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Research Publishing Process: Clinical Trials
Research Publishing Process: Clinical Trials
cancer. To make medical advances, they conduct research studies. They carry out
these studies in the lab or with volunteers in the clinic. Studies that involve people
are known as clinical trials. Well-designed research helps answer key questions
about how cancer works in the body. They also show what tests and treatments may
work best.
However, the results of these studies cannot improve cancer care unless other
doctors know about them. The main way that scientists can share their findings is by
publishing it in medical journals. They may publish their own research, which
describes the results of a study they conducted. Or they may write a review article. A
review article looks at all of the published research on a certain topic.
Most cancer research studies are written for other doctors and scientists. But it is
becoming more common for patients to read these studies. Patients may do this
while researching their type of cancer and the treatment options. Since research
studies use scientific terms, it may be hard for a person without a science
background to interpret them. Therefore, it is important to talk with your health care
team about the research in a journal article.
Cancer research journals are published in print and online formats. This includes
the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO’s) journals. Most journals
are published on a weekly, biweekly, monthly, or quarterly basis.
Before appearing in a journal, an article is reviewed by subject matter experts. This
means that editors ask peer reviewers to read the articles. Peer reviewers are
researchers who are experts in the subject and were not involved in the study.
These experts decide whether the research data and results are valid.
This section includes data about how, how much, and how often the
treatment was given. The researchers also state what outcome, or
result, they were measuring. For instance, this may include the length
of survival or the amount of tumor shrinkage. It also shows how the
data were analyzed.
You can also use large, online databases, which provide study abstracts. One
popular database that is used in the cancer research field is PubMed. PubMed is a
service of the National Library of Medicine. It includes more than 22 million citations
from a wide range of scientific journals. A citation is a reference to a source that
provides information. This includes the article title, author names, and journal title.
Using this database may be hard. It contains huge numbers of articles. But you can
make it easier by searching for only cancer-related articles. If you cannot find details
on a certain topic, try to include more medical terms in your search. For example, try
“renal cell carcinoma” instead of “kidney cancer.”
Abstracts can often be accessed online for free. You may not be able to read the
complete journal article if you do not subscribe to the journal. But you may be able to
pay a one-time fee for a certain article.