageal adenocarcinoma, venous thromboembolism with use of hormonal contraception and nsaids, food additive emulsifiers and risk of cardiovascular disease, balancing risks and benefits of cannabis use, promoting activity, independence, and stability in early dementia and mild cognitive impairment, effect of home cook interventions for salt reduction in china, cancer mortality after low dose exposure to ionising radiation, effect of a smartphone intervention among university students with unhealthy alcohol use, long term risk of death and readmission after hospital admission with covid-19 among older adults, mortality rates among patients successfully treated for hepatitis c, association between antenatal corticosteroids and risk of serious infection in children, the proportions of term or late preterm births after exposure to early antenatal corticosteroids, and outcomes, safety of ba.4-5 or ba.1 bivalent mrna booster vaccines, comparative effectiveness of booster vaccines among adults aged ≥50 years, third dose vaccine schedules against severe covid-19 during omicron predominance in nordic countries, private equity ownership and impacts on health outcomes, costs, and quality, healthcare disruption due to covid-19 and avoidable hospital admission, follow us on, content links.

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Original Research

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What is Original Research?

Original research is considered a primary source.

An article is considered original research if...

it is the report of a study written by the researchers who actually did the study.
the researchers describe their hypothesis or research question and the purpose of the study.
the researchers detail their research methods.
the results of the research are reported.
the researchers interpret their results and discuss possible implications.

There is no one way to easily tell if an article is a research article like there is for peer-reviewed articles in the Ulrich's database. The only way to be sure is to read the article to verify that it is written by the researchers and that they have explained all of their findings, in addition to listing their methodologies, results, and any conclusions based on the evidence collected.

All that being said, there are a few key indicators that will help you to quickly decide whether or not your article is based on original research.

Literature Review or Background
Conclusions
Read through the abstract (summary) before you attempt to find the full-text PDF. The abstract of the article usually contains those subdivision headings where each of the key sections are summarized individually.
Use the checkbox with CINAHL's advanced search to only see articles that have been tagged as research articles.
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Last Updated: Feb 7, 2022 11:44 AM
URL: https://libguides.unf.edu/originalresearch

Scientific Manuscript Writing: Original Research, Case Reports, Review Articles

First Online: 02 March 2024

Cite this chapter

Kimberly M. Rathbun 5

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Manuscripts are used to communicate the findings of your work with other researchers. Writing your first manuscript can be a challenge. Journals provide guidelines to authors which should be followed closely. The three major types of articles (original research, case reports, and review articles) all generally follow the IMRAD format with slight variations in content. With planning and thought, manuscript writing does not have to be a daunting task.

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Department of Emergency Medicine, AU/UGA Medical Partnership, Athens, GA, USA

Kimberly M. Rathbun

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Correspondence to Kimberly M. Rathbun .

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Emergency Medicine, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, USA

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Elizabeth Barrall Werley

Jeffrey S. Lubin

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Kahyun Yoon-Flannery

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Rathbun, K.M. (2023). Scientific Manuscript Writing: Original Research, Case Reports, Review Articles. In: Olympia, R.P., Werley, E.B., Lubin, J.S., Yoon-Flannery, K. (eds) An Emergency Physician’s Path. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47873-4_80

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Original Research

An original research paper should present a unique argument of your own. In other words, the claim of the paper should be debatable and should be your (the researcher’s) own original idea. Typically an original research paper builds on the existing research on a topic, addresses a specific question, presents the findings according to a standard structure (described below), and suggests questions for further research and investigation. Though writers in any discipline may conduct original research, scientists and social scientists in particular are interested in controlled investigation and inquiry. Their research often consists of direct and indirect observation in the laboratory or in the field. Many scientists write papers to investigate a hypothesis (a statement to be tested).

Although the precise order of research elements may vary somewhat according to the specific task, most include the following elements:

Table of contents
List of illustrations
Body of the report
References cited

Check your assignment for guidance on which formatting style is required. The Complete Discipline Listing Guide (Purdue OWL) provides information on the most common style guide for each discipline, but be sure to check with your instructor.

The title of your work is important. It draws the reader to your text. A common practice for titles is to use a two-phrase title where the first phrase is a broad reference to the topic to catch the reader’s attention. This phrase is followed by a more direct and specific explanation of your project. For example:

“Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!: The Effects of Large Predators on Livestock Yields.”

The first phrase draws the reader in – it is creative and interesting. The second part of the title tells the reader the specific focus of the research.

In addition, data base retrieval systems often work with keywords extracted from the title or from a list the author supplies. When possible, incorporate them into the title. Select these words with consideration of how prospective readers might attempt to access your document. For more information on creating keywords, refer to this Springer research publication guide.

See the KU Writing Center Writing Guide on Abstracts for detailed information about creating an abstract.

The table of contents provides the reader with the outline and location of specific aspects of your document. Listings in the table of contents typically match the headings in the paper. Normally, authors number any pages before the table of contents as well as the lists of illustrations/tables/figures using lower-case roman numerals. As such, the table of contents will use lower-case roman numbers to identify the elements of the paper prior to the body of the report, appendix, and reference page. Additionally, because authors will normally use Arabic numerals (e.g., 1, 2, 3) to number the pages of the body of the research paper (starting with the introduction), the table of contents will use Arabic numerals to identify the main sections of the body of the paper (the introduction, literature review, methods, results, discussion, conclusion, references, and appendices).

Here is an example of a table of contents:

ABSTRACT..................................................iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS...............................iv

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS...........................v

LIST OF TABLES.........................................vii

INTRODUCTION..........................................1

LITERATURE REVIEW.................................6

METHODS....................................................9

RESULTS....................................................10

DISCUSSION..............................................16

CONCLUSION............................................18

REFERENCES............................................20

APPENDIX................................................. 23

More information on creating a table of contents can be found in the Table of Contents Guide (SHSU) from the Newton Gresham Library at Sam Houston State University.

List of Illustrations

Authors typically include a list of the illustrations in the paper with longer documents. List the number (e.g., Illustration 4), title, and page number of each illustration under headings such as "List of Illustrations" or "List of Tables.”

Body of the Report

The tone of a report based on original research will be objective and formal, and the writing should be concise and direct. The structure will likely consist of these standard sections: introduction, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion . Typically, authors identify these sections with headings and may use subheadings to identify specific themes within these sections (such as themes within the literature under the literature review section).

Introduction

Given what the field says about this topic, here is my contribution to this line of inquiry.

The introduction often consists of the rational for the project. What is the phenomenon or event that inspired you to write about this topic? What is the relevance of the topic and why is it important to study it now? Your introduction should also give some general background on the topic – but this should not be a literature review. This is the place to give your readers and necessary background information on the history, current circumstances, or other qualities of your topic generally. In other words, what information will a layperson need to know in order to get a decent understanding of the purpose and results of your paper? Finally, offer a “road map” to your reader where you explain the general order of the remainder of your paper. In the road map, do not just list the sections of the paper that will follow. You should refer to the main points of each section, including the main arguments in the literature review, a few details about your methods, several main points from your results/analysis, the most important takeaways from your discussion section, and the most significant conclusion or topic for further research.

Literature Review

This is what other researchers have published about this topic.

In the literature review, you will define and clarify the state of the topic by citing key literature that has laid the groundwork for this investigation. This review of the literature will identify relations, contradictions, gaps, and inconsistencies between previous investigations and this one, and suggest the next step in the investigation chain, which will be your hypothesis. You should write the literature review in the present tense because it is ongoing information.

Methods (Procedures)

This is how I collected and analyzed the information.

This section recounts the procedures of the study. You will write this in past tense because you have already completed the study. It must include what is necessary to replicate and validate the hypothesis. What details must the reader know in order to replicate this study? What were your purposes in this study? The challenge in this section is to understand the possible readers well enough to include what is necessary without going into detail on “common-knowledge” procedures. Be sure that you are specific enough about your research procedure that someone in your field could easily replicate your study. Finally, make sure not to report any findings in this section.

This is what I found out from my research.

This section reports the findings from your research. Because this section is about research that is completed, you should write it primarily in the past tense . The form and level of detail of the results depends on the hypothesis and goals of this report, and the needs of your audience. Authors of research papers often use visuals in the results section, but the visuals should enhance, rather than serve as a substitute, for the narrative of your results. Develop a narrative based on the thesis of the paper and the themes in your results and use visuals to communicate key findings that address your hypothesis or help to answer your research question. Include any unusual findings that will clarify the data. It is a good idea to use subheadings to group the results section into themes to help the reader understand the main points or findings of the research.

This is what the findings mean in this situation and in terms of the literature more broadly.

This section is your opportunity to explain the importance and implications of your research. What is the significance of this research in terms of the hypothesis? In terms of other studies? What are possible implications for any academic theories you utilized in the study? Are there any policy implications or suggestions that result from the study? Incorporate key studies introduced in the review of literature into your discussion along with your own data from the results section. The discussion section should put your research in conversation with previous research – now you are showing directly how your data complements or contradicts other researchers’ data and what the wider implications of your findings are for academia and society in general. What questions for future research do these findings suggest? Because it is ongoing information, you should write the discussion in the present tense . Sometimes the results and discussion are combined; if so, be certain to give fair weight to both.

These are the key findings gained from this research.

Summarize the key findings of your research effort in this brief final section. This section should not introduce new information. You can also address any limitations from your research design and suggest further areas of research or possible projects you would complete with a new and improved research design.

References/Works Cited

See KU Writing Center writing guides to learn more about different citation styles like APA, MLA, and Chicago. Make an appointment at the KU Writing Center for more help. Be sure to format the paper and references based on the citation style that your professor requires or based on the requirements of the academic journal or conference where you hope to submit the paper.

The appendix includes attachments that are pertinent to the main document but are too detailed to be included in the main text. These materials should be titled and labeled (for example Appendix A: Questionnaire). You should refer to the appendix in the text with in-text references so the reader understands additional useful information is available elsewhere in the document. Examples of documents to include in the appendix include regression tables, tables of text analysis data, and interview questions.

Updated June 2022

Original Research Articles

Preparing your manuscript.

The title page should:

present a title that includes, if appropriate, the study design
if a collaboration group should be listed as an author, please list the Group name as an author. If you would like the names of the individual members of the Group to be searchable through their individual PubMed records, please include this information in the “Acknowledgements” section in accordance with the instructions below
Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT , do not currently satisfy our authorship criteria . Notably an attribution of authorship carries with it accountability for the work, which cannot be effectively applied to LLMs. Use of an LLM should be properly documented in the Methods section (and if a Methods section is not available, in a suitable alternative part) of the manuscript
indicate the corresponding author

The abstract should not exceed 350 words. Please minimize the use of abbreviations and do not cite references in the abstract. The abstract must include the following separate sections:

Background : the context and purpose of the study
Results : the main findings
Conclusions : a brief summary and potential implications

Three to ten keywords representing the main content of the article.

The Background section should explain the background to the study, its aims, a summary of the existing literature and why this study was necessary.

This should include the findings of the study including, if appropriate, results of statistical analysis which must be included either in the text or as tables and figures.

For research articles this section should discuss the implications of the findings in context of existing research and highlight limitations of the study. For study protocols and methodology manuscripts this section should include a discussion of any practical or operational issues involved in performing the study and any issues not covered in other sections.

Conclusions

This should state clearly the main conclusions and provide an explanation of the importance and relevance of the study to the field.

Methods (can also be placed after Background)

The methods section should include:

the aim, design and setting of the study
the characteristics of participants or description of materials
a clear description of all processes, interventions and comparisons. Generic names should generally be used. When proprietary brands are used in research, include the brand names in parentheses
the type of statistical analysis used, including a power calculation if appropriate

List of abbreviations

If abbreviations are used in the text they should be defined in the text at first use, and a list of abbreviations should be provided.

Declarations

All manuscripts must contain the following sections under the heading 'Declarations':

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Consent for publication.

Availability of data and material

Competing interests

Authors' contributions, acknowledgements.

Authors' information (optional)

Please see below for details on the information to be included in these sections.

If any of the sections are not relevant to your manuscript, please include the heading and write 'Not applicable' for that section.

Manuscripts reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must:

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include the name of the ethics committee that approved the study and the committee’s reference number if appropriate

Studies involving animals must include a statement on ethics approval.

See our editorial policies for more information.

If your manuscript does not report on or involve the use of any animal or human data or tissue, please state “Not applicable” in this section.

If your manuscript contains any individual person’s data in any form (including individual details, images or videos), consent to publish must be obtained from that person, or in the case of children, their parent or legal guardian. All presentations of case reports must have consent to publish.

You can use your institutional consent form if you prefer. You should not send the form to us on submission, but we may request to see a copy at any stage (including after publication).

See our editorial policies for more information on consent for publication.

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Availability of data and materials

All manuscripts must include an ‘Availability of data and materials’ statement. Data availability statements should include information on where data supporting the results reported in the article can be found including, where applicable, hyperlinks to publicly archived datasets analysed or generated during the study. By data we mean the minimal dataset that would be necessary to interpret, replicate and build upon the findings reported in the article. We recognise it is not always possible to share research data publicly, for instance when individual privacy could be compromised, and in such instances data availability should still be stated in the manuscript along with any conditions for access.

Data availability statements can take one of the following forms (or a combination of more than one if required for multiple datasets):

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available in the [NAME] repository, [PERSISTENT WEB LINK TO DATASETS]
The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files].
The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due [REASON WHY DATA ARE NOT PUBLIC] but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.
The data that support the findings of this study are available from [third party name] but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Data are however available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of [third party name].
Not applicable. If your manuscript does not contain any data, please state 'Not applicable' in this section.

More examples of template data availability statements, which include examples of openly available and restricted access datasets, are available here .

SpringerOpen also requires that authors cite any publicly available data on which the conclusions of the paper rely in the manuscript. Data citations should include a persistent identifier (such as a DOI) and should ideally be included in the reference list. Citations of datasets, when they appear in the reference list, should include the minimum information recommended by DataCite and follow journal style. Dataset identifiers including DOIs should be expressed as full URLs. For example:

Hao Z, AghaKouchak A, Nakhjiri N, Farahmand A. Global integrated drought monitoring and prediction system (GIDMaPS) data sets. figshare. 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.853801

With the corresponding text in the Availability of data and materials statement:

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available in the [NAME] repository, [PERSISTENT WEB LINK TO DATASETS]. [Reference number]

All financial and non-financial competing interests must be declared in this section.

See our editorial policies for a full explanation of competing interests. If you are unsure whether you or any of your co-authors have a competing interest please contact the editorial office.

Please use the authors’ initials to refer to each authors' competing interests in this section.

If you do not have any competing interests, please state "The authors declare that they have no competing interests" in this section.

All sources of funding for the research reported should be declared. The role of the funding body in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript should be declared.

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Please use initials to refer to each author's contribution in this section, for example: "FC analyzed and interpreted the patient data regarding the hematological disease and the transplant. RH performed the histological examination of the kidney, and was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript."

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Authors should obtain permission to acknowledge from all those mentioned in the Acknowledgements section.

See our editorial policies for a full explanation of acknowledgements and authorship criteria.

If you do not have anyone to acknowledge, please write "Not applicable" in this section.

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Authors' information

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You may choose to use this section to include any relevant information about the author(s) that may aid the reader's interpretation of the article, and understand the standpoint of the author(s). This may include details about the authors' qualifications, current positions they hold at institutions or societies, or any other relevant background information. Please refer to authors using their initials. Note this section should not be used to describe any competing interests.

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The full paper with all recommendations is published in “Consensus nomenclature rules for radiopharmaceutical chemistry — setting the record straight”, Coenen and Gee et al. (2017), Nuclear Medicine and Biology here .

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Rohrmann S, Overvad K, Bueno-de-Mesquita HB, Jakobsen MU, Egeberg R, Tjønneland A, et al. Meat consumption and mortality - results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. BMC Medicine. 2013;11:63.

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Frumin AM, Nussbaum J, Esposito M. Functional asplenia: demonstration of splenic activity by bone marrow scan. Blood 1979;59 Suppl 1:26-32.

Book chapter, or an article within a book

Wyllie AH, Kerr JFR, Currie AR. Cell death: the significance of apoptosis. In: Bourne GH, Danielli JF, Jeon KW, editors. International review of cytology. London: Academic; 1980. p. 251-306.

OnlineFirst chapter in a series (without a volume designation but with a DOI)

Saito Y, Hyuga H. Rate equation approaches to amplification of enantiomeric excess and chiral symmetry breaking. Top Curr Chem. 2007. doi:10.1007/128_2006_108.

Complete book, authored

Blenkinsopp A, Paxton P. Symptoms in the pharmacy: a guide to the management of common illness. 3rd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Science; 1998.

Online document

Doe J. Title of subordinate document. In: The dictionary of substances and their effects. Royal Society of Chemistry. 1999. http://www.rsc.org/dose/title of subordinate document. Accessed 15 Jan 1999.

Online database

Healthwise Knowledgebase. US Pharmacopeia, Rockville. 1998. http://www.healthwise.org. Accessed 21 Sept 1998.

Supplementary material/private homepage

Doe J. Title of supplementary material. 2000. http://www.privatehomepage.com. Accessed 22 Feb 2000.

University site

Doe, J: Title of preprint. http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/mydata.html (1999). Accessed 25 Dec 1999.

Doe, J: Trivial HTTP, RFC2169. ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2169.txt (1999). Accessed 12 Nov 1999.

Organization site

ISSN International Centre: The ISSN register. http://www.issn.org (2006). Accessed 20 Feb 2007.

Dataset with persistent identifier

Zheng L-Y, Guo X-S, He B, Sun L-J, Peng Y, Dong S-S, et al. Genome data from sweet and grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor). GigaScience Database. 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.5524/100012 .

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Home » Original Research – Definition, Examples, Guide

Original Research – Definition, Examples, Guide

Table of Contents

Original Research

Definition:

Original research refers to a type of research that involves the collection and analysis of new and original data to answer a specific research question or to test a hypothesis. This type of research is conducted by researchers who aim to generate new knowledge or add to the existing body of knowledge in a particular field or discipline.

Types of Original Research

There are several types of original research that researchers can conduct depending on their research question and the nature of the data they are collecting. Some of the most common types of original research include:

Basic Research

This type of research is conducted to expand scientific knowledge and to create new theories, models, or frameworks. Basic research often involves testing hypotheses and conducting experiments or observational studies.

Applied Research

This type of research is conducted to solve practical problems or to develop new products or technologies. Applied research often involves the application of basic research findings to real-world problems.

Exploratory Research

This type of research is conducted to gather preliminary data or to identify research questions that need further investigation. Exploratory research often involves collecting qualitative data through interviews, focus groups, or observations.

Descriptive Research

This type of research is conducted to describe the characteristics or behaviors of a population or a phenomenon. Descriptive research often involves collecting quantitative data through surveys, questionnaires, or other standardized instruments.

Correlational Research

This type of research is conducted to determine the relationship between two or more variables. Correlational research often involves collecting quantitative data and using statistical analyses to identify correlations between variables.

Experimental Research

This type of research is conducted to test cause-and-effect relationships between variables. Experimental research often involves manipulating one or more variables and observing the effect on an outcome variable.

Longitudinal Research

This type of research is conducted over an extended period of time to study changes in behavior or outcomes over time. Longitudinal research often involves collecting data at multiple time points.

Original Research Methods

Original research can involve various methods depending on the research question, the nature of the data, and the discipline or field of study. However, some common methods used in original research include:

This involves the manipulation of one or more variables to test a hypothesis. Experimental research is commonly used in the natural sciences, such as physics, chemistry, and biology, but can also be used in social sciences, such as psychology.

Observational Research

This involves the collection of data by observing and recording behaviors or events without manipulation. Observational research can be conducted in the natural setting of the behavior or in a laboratory setting.

Survey Research

This involves the collection of data from a sample of participants using questionnaires or interviews. Survey research is commonly used in social sciences, such as sociology, political science, and economics.

Case Study Research

This involves the in-depth analysis of a single case, such as an individual, organization, or event. Case study research is commonly used in social sciences and business studies.

Qualitative research

This involves the collection and analysis of non-numerical data, such as interviews, focus groups, and observation notes. Qualitative research is commonly used in social sciences, such as anthropology, sociology, and psychology.

Quantitative research

This involves the collection and analysis of numerical data using statistical methods. Quantitative research is commonly used in natural sciences, such as physics, chemistry, and biology, as well as in social sciences, such as psychology and economics.

Researchers may also use a combination of these methods in their original research depending on their research question and the nature of their data.

Data Collection Methods

There are several data collection methods that researchers can use in original research, depending on the nature of the research question and the type of data that needs to be collected. Some of the most common data collection methods include:

Surveys : Surveys involve asking participants to respond to a series of questions about their attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, or experiences. Surveys can be conducted in person, over the phone, through email, or online.
Interviews : Interviews involve asking participants open-ended questions about their experiences, beliefs, or behaviors. Interviews can be conducted in person, over the phone, or through video conferencing.
Observations : Observations involve observing and recording participants’ behaviors or interactions in a natural or laboratory setting. Observations can be conducted using structured or unstructured methods.
Experiments : Experiments involve manipulating one or more variables and observing the effect on an outcome variable. Experiments can be conducted in a laboratory or in the natural environment.
Case studies: Case studies involve conducting an in-depth analysis of a single case, such as an individual, organization, or event. Case studies can involve the collection of qualitative or quantitative data.
Focus groups: Focus groups involve bringing together a small group of participants to discuss a specific topic or issue. Focus groups can be conducted in person or online.
Document analysis: Document analysis involves collecting and analyzing written or visual materials, such as reports, memos, or videos, to answer research questions.

Data Analysis Methods

Once data has been collected in original research, it needs to be analyzed to answer research questions and draw conclusions. There are various data analysis methods that researchers can use, depending on the type of data collected and the research question. Some common data analysis methods used in original research include:

Descriptive statistics: This involves using statistical measures such as mean, median, mode, and standard deviation to describe the characteristics of the data.
Inferential statistics: This involves using statistical methods to infer conclusions about a population based on a sample of data.
Regression analysis: This involves examining the relationship between two or more variables by using statistical models that predict the value of one variable based on the value of one or more other variables.
Content analysis: This involves analyzing written or visual materials, such as documents, videos, or social media posts, to identify patterns, themes, or trends.
Qualitative analysis: This involves analyzing non-numerical data, such as interview transcripts or observation notes, to identify themes, patterns, or categories.
Grounded theory: This involves developing a theory or model based on the data collected in the study.
Mixed methods analysis: This involves combining quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the research question.

How to Conduct Original Research

Conducting original research involves several steps that researchers need to follow to ensure that their research is valid, reliable, and produces meaningful results. Here are some general steps that researchers can follow to conduct original research:

Identify the research question: The first step in conducting original research is to identify a research question that is relevant, significant, and feasible. The research question should be specific and focused to guide the research process.
Conduct a literature review: Once the research question is identified, researchers should conduct a thorough literature review to identify existing research on the topic. This will help them identify gaps in the existing knowledge and develop a research plan that builds on previous research.
Develop a research plan: Researchers should develop a research plan that outlines the methods they will use to collect and analyze data. The research plan should be detailed and include information on the population and sample, data collection methods, data analysis methods, and ethical considerations.
Collect data: Once the research plan is developed, researchers can begin collecting data using the methods identified in the plan. It is important to ensure that the data collection process is consistent and accurate to ensure the validity and reliability of the data.
Analyze data: Once the data is collected, researchers should analyze it using appropriate data analysis methods. This will help them answer the research question and draw conclusions from the data.
Interpret results: After analyzing the data, researchers should interpret the results and draw conclusions based on the findings. This will help them answer the research question and make recommendations for future research or practical applications.
Communicate findings: Finally, researchers should communicate their findings to the appropriate audience using a format that is appropriate for the research question and audience. This may include writing a research paper, presenting at a conference, or creating a report for a client or stakeholder.

Purpose of Original Research

The purpose of original research is to generate new knowledge and understanding in a particular field of study. Original research is conducted to address a research question, hypothesis, or problem and to produce empirical evidence that can be used to inform theory, policy, and practice. By conducting original research, researchers can:

Expand the existing knowledge base: Original research helps to expand the existing knowledge base by providing new information and insights into a particular phenomenon. This information can be used to develop new theories, models, or frameworks that explain the phenomenon in greater depth.
Test existing theories and hypotheses: Original research can be used to test existing theories and hypotheses by collecting empirical evidence and analyzing the data. This can help to refine or modify existing theories, or to develop new ones that better explain the phenomenon.
Identify gaps in the existing knowledge: Original research can help to identify gaps in the existing knowledge base by highlighting areas where further research is needed. This can help to guide future research and identify new research questions that need to be addressed.
Inform policy and practice: Original research can be used to inform policy and practice by providing empirical evidence that can be used to make decisions and develop interventions. This can help to improve the quality of life for individuals and communities, and to address social, economic, and environmental challenges.

How to publish Original Research

Publishing original research involves several steps that researchers need to follow to ensure that their research is accepted and published in reputable academic journals. Here are some general steps that researchers can follow to publish their original research:

Select a suitable journal: Researchers should identify a suitable academic journal that publishes research in their field of study. The journal should have a good reputation and a high impact factor, and should be a good fit for the research topic and methods used.
Review the submission guidelines: Once a suitable journal is identified, researchers should review the submission guidelines to ensure that their manuscript meets the journal’s requirements. The guidelines may include requirements for formatting, length, and content.
Write the manuscript : Researchers should write the manuscript in accordance with the submission guidelines and academic standards. The manuscript should include a clear research question or hypothesis, a description of the research methods used, an analysis of the data collected, and a discussion of the results and their implications.
Submit the manuscript: Once the manuscript is written, researchers should submit it to the selected journal. The submission process may require the submission of a cover letter, abstract, and other supporting documents.
Respond to reviewer feedback: After the manuscript is submitted, it will be reviewed by experts in the field who will provide feedback on the quality and suitability of the research. Researchers should carefully review the feedback and revise the manuscript accordingly.
Respond to editorial feedback: Once the manuscript is revised, it will be reviewed by the journal’s editorial team who will provide feedback on the formatting, style, and content of the manuscript. Researchers should respond to this feedback and make any necessary revisions.
Acceptance and publication: If the manuscript is accepted, the journal will inform the researchers and the manuscript will be published in the journal. If the manuscript is not accepted, researchers can submit it to another journal or revise it further based on the feedback received.

How to Identify Original Research

To identify original research, there are several factors to consider:

The research question: Original research typically starts with a novel research question or hypothesis that has not been previously explored or answered in the existing literature.
The research design: Original research should have a clear and well-designed research methodology that follows appropriate scientific standards. The methodology should be described in detail in the research article.
The data: Original research should include new data that has not been previously published or analyzed. The data should be collected using appropriate research methods and analyzed using valid statistical methods.
The results: Original research should present new findings or insights that have not been previously reported in the existing literature. The results should be presented clearly and objectively, and should be supported by the data collected.
The discussion and conclusions: Original research should provide a clear and objective interpretation of the results, and should discuss the implications of the research findings. The discussion and conclusions should be based on the data collected and the research question or hypothesis.
The references: Original research should be supported by references to existing literature, which should be cited appropriately in the research article.

Advantages of Original Research

Original research has several advantages, including:

Generates new knowledge: Original research is conducted to answer novel research questions or hypotheses, which can generate new knowledge and insights into various fields of study.
Supports evidence-based decision making: Original research provides empirical evidence that can inform decision-making in various fields, such as medicine, public policy, and business.
Enhances academic and professional reputation: Conducting original research and publishing in reputable academic journals can enhance a researcher’s academic and professional reputation.
Provides opportunities for collaboration: Original research can provide opportunities for collaboration between researchers, institutions, and organizations, which can lead to new partnerships and research projects.
Advances scientific and technological progress: Original research can contribute to scientific and technological progress by providing new knowledge and insights into various fields of study, which can inform further research and development.
Can lead to practical applications: Original research can have practical applications in various fields, such as medicine, engineering, and social sciences, which can lead to new products, services, and policies that benefit society.

Limitations of Original Research

Original research also has some limitations, which include:

Time and resource constraints: Original research can be time-consuming and expensive, requiring significant resources to design, execute, and analyze the research data.
Ethical considerations: Conducting original research may raise ethical considerations, such as ensuring the privacy and confidentiality of research participants, obtaining informed consent, and avoiding conflicts of interest.
Risk of bias: Original research may be subject to biases, such as selection bias, measurement bias, and publication bias, which can affect the validity and reliability of the research findings.
Generalizability: Original research findings may not be generalizable to larger populations or different contexts, which can limit the applicability of the research findings.
Replicability: Original research may be difficult to replicate, which can limit the ability of other researchers to verify the research findings.
Limited scope: Original research may have a limited scope, focusing on a specific research question or hypothesis, which can limit the breadth of the research findings.

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Original Research Articles

Definition : An original research article communicates the research question, methods, results, and conclusions of a research study or experiment conducted by the author(s). These articles present original research data or findings generated through the course of the authors' study and an analysis of that data or information.

Published in Journals : Origingal research articles are published in scientific journals, also called scholarly or academic journals. These can be published in print and/or online. Journals are serial publications, meaning they publish volumes and issues on a schedule continually over time, similar to a magazine but for a scholarly audience. You can access journals through many of the library's databases. A list of recommended databases to use to search for original articles on biology subjects can be found through this link , accessible from the database "subject" dropdown on the library homepage.

Peer Reviewed : Prior to being published, original research articles undergo a process called peer review in an effort to ensure that published articles are based on sound research that adheres to established standards in the discipline. This means that after an article is first submitted to a journal, it is reviewed by other scientists who are experts in the article's subject area. These individuals review the article and provide unbiased feedback about the soundness of the background information, research methods, analysis, conclusions, logic, and reasoning of any conclusions; the author needs to incorporate and/or respond to recommended edits before an article will be published. Though it isn't perfect, peer review is the best quality control mechanism that scholars currently have in place to validate the quality of published research.

Peer reviewed articles will often be published with "Received", "Accepted", and "Published" dates, which indicates the timeline of the peer review process.

Structure : Traditionally, an original research article follows a standardized structure known by the acronym IMRD, which stands for Introduction, Methods, Results, & Discussion. Further information about the IMRD structure is available on the Reading Original Research Articles tab of this guide.

Why is Published Original Research Important?

Current information : Typical publication turnaround varies, but can be as quick as ~3 months.

Replicable : The studies published in original research articles contain enough methodological detail to be replicated so research can be verified (though this is a topic of recent debate ).

Contains Raw Data : The raw original research data, along with information about experimental conditions, allows for reuse of results for your own research or analysis.

Shows Logic : Using the provided data and methods, you can evaluate the logic of the authors' conclusions.

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Finding original (or "scientific") research articles: Where do I find these articles?

Definition and description
Where do I find these articles?
How do I understand them?
What's the point?

Quick answer...

Library research databases!

In databases, you can narrow down your options to research articles (also sometimes listed as "scholarly" and/or "peer reviewed" in databases) -- or choose a database that ONLY includes research articles. In the box below are a few good starting options, but you can also see all of the TCC library research databases via the link below.

Complete List of TCC Library Research Databases Click here to view all of the research databases available at your TCC Library

Popular research databases

EBSCOhost databases
ScienceDirect

The Academic Search Complete, CINAHL, and PsycARTICLES databases (all published by EbscoHost) include many original research articles. (The direct links to these databases are at the bottom of this box.)

Search tips:

Type your topic into the first one or two search boxes and then use another box to type: "methods OR results OR study" as shown here in the second box. Use the drop down menu to choose the ABSTRACT search field for all boxes. Click search.

Limit to academic journals:

Limit the results list by checking the "Academic Journals" limiter on the left side of the results page

You will still need to examine the individual articles looking for the characteristics listed under the "Definition and description" tab on this guide to be sure of finding the right kind of article.

Explore these databases:

The ProQuest databases also include scientific research articles. There is a larger number and mix of article types in ProQuest, so you may need to look through a larger number of articles to find what you need.

Click on ADVANCED SEARCH, then enter your search terms in one or two search boxes and results OR methods in the second or third box. As in EbscoHost, change the search field to "Abstract".

Limit your results to scholarly journals:

Quite a bit further down the screen, limit the search as shown below:

As you look through your results, you will need to examine the characteristics of the individual articles to make certain they are what you need.

Explore the ProQuest database:

ScienceDirect is a database that only includes scholarly, scientific articles!

Advanced Search tips:

If you go to the "Advanced Search" option, you can see there is an option below the search boxes to narrow down to "research articles"

screenshot of ScienceDirect advanced search

Explore ScienceDirect:

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Next: How do I understand them? >>
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Long-acting prescriptions and therapy for hiv-1 from market launch to the present in germany (may 2021 to december 2023).

1 Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany
2 Hannover Medical School, Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany

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In Europe, the combination of cabotegravir (CAB) with rilpivirine (RPV) has been approved as a dual injection long-acting (LA) therapy for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infections in adults since December 2020. Studies have shown that between 36% and 61% of people living with HIV (PLWHIV) prefer LA therapy. However, there are no real-world data on the number of people receiving LA therapy, in Germany or internationally. The aim of this study was to assess the current situation and trends in usage of LA therapy for the treatment of HIV-1 in Germany.Based on pharmacy prescription data derived from Insight Health, the monthly number of prescriptions for oral CAB, CAB-LA, and RPV-LA over the entire period of availability in Germany was analyzed and evaluated (May 2021 to December 2023). The number of 1st and 2nd initiation injections and subsequent maintenance injections was calculated on the basis of the prescriptions for oral CAB initiation.The bimonthly schedule resulted in two growing cohorts from September 2021 with an estimated 14,523 CAB-LA prescriptions over the entire period. Accordingly, in December 2023, there were approximately 1,364 people living with HIV (PLWHIV) receiving LA therapy, of whom 1,318 were receiving maintenance therapy. Only treatments with bimonthly regimens were carried out.Extrapolating toAccounting for people not covered by statutory health insurance (~13%), a total of ~1,600 PLWHIV were receiving LA therapy in Germany in December 2023.The average rounded annual cost of therapy in 2023 was €11,940 (maintenance therapy with initiation) and €10,950 (maintenance therapy without initiation).

Keywords: Cabotegravir (CAB), Rilpivirine (RPV), long-acting (LA) HIV therapy, HIV treatment, Injectables, Germany

Received: 20 Mar 2024; Accepted: 07 May 2024.

Copyright: © 2024 Schmidt, Kollan and Stoll. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Daniel Schmidt, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Published: 08 May 2024

Structural pharmacology and therapeutic potential of 5-methoxytryptamines

Audrey L. Warren ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1538-8648 1 na1 ,
David Lankri ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1210-5673 2 na1 ,
Michael J. Cunningham 2 ,
Inis C. Serrano ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3588-821X 2 ,
Lyonna F. Parise ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7527-8977 3 ,
Andrew C. Kruegel 2 ,
Priscilla Duggan ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9728-282X 2 ,
Gregory Zilberg 4 ,
Michael J. Capper ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0102-6993 1 ,
Vaclav Havel ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6911-4669 2 ,
Scott J. Russo ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6470-1805 3 ,
Dalibor Sames ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6911-2260 2 , 4 &
Daniel Wacker ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4951-7230 1 , 3

Nature ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Cryoelectron microscopy
Molecular neuroscience
Receptor pharmacology
Stress and resilience

Psychedelic substances such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin show potential for the treatment of various neuropsychiatric disorders 1 , 2 , 3 . These compounds are thought to mediate their hallucinogenic and therapeutic effects through the serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)) receptor 5-HT 2A (ref. 4 ). However, 5-HT 1A also plays a part in the behavioural effects of tryptamine hallucinogens 5 , particularly 5-methoxy- N,N -dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT), a psychedelic found in the toxin of Colorado River toads 6 . Although 5-HT 1A is a validated therapeutic target 7 , 8 , little is known about how psychedelics engage 5-HT 1A and which effects are mediated by this receptor. Here we map the molecular underpinnings of 5-MeO-DMT pharmacology through five cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structures of 5-HT 1A , systematic medicinal chemistry, receptor mutagenesis and mouse behaviour. Structure–activity relationship analyses of 5-methoxytryptamines at both 5-HT 1A and 5-HT 2A enable the characterization of molecular determinants of 5-HT 1A signalling potency, efficacy and selectivity. Moreover, we contrast the structural interactions and in vitro pharmacology of 5-MeO-DMT and analogues to the pan-serotonergic agonist LSD and clinically used 5-HT 1A agonists. We show that a 5-HT 1A -selective 5-MeO-DMT analogue is devoid of hallucinogenic-like effects while retaining anxiolytic-like and antidepressant-like activity in socially defeated animals. Our studies uncover molecular aspects of 5-HT 1A -targeted psychedelics and therapeutics, which may facilitate the future development of new medications for neuropsychiatric disorders.

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The promises and perils of psychedelic pharmacology for psychiatry

Structure-activity relationships of serotonergic 5-MeO-DMT derivatives: insights into psychoactive and thermoregulatory properties

(2-Aminopropyl)benzo[β]thiophenes (APBTs) are novel monoamine transporter ligands that lack stimulant effects but display psychedelic-like activity in mice

Data availability.

Density maps and structure coordinates have been deposited into the Electron Microscopy Data Bank (EMDB) and the PDB with the following accession identifiers: EMD-29560 and PDB 8FY8 for 5-MeO-DMT–5-HT 1A –Gα i1 –Gβ 1 –Gγ 2 ; EMD-29597 and PDB 8FYT for LSD–5-HT 1A –Gα i1 –Gβ 1 -Gγ 2 ; EMD-29571 and PDB 8FYE for 4-F,5-MeO-PyrT–5-HT 1A –Gα i1 –Gβ 1 –Gγ 2 ; EMD-29585 and PDB 8FYL for vilazodone–5-HT 1A –Gα i1 –Gβ 1 –Gγ 2 ; and EMD-29599 and PDB 8FYX for buspirone–5-HT 1A –Gα i1 –Gβ 1 –Gγ 2 . Source data are provided with this paper. Additional data from this study are available upon request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by NIH grant R35GM133504, a Sloan Research Fellowship in Neuroscience, an Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr Foundation Grant, a McKnight Foundation Scholars Award, an Irma T. Hirschl/Monique Weill-Caulier Trust Research Award (all to D.W.); an NIH F31 MH132317 (A.L.W), and T32 Training Grant GM062754 and DA053558 (A.L.W and G.Z.); the G. Harold & Leila Y. Mathers Charitable Foundation, the NIH grant R01DA050613, G.L. Freeman, and Columbia University for support of this work (all to D.S.); and the following NIH grants: R01MH127820 and R01MH104559 (S.J.R.). L.F.P is supported by the Leon Levy Foundation and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. Some of this work was performed at the National Center for CryoEM Access and Training (NCCAT) and the Simons Electron Microscopy Center located at the New York Structural Biology Center, supported by the NIH Common Fund Transformative High Resolution Cryo-Electron Microscopy program (U24 GM129539) and by grants from the Simons Foundation (SF349247) and NY State Assembly. We further acknowledge cryo-EM resources at the National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy located at the New York Structural Biology Center, supported by grants from the Simons Foundation (SF349247), NYSTAR, and the NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences (GM103310) with additional support from Agouron Institute (F00316) and NIH (OD019994). For additional data collection, we are grateful to staff at the Laboratory for BioMolecular Structure (LBMS), which is supported by the DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research (KP160711). This work was supported in part through the computational and data resources and staff expertise provided by Scientific Computing and Data at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and supported by the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) grant ULTR004419 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. We thank B. Bechand for early examination of in vivo pharmacology of the described compounds assisted by V. C. Galicia; C. Hwu for assistance with synthesis and purification of several compounds (all at Columbia University); and F. Zandkarimi from the Columbia University Chemistry Department Mass Spectrometry Core Facility for conducting the high-resolution mass spectrometry experiments.

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These authors contributed equally: Audrey L. Warren, David Lankri

Authors and Affiliations

Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

Audrey L. Warren, Michael J. Capper & Daniel Wacker

Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

David Lankri, Michael J. Cunningham, Inis C. Serrano, Andrew C. Kruegel, Priscilla Duggan, Vaclav Havel & Dalibor Sames

Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

Lyonna F. Parise, Scott J. Russo & Daniel Wacker

Zuckerman Institute of Mind, Brain, Behavior, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

Gregory Zilberg & Dalibor Sames

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Contributions

D.S., A.C.K, M. J. Cunningham and D.L. conceived and initiated the project. A.L.W. designed experiments, expressed and purified protein for grid freezing, collected data, refined structures with help from M. J. Capper, performed signalling and uptake assays, and co-wrote the manuscript. D.L. designed, synthesized, purified and characterized compounds with assistance from V.H., and co-wrote the manuscript. M. J. Cunningham designed, synthesized, purified and characterized compounds. D.L., V.H. and D.S. designed and supervised the pharmacokinetics study. L.F.P. performed the chronic SD stress assay and subsequent behavioural analyses supervised by S.J.R. I.C.S. designed and performed in vivo pharmacology assays, including the open-field and HTR assays, with assistance from P.D. G.Z. prepared grids for structure determination and assisted with data collection. D.S. and D.W. conceptualized the overall project and designed experiments, analysed the data, supervised the project and management, and wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Dalibor Sames or Daniel Wacker .

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The authors declare the following competing financial interests: D.S. and A.C.K. are co-founders of Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals and Kures. M. J. Cunningham is a co-founder of Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals. A.L.W., D.L., I.C.S., L.F.P., S.J.R., D.S. and D.W. are inventors on a patent application related to the featured compound class. D.W. has consulted for Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Longboard Pharmaceuticals and Ocean Bio on the design of psychedelic-based therapeutics. None of the companies listed herein contributed to the funding or experimental design. All other authors declare no competing interests.

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Extended data figures and tables

Extended data fig. 1 cryo-em structure determination of drug-bound 5-ht 1a -gαi1/gβ1/gγ2 complexes..

a , Representative structure determination of 5-MeO-DMT-bound 5-HT 1A signalling complex. Top Left , Analytical size exclusion chromatography and SDS-PAGE show monodisperse and pure protein of intact complex and its components. Right , representative Cryo-EM micrograph (white bar indicates scale) of 4680 total micrographs and data processing schematic exemplified by 5-MeO-DMT-bound 5-HT 1A -Gi1 structure: After particle picking, 2D classification and multiple rounds of 3D classification, the final particle stack was refined using non-uniform refinement. A final map was obtained and resolutions were estimated applying the 0.143 cutoff in GS-FSC. Initial models were built in COOT, and then further refined in PHENIX for the generation of final coordinates shown in this manuscript. b , Local resolution map of a 5-MeO-DMT-bound 5-HT 1A -Gi1 complex ( left ) and FSC curves ( right ) calculated based on the final reconstruction in cryoSPARC. c , 5-MeO-DMT (yellow) in the orthosteric binding pocket from the side ( left ) and rotated 45° towards the top of the receptor ( right ) with the map of ligand and surround residue densities shown at 5σ.

Source data

Extended data fig. 2 comparison of different 5-ht 1a structures and differences in binding of lsd to 5-ht 1a and 5-ht 2a ..

a , Superposition of herein reported 5-MeO-DMT-bound 5-HT 1A -Gi complex with the previously reported 5-HT-bound 5-HT 1A -Gi structure (PDB ID: 7E2Y ) shows similar conformations. Additional residues in 5-HT 1A ’s EL2 and G proteins not observed in previous structures are highlighted in red. b , Lipids (blue) and cholesterol hemisuccinate (dark blue) are bound to similar sites as observed before. c , Local resolution map of a LSD-bound 5-HT 1A -Gi1 complex ( left ) and FSC curves ( right ) calculated the final reconstruction in cryoSPARC. d , LSD (grey) in the orthosteric binding pocket from the side ( top ) and rotated 45° towards the top of the receptor ( bottom ) with the map of ligand and surround residue densities shown at 5σ. e , LSD shows distinct binding modes bound to 5-HT 1A -Gi signalling complex and 5-HT 2A (PDB ID: 6WGT ). Left , 5-HT 1A -bound LSD (grey) sits deeper in the binding pocket compared to 5-HT 2A -bound LSD (orange). Zoom in of LSD in 5-HT 1A -Gi structure ( middle ) and 5-HT 2A structure ( right ) highlights differential stereochemistry and receptor-specific interactions of diethylamide moiety. Hydrogen bonds are indicated as grey dashed lines.

Extended Data Fig. 3 Global structure-activity landscape of tryptamine psychedelics at 5-HT 1A and 5-HT 2A receptors and their synthesis.

a , Overview of the cryo-EM structure of the 5HT 1A receptor-Gi signalling complex bound to 5-MeO-DMT ( center ). Classic psychedelics such as the prototypical compounds DMT and LSD are agonists of both 5-HT 1A and 5-HT 2A receptors ( left semi-circle ). 5-MeO-DMT ( top of the circle ), a major psychoactive compound found in toad secretions, shows comparable potency and efficacy at both 5-HT 1A and 5-HT 2A receptors. Systematic structural mapping via elaboration of the core 5-MeO-DMT structure identifies a class of 5-MeO-tryptamines with increasing 5-HT 1A selectivity ( right hemi-circle ). 5-MeO-DMT can be viewed as a deconstruction of ibogaine, a oneirogen with a complex polycyclic tryptamine structure ( bottom of the circle ). Iboga compounds show no activity at 5-HT 1A and 5-HT 2A receptors, but this activity re-emerges by deconstruction of the isoquinuclidine core to simple mono-cyclic tryptamines such as 5-MeO-PipT (5-methoxypiperidinyl-tryptamine) and 4-F,5-MeO-PyrT (4-fluoro, 5-methoxypyrrolidinyl-tryptamine, right hemi-circle). Images of peyote, mushrooms, ayahuasca, and toad are from iStock and ShutterStock, and Tabernanthe iboga schematic is adapted from previous work 65 . b , General synthesis methodology of tryptamines. a. oxalyl chloride, b. MeOH, LAH, c. PPh3, CBr4, d. Amine, TEA, e. Amine, f. LAH.

Extended Data Fig. 4 Structural comparison of 5-MeO-DMT 5-HT1A-selective analog 4-F, 5-MeO-PyrT bound to 5-HT 1A .

a , Local resolution map of a 4-F,5-MeO-PyrT-bound 5-HT 1A -Gi1 complex ( left ) and FSC curves ( right ) calculated from the final reconstruction in cryoSPARC. b , 4-F,5-MeO-PyrT (dark blue) in the orthosteric binding pocket from the side ( left ) and rotated 45° towards the top of the receptor ( right ) with the map of ligand and surrounding residue densities shown at 5σ. c , structural side-by-side comparison of 5-HT 1A orthosteric site bound to 5-MeO-DMT (yellow) and 4-F,5-MeO-PyrT (dark blue). d , cAMP accumulation assays using wildtype and mutant 5-HT 1A , and different drugs. Concentration-response experiments reveal different sensitivities of distinct drugs to F361L mutation. All signalling studies were performed in triplicates and are averaged from two to three independent experiments. Data have been normalized against 5-HT and errors bars denote s.e.m.

Extended Data Fig. 5 Comparison of 4-F,5-MeO-PyrT binding pose to that of different clinical 5-HT 1A drugs.

a , b , Local resolution maps of vilazodone-bound ( a ) and buspirone-bound ( b ) 5-HT 1A -Gi1 complexes and corresponding FSC curves calculated from the final reconstructions in cryoSPARC. c , d , Vilazodone ( c , green) and buspirone ( d , teal) in the orthosteric binding pocket from the side ( left ) and rotated 45° towards the top of the receptor ( right ) with the density map of ligand and surrounding residues shown at 5σ. e-h , Extracellular view of 4-F,5-MeO-PyrT ( e , dark blue), Vilazodone ( f , green), Aripiprazole ( g , magenta, PDB ID: 7E2Z ), and Buspirone ( h , teal) binding poses in 5-HT 1A ’s orthosteric site.

Extended Data Fig. 6 Selectivity of different 5-MeO-DMT analogs and off-target activity of 4-F,5-MeO-PyrT.

a , 5-HT 1A -Gi and 5-HT 2A -Gq BRET of 5-HT, 5-MeO-DMT, 5-MeO-MET, and 4-F,5-MeO-PyrT with respective potencies and 5-HT 1A > 5-HT 2A selectivities. b , Off-target inhibition of transporters SERT, PMAT, OCT1, and OCT2 by 4-F,5-MeO-PyrT and known inhibitors. SERT uptake was performed in triplicates and data was averaged from two independent experiments showing data as mean+s.e.m. PMAT, OCT1, and OCT2 uptake was performed once in quadruplicate. c, Arrestin-recruitment of 5-HT and 4-F,5-MeO-PyrT at all human 5-HT receptor subtypes except for 5-HT 7A , whose activation was measured via cAMP stimulation. All functional studies were performed in triplicates and are averaged from two to three independent experiments. Data have been normalized against 5-HT, Citalopram, and Decynium-22, and errors bars denote the s.e.m.

Extended Data Fig. 7 Effects of 5-MeO-DMT derivatives on rodent behavior.

a , Evaluation of 4-F,5-MeO-PyrT in open field for two hours (n = 3-4/group). b , Exemplary traces of the ambulatory distance traveled in open field following 4-F,5-MeO-PyrT (1 mg/kg, s.c.) administration and with and without WAY-100635 pre-treatment (1 mg/kg, s.c., 15 min prior). Panel was created with BioRender.com. c , Effect of WAY-100635 (1 mg/kg, s.c., 15 min prior) on 4-F,5-MeO-PyrT’s and 5-MeO-MET’s effect on total locomotion (n = 7 - 8/group, 30 min). d , Determination of optimal inhibitory WAY-100635 dose via administration of 1 mg/kg and 2 mg/kg WAY-100635 prior to studying 4-F,5-MeO-PyrT’s effects on total locomotion (n = 7 - 8 /group) and HTR (n = 6/group). Analysis was done using one-way ANOVA with multiple comparisons with Tukey’s post hoc test, and exact p values have been denoted in the Figure. e-g , Effects of saline or 4-F,5-MeO-PyrT administration on control (Control) or chronically defeated mice (Stress). Determination of e , distance moved as a measure of locomotor activity, f , social interaction as a measure of anxiety- and depression-related phenotype, g , corner time as a measure of anxiety-like behavior. Analysis was done in a sub-cohort of the animals reported in Fig. 5d . Number of mice for each group is indicated below the data for each respective cohort. Differences were determined by two-way ANOVA with multiple comparisons using Fisher’s LSD post hoc test, and exact p values have been denoted in the Figure. h , Vehicle- and drug-treated stressed mice shown in Fig. 5d were divided into susceptible (SI ratio<1) and resilient (SI ratio>1) populations. Significance in the population shift was determined by a two-sided Fisher’s exact test and p value and number of mice have been denoted in the Figure. Error bars denote the s.e.m.

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Painting of early Early, deep sea vents and volcanic explosions

Unravelling life’s origin: five key breakthroughs from the past five years

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Seán Jordan receives funding from European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 1101114969) and from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI Pathway award 22/PATH-S/10692). He is affiliated with the Origin of Life Early-career Network (OoLEN).

Louise Gillet de Chalonge receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 1101114969). She is affiliated with the Origin of Life Early-career Network (OoLEN).

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There is still so much we don’t understand about the origin of life on Earth.

The definition of life itself is a source of debate among scientists, but most researchers agree on the fundamental ingredients of a living cell. Water, energy, and a few essential elements are the prerequisites for cells to emerge. However, the exact details of how this happens remain a mystery.

Recent research has focused on trying to recreate in the lab the chemical reactions that constitute life as we know it, in conditions plausible for early Earth (around 4 billion years ago). Experiments have grown in complexity, thanks to technological progress and a better understanding of what early Earth conditions were like.

However, far from bringing scientists together and settling the debate, the rise of experimental work has led to many contradictory theories. Some scientists think that life emerged in deep-sea hydrothermal vents , where the conditions provided the necessary energy. Others argue that hot springs on land would have provided a better setting because they are more likely to hold organic molecules from meteorites. These are just two possibilities which are being investigated.

Here are five of the most remarkable discoveries over the last five years.

Reactions in early cells

What energy source drove the chemical reactions at the origin of life? This is the mystery that a research team in Germany has sought to unravel. The team delved into the feasibility of 402 reactions known to create some of the essential components of life, such as nucleotides (a building block of DNA and RNA). They did this using some of the most common elements that could have been found on the early Earth.

These reactions, present in modern cells, are also believed to be the core metabolism of LUCA, the last universal common ancestor , a single-cell, bacterium-like organism.

For each reaction, they calculated the changes in free energy, which determines if a reaction can go forward without other external sources of energy. What is fascinating is that many of these reactions were independent of external influences like adenosine triphosphate , a universal source of energy in living cells.

The synthesis of life’s fundamental building blocks didn’t need an external energy boost: it was self-sustaining.

Volcanic glass

Life relies on molecules to store and convey information. Scientists think that RNA (ribonucleic acid) strands were precursors to DNA in fulfilling this role, since their structure is more simple.

The emergence of RNA on our planet has long confused researchers. However, some progress has been made recently. In 2022, a team of collaborators in the US generated stable RNA strands in the lab. They did it by passing nucleotides through volcanic glass. The strands they made were long enough to store and transfer information.

Volcanic glass was present on the early Earth, thanks to frequent meteorite impacts coupled with a high volcanic activity. The nucleotides used in the study are also believed to have been present at that time in Earth’s history. Volcanic rocks could have facilitated the chemical reactions that assembled nucleotides into RNA chains.

Hydrothermal vents

Carbon fixation is a process in which CO₂ gains electrons. It is necessary to build the molecules that form the basis of life.

An electron donor is necessary to drive this reaction. On the early Earth, H₂ could have been the electron donor. In 2020, a team of collaborators showed that this reaction could spontaneously occur and be fuelled by environmental conditions similar to deep-sea alkaline hydrothermal vents in the early ocean. They did this using microfluidic technology , devices that manipulate tiny volumes of liquids to perform experiments by simulating alkaline vents.

This pathway is strikingly similar to how many modern bacterial and archaeal cells (single-cell organisms without a nucleas) operate.

The Krebs Cycle

In modern cells, carbon fixation is followed by a cascade of chemical reactions that assemble or break down molecules, in intricate metabolic networks that are driven by enzymes.

But scientists are still debating how metabolic reactions unfolded before the emergence and evolution of those enzymes. In 2019, a team from the University of Strasbourg in France made a breakthrough . They showed that ferrous iron, a type of iron that was abundant in early Earth’s crust and ocean, could drive nine out of 11 steps of the Krebs Cycle . The Krebs Cycle is a biological pathway present in many living cells.

Here, ferrous iron acted as the electron donor for carbon fixation, which drove the cascade of reactions. The reactions produced all five of the universal metabolic precursors – five molecules that are fundamental across various metabolic pathways in all living organisms.

Building blocks of ancient cell membranes

Understanding the formation of life’s building blocks and their intricate reactions is a big step forward in comprehending the emergence of life.

However, whether they unfolded in hot springs on land or in the deep sea, these reactions would not have gone far without a cell membrane. Cell membranes play an active role in the biochemistry of a primitive cell and its connection with the environment.

Modern cell membranes are mostly composed of compounds called phospholipids, which contain a hydrophilic head and two hydrophobic tails. They are structured in bilayers, with the hydrophilic heads pointing outward and the hydrophobic tails pointing inward.

Research has shown that some components of phospholipids, such as the fatty acids that constitute the tails, can self-assemble into those bilayer membranes in a range of environmental conditions . But were these fatty acids present on the early Earth? Recent research from Newcastle University, UK gives an interesting answer. Researchers recreated the spontaneous formation of these molecules by combining H₂-rich fluids, likely present in ancient alkaline hydrothermal vents, with CO₂-rich water resembling the early ocean.

This breakthrough aligns with the hypothesis that stable fatty acid membranes could have originated in alkaline hydrothermal vents, potentially progressing into living cells. The authors speculated that similar chemical reactions might unfold in the subsurface oceans of icy moons, which are thought to have hydrothermal vents similar to terrestrial ones.

Each of these discoveries adds a new piece to the puzzle of the origin of life. Regardless of which ones are proved correct, contrasting theories are fuelling the search for answers. As Charles Darwin wrote :

False facts are highly injurious to the progress of science for they often long endure: but false views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm, for everyone takes a salutary pleasure in proving their falseness; and when this is done, one path towards error is closed and the road to truth is often at the same time opened.

Chemical reactions
Origins of Life
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General formatting information

File formats

Additional information for TeX/LaTeX users

Style and language

Data and materials

Formatting the 'Availability of data and materials' section of your manuscript

What should be cited?

Preparing figures

Figure file types

Figure size and resolution

Figure file compression

Preparing tables

Preparing additional files

Annual Journal Metrics

Affiliated with

Original Research – Definition, Examples, Guide

Original Research

Types of Original Research

Basic Research

Applied Research

Exploratory Research

Descriptive Research

Correlational Research

Experimental Research

Longitudinal Research

Original Research Methods

Observational Research

Survey Research

Case Study Research

Qualitative research

Quantitative research

Data Collection Methods

Data Analysis Methods

How to Conduct Original Research

Purpose of Original Research

How to publish Original Research

How to Identify Original Research

Advantages of Original Research

Limitations of Original Research

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

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