article review template

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An article review is a critical evaluation of a scholarly or scientific piece, which aims to summarize its main ideas, assess its contributions, and provide constructive feedback. A well-written review not only benefits the author of the article under scrutiny but also serves as a valuable resource for fellow researchers and scholars. Follow these steps to create an effective and informative article review:

1. Understand the purpose: Before diving into the article, it is important to understand the intent of writing a review. This helps in focusing your thoughts, directing your analysis, and ensuring your review adds value to the academic community.

2. Read the article thoroughly: Carefully read the article multiple times to get a complete understanding of its content, arguments, and conclusions. As you read, take notes on key points, supporting evidence, and any areas that require further exploration or clarification.

3. Summarize the main ideas: In your review’s introduction, briefly outline the primary themes and arguments presented by the author(s). Keep it concise but sufficiently informative so that readers can quickly grasp the essence of the article.

4. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses: In subsequent paragraphs, assess the strengths and limitations of the article based on factors such as methodology, quality of evidence presented, coherence of arguments, and alignment with existing literature in the field. Be fair and objective while providing your critique.

5. Discuss any implications: Deliberate on how this particular piece contributes to or challenges existing knowledge in its discipline. You may also discuss potential improvements for future research or explore real-world applications stemming from this study.

6. Provide recommendations: Finally, offer suggestions for both the author(s) and readers regarding how they can further build on this work or apply its findings in practice.

7. Proofread and revise: Once your initial draft is complete, go through it carefully for clarity, accuracy, and coherence. Revise as necessary, ensuring your review is both informative and engaging for readers.

Sample Review:

A Critical Review of “The Effects of Social Media on Mental Health”

Introduction:

“The Effects of Social Media on Mental Health” is a timely article which investigates the relationship between social media usage and psychological well-being. The authors present compelling evidence to support their argument that excessive use of social media can result in decreased self-esteem, increased anxiety, and a negative impact on interpersonal relationships.

Strengths and weaknesses:

One of the strengths of this article lies in its well-structured methodology utilizing a variety of sources, including quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews. This approach provides a comprehensive view of the topic, allowing for a more nuanced understanding of the effects of social media on mental health. However, it would have been beneficial if the authors included a larger sample size to increase the reliability of their conclusions. Additionally, exploring how different platforms may influence mental health differently could have added depth to the analysis.

Implications:

The findings in this article contribute significantly to ongoing debates surrounding the psychological implications of social media use. It highlights the potential dangers that excessive engagement with online platforms may pose to one’s mental well-being and encourages further research into interventions that could mitigate these risks. The study also offers an opportunity for educators and policy-makers to take note and develop strategies to foster healthier online behavior.

Recommendations:

Future researchers should consider investigating how specific social media platforms impact mental health outcomes, as this could lead to more targeted interventions. For practitioners, implementing educational programs aimed at promoting healthy online habits may be beneficial in mitigating the potential negative consequences associated with excessive social media use.

Conclusion:

Overall, “The Effects of Social Media on Mental Health” is an important and informative piece that raises awareness about a pressing issue in today’s digital age. Given its minor limitations, it provides valuable

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How to Write an Article Review: Template & Examples

An article review is an academic assignment that invites you to study a piece of academic research closely. Then, you should present its summary and critically evaluate it using the knowledge you’ve gained in class and during your independent study. If you get such a task at college or university, you shouldn’t confuse it with a response paper, which is a distinct assignment with other purposes (we’ll talk about it in detail below).

Our specialists will write a custom essay specially for you!

In this article, prepared by Custom-Writing experts, you’ll find:

• the intricacies of article review writing;
• the difference between an article review and similar assignments;
• a step-by-step algorithm for review composition;
• a couple of samples to guide you throughout the writing process.

So, if you wish to study our article review example and discover helpful writing tips, keep reading.

❓ What Is an Article Review?

• ✍️ Writing Steps

📑 Article Review Format

🔗 references.

An article review is an academic paper that summarizes and critically evaluates the information presented in your selected article.

The first thing you should note when approaching the task of an article review is that not every article is suitable for this assignment. Let’s have a look at the variety of articles to understand what you can choose from.

Popular Vs. Scholarly Articles

In most cases, you’ll be required to review a scholarly, peer-reviewed article – one composed in compliance with rigorous academic standards. Yet, the Web is also full of popular articles that don’t present original scientific value and shouldn’t be selected for a review.

Just in 1 hour! We will write you a plagiarism-free paper in hardly more than 1 hour

Not sure how to distinguish these two types? Here is a comparative table to help you out.

Article Review vs. Response Paper

Now, let’s consider the difference between an article review and a response paper:

• If you’re assigned to critique a scholarly article , you will need to compose an article review .
• If your subject of analysis is a popular article , you can respond to it with a well-crafted response paper .

The reason for such distinctions is the quality and structure of these two article types. Peer-reviewed, scholarly articles have clear-cut quality criteria, allowing you to conduct and present a structured assessment of the assigned material. Popular magazines have loose or non-existent quality criteria and don’t offer an opportunity for structured evaluation. So, they are only fit for a subjective response, in which you can summarize your reactions and emotions related to the reading material.

All in all, you can structure your response assignments as outlined in the tips below.

✍️ How to Write an Article Review: Step by Step

Here is a tried and tested algorithm for article review writing from our experts. We’ll consider only the critical review variety of this academic assignment. So, let’s get down to the stages you need to cover to get a stellar review.

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Read the Article

As with any reviews, reports, and critiques, you must first familiarize yourself with the assigned material. It’s impossible to review something you haven’t read, so set some time for close, careful reading of the article to identify:

• The author’s main points and message.
• The arguments they use to prove their points.
• The methodology they use to approach the subject.

In terms of research type , your article will usually belong to one of three types explained below.

Summarize the Article

Now that you’ve read the text and have a general impression of the content, it’s time to summarize it for your readers. Look into the article’s text closely to determine:

• The thesis statement , or general message of the author.
• Research question, purpose, and context of research.
• Supporting points for the author’s assumptions and claims.
• Major findings and supporting evidence.

As you study the article thoroughly, make notes on the margins or write these elements out on a sheet of paper. You can also apply a different technique: read the text section by section and formulate its gist in one phrase or sentence. Once you’re done, you’ll have a summary skeleton in front of you.

Evaluate the Article

The next step of review is content evaluation. Keep in mind that various research types will require a different set of review questions. Here is a complete list of evaluation points you can include.

Get an originally-written paper according to your instructions!

Write the Text

After completing the critical review stage, it’s time to compose your article review.

The format of this assignment is standard – you will have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. The introduction should present your article and summarize its content. The body will contain a structured review according to all four dimensions covered in the previous section. The concluding part will typically recap all the main points you’ve identified during your assessment.

It is essential to note that an article review is, first of all, an academic assignment. Therefore, it should follow all rules and conventions of academic composition, such as:

• No contractions . Don’t use short forms, such as “don’t,” “can’t,” “I’ll,” etc. in academic writing. You need to spell out all those words.
• Formal language and style . Avoid conversational phrasing and words that you would naturally use in blog posts or informal communication. For example, don’t use words like “pretty,” “kind of,” and “like.”
• Third-person narrative . Academic reviews should be written from the third-person point of view, avoiding statements like “I think,” “in my opinion,” and so on.
• No conversational forms . You shouldn’t turn to your readers directly in the text by addressing them with the pronoun “you.” It’s vital to keep the narrative neutral and impersonal.
• Proper abbreviation use . Consult the list of correct abbreviations , like “e.g.” or “i.e.,” for use in your academic writing. If you use informal abbreviations like “FYA” or “f.i.,” your professor will reduce the grade.
• Complete sentences . Make sure your sentences contain the subject and the predicate; avoid shortened or sketch-form phrases suitable for a draft only.
• No conjunctions at the beginning of a sentence . Remember the FANBOYS rule – don’t start a sentence with words like “and” or “but.” They often seem the right way to build a coherent narrative, but academic writing rules disfavor such usage.
• No abbreviations or figures at the beginning of a sentence . Never start a sentence with a number — spell it out if you need to use it anyway. Besides, sentences should never begin with abbreviations like “e.g.”

Finally, a vital rule for an article review is properly formatting the citations. We’ll discuss the correct use of citation styles in the following section.

When composing an article review, keep these points in mind:

• Start with a full reference to the reviewed article so the reader can locate it quickly.
• Ensure correct formatting of in-text references.
• Provide a complete list of used external sources on the last page of the review – your bibliographical entries .

You’ll need to understand the rules of your chosen citation style to meet all these requirements. Below, we’ll discuss the two most common referencing styles – APA and MLA.

Article Review in APA

When you need to compose an article review in the APA format , here is the general bibliographical entry format you should use for journal articles on your reference page:

• Author’s last name, First initial. Middle initial. (Year of Publication). Name of the article. Name of the Journal, volume (number), pp. #-#. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy

Horigian, V. E., Schmidt, R. D., & Feaster, D. J. (2021). Loneliness, mental health, and substance use among US young adults during COVID-19. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 53 (1), pp. 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2020.1836435

Your in-text citations should follow the author-date format like this:

• If you paraphrase the source and mention the author in the text: According to Horigian et al. (2021), young adults experienced increased levels of loneliness, depression, and anxiety during the pandemic.
• If you paraphrase the source and don’t mention the author in the text: Young adults experienced increased levels of loneliness, depression, and anxiety during the pandemic (Horigian et al., 2021).
• If you quote the source: As Horigian et al. (2021) point out, there were “elevated levels of loneliness, depression, anxiety, alcohol use, and drug use among young adults during COVID-19” (p. 6).

Note that your in-text citations should include “et al.,” as in the examples above, if your article has 3 or more authors. If you have one or two authors, your in-text citations would look like this:

• One author: “According to Smith (2020), depression is…” or “Depression is … (Smith, 2020).”
• Two authors: “According to Smith and Brown (2020), anxiety means…” or “Anxiety means (Smith & Brown, 2020).”

Finally, in case you have to review a book or a website article, here are the general formats for citing these source types on your APA reference list.

Article Review in MLA

If your assignment requires MLA-format referencing, here’s the general format you should use for citing journal articles on your Works Cited page:

• Author’s last name, First name. “Title of an Article.” Title of the Journal , vol. #, no. #, year, pp. #-#.

Horigian, Viviana E., et al. “Loneliness, Mental Health, and Substance Use Among US Young Adults During COVID-19.” Journal of Psychoactive Drugs , vol. 53, no. 1, 2021, pp. 1-9.

In-text citations in the MLA format follow the author-page citation format and look like this:

• According to Horigian et al., young adults experienced increased levels of loneliness, depression, and anxiety during the pandemic (6).
• Young adults experienced increased levels of loneliness, depression, and anxiety during the pandemic (Horigian et al. 6).

Like in APA, the abbreviation “et al.” is only needed in MLA if your article has 3 or more authors.

If you need to cite a book or a website page, here are the general MLA formats for these types of sources.

✅ Article Review Template

Here is a handy, universal article review template to help you move on with any review assignment. We’ve tried to make it as generic as possible to guide you in the academic process.

📝 Article Review Examples

The theory is good, but practice is even better. Thus, we’ve created three brief examples to show you how to write an article review. You can study the full-text samples by following the links.

📃 Men, Women, & Money  

This article review examines a famous piece, “Men, Women & Money – How the Sexes Differ with Their Finances,” published by Amy Livingston in 2020. The author of this article claims that men generally spend more money than women. She makes this conclusion from a close analysis of gender-specific expenditures across five main categories: food, clothing, cars, entertainment, and general spending patterns. Livingston also looks at men’s approach to saving to argue that counter to the common perception of women’s light-hearted attitude to money, men are those who spend more on average.

📃 When and Why Nationalism Beats Globalism

This is a review of Jonathan Heidt’s 2016 article titled “When and Why Nationalism Beats Globalism,” written as an advocacy of right-wing populism rising in many Western states. The author illustrates the case with the election of Donald Trump as the US President and the rise of right-wing rhetoric in many Western countries. These examples show how nationalist sentiment represents a reaction to global immigration and a failure of globalization.

📃 Sleep Deprivation  

This is a review of the American Heart Association’s article titled “The Dangers of Sleep Deprivation.” It discusses how the national organization concerned with the American population’s cardiovascular health links the lack of high-quality sleep to far-reaching health consequences. The organization’s experts reveal how a consistent lack of sleep leads to Alzheimer’s disease development, obesity, type 2 diabetes, etc.

✏️ Article Review FAQ

A high-quality article review should summarize the assigned article’s content and offer data-backed reactions and evaluations of its quality in terms of the article’s purpose, methodology, and data used to argue the main points. It should be detailed, comprehensive, objective, and evidence-based.

The purpose of writing a review is to allow students to reflect on research quality and showcase their critical thinking and evaluation skills. Students should exhibit their mastery of close reading of research publications and their unbiased assessment.

The content of your article review will be the same in any format, with the only difference in the assignment’s formatting before submission. Ensure you have a separate title page made according to APA standards and cite sources using the parenthetical author-date referencing format.

You need to take a closer look at various dimensions of an assigned article to compose a valuable review. Study the author’s object of analysis, the purpose of their research, the chosen method, data, and findings. Evaluate all these dimensions critically to see whether the author has achieved the initial goals. Finally, offer improvement recommendations to add a critique aspect to your paper.

• Scientific Article Review: Duke University
• Book and Article Reviews: William & Mary, Writing Resources Center
• Sample Format for Reviewing a Journal Article: Boonshoft School of Medicine
• Research Paper Review – Structure and Format Guidelines: New Jersey Institute of Technology
• Article Review: University of Waterloo
• Article Review: University of South Australia
• How to Write a Journal Article Review: University of Newcastle Library Guides
• Writing Help: The Article Review: Central Michigan University Libraries
• Write a Critical Review of a Scientific Journal Article: McLaughlin Library
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• Critical Reviews

How to Write an Article Review (With Examples)

Last Updated: April 24, 2024 Fact Checked

Preparing to Write Your Review

Writing the article review, sample article reviews, expert q&a.

This article was co-authored by Jake Adams . Jake Adams is an academic tutor and the owner of Simplifi EDU, a Santa Monica, California based online tutoring business offering learning resources and online tutors for academic subjects K-College, SAT & ACT prep, and college admissions applications. With over 14 years of professional tutoring experience, Jake is dedicated to providing his clients the very best online tutoring experience and access to a network of excellent undergraduate and graduate-level tutors from top colleges all over the nation. Jake holds a BS in International Business and Marketing from Pepperdine University. There are 12 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 3,102,196 times.

An article review is both a summary and an evaluation of another writer's article. Teachers often assign article reviews to introduce students to the work of experts in the field. Experts also are often asked to review the work of other professionals. Understanding the main points and arguments of the article is essential for an accurate summation. Logical evaluation of the article's main theme, supporting arguments, and implications for further research is an important element of a review . Here are a few guidelines for writing an article review.

Education specialist Alexander Peterman recommends: "In the case of a review, your objective should be to reflect on the effectiveness of what has already been written, rather than writing to inform your audience about a subject."

Article Review 101

• Read the article very closely, and then take time to reflect on your evaluation. Consider whether the article effectively achieves what it set out to.
• Write out a full article review by completing your intro, summary, evaluation, and conclusion. Don't forget to add a title, too!
• Proofread your review for mistakes (like grammar and usage), while also cutting down on needless information.

• Article reviews present more than just an opinion. You will engage with the text to create a response to the scholarly writer's ideas. You will respond to and use ideas, theories, and research from your studies. Your critique of the article will be based on proof and your own thoughtful reasoning.
• An article review only responds to the author's research. It typically does not provide any new research. However, if you are correcting misleading or otherwise incorrect points, some new data may be presented.
• An article review both summarizes and evaluates the article.

• Summarize the article. Focus on the important points, claims, and information.
• Discuss the positive aspects of the article. Think about what the author does well, good points she makes, and insightful observations.
• Identify contradictions, gaps, and inconsistencies in the text. Determine if there is enough data or research included to support the author's claims. Find any unanswered questions left in the article.

• Make note of words or issues you don't understand and questions you have.
• Look up terms or concepts you are unfamiliar with, so you can fully understand the article. Read about concepts in-depth to make sure you understand their full context.

• Pay careful attention to the meaning of the article. Make sure you fully understand the article. The only way to write a good article review is to understand the article.

• With either method, make an outline of the main points made in the article and the supporting research or arguments. It is strictly a restatement of the main points of the article and does not include your opinions.
• After putting the article in your own words, decide which parts of the article you want to discuss in your review. You can focus on the theoretical approach, the content, the presentation or interpretation of evidence, or the style. You will always discuss the main issues of the article, but you can sometimes also focus on certain aspects. This comes in handy if you want to focus the review towards the content of a course.
• Review the summary outline to eliminate unnecessary items. Erase or cross out the less important arguments or supplemental information. Your revised summary can serve as the basis for the summary you provide at the beginning of your review.

• What does the article set out to do?
• What is the theoretical framework or assumptions?
• Are the central concepts clearly defined?
• How adequate is the evidence?
• How does the article fit into the literature and field?
• Does it advance the knowledge of the subject?
• How clear is the author's writing? Don't: include superficial opinions or your personal reaction. Do: pay attention to your biases, so you can overcome them.

• For example, in MLA , a citation may look like: Duvall, John N. "The (Super)Marketplace of Images: Television as Unmediated Mediation in DeLillo's White Noise ." Arizona Quarterly 50.3 (1994): 127-53. Print. [9] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source

• For example: The article, "Condom use will increase the spread of AIDS," was written by Anthony Zimmerman, a Catholic priest.

• Your introduction should only be 10-25% of your review.
• End the introduction with your thesis. Your thesis should address the above issues. For example: Although the author has some good points, his article is biased and contains some misinterpretation of data from others’ analysis of the effectiveness of the condom.

• Use direct quotes from the author sparingly.
• Review the summary you have written. Read over your summary many times to ensure that your words are an accurate description of the author's article.

• Support your critique with evidence from the article or other texts.
• The summary portion is very important for your critique. You must make the author's argument clear in the summary section for your evaluation to make sense.
• Remember, this is not where you say if you liked the article or not. You are assessing the significance and relevance of the article.
• Use a topic sentence and supportive arguments for each opinion. For example, you might address a particular strength in the first sentence of the opinion section, followed by several sentences elaborating on the significance of the point.

• This should only be about 10% of your overall essay.
• For example: This critical review has evaluated the article "Condom use will increase the spread of AIDS" by Anthony Zimmerman. The arguments in the article show the presence of bias, prejudice, argumentative writing without supporting details, and misinformation. These points weaken the author’s arguments and reduce his credibility.

• Make sure you have identified and discussed the 3-4 key issues in the article.

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• ↑ https://libguides.cmich.edu/writinghelp/articlereview
• ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4548566/
• ↑ Jake Adams. Academic Tutor & Test Prep Specialist. Expert Interview. 24 July 2020.
• ↑ https://guides.library.queensu.ca/introduction-research/writing/critical
• ↑ https://www.iup.edu/writingcenter/writing-resources/organization-and-structure/creating-an-outline.html
• ↑ https://writing.umn.edu/sws/assets/pdf/quicktips/titles.pdf
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_periodicals.html
• ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4548565/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/593/2014/06/How_to_Summarize_a_Research_Article1.pdf
• ↑ https://www.uis.edu/learning-hub/writing-resources/handouts/learning-hub/how-to-review-a-journal-article
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/

About This Article

If you have to write an article review, read through the original article closely, taking notes and highlighting important sections as you read. Next, rewrite the article in your own words, either in a long paragraph or as an outline. Open your article review by citing the article, then write an introduction which states the article’s thesis. Next, summarize the article, followed by your opinion about whether the article was clear, thorough, and useful. Finish with a paragraph that summarizes the main points of the article and your opinions. To learn more about what to include in your personal critique of the article, keep reading the article! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to Write an Article Review: Tips and Examples

Did you know that article reviews are not just academic exercises but also a valuable skill in today's information age? In a world inundated with content, being able to dissect and evaluate articles critically can help you separate the wheat from the chaff. Whether you're a student aiming to excel in your coursework or a professional looking to stay well-informed, mastering the art of writing article reviews is an invaluable skill.

Short Description

In this article, our research paper writing service experts will start by unraveling the concept of article reviews and discussing the various types. You'll also gain insights into the art of formatting your review effectively. To ensure you're well-prepared, we'll take you through the pre-writing process, offering tips on setting the stage for your review. But it doesn't stop there. You'll find a practical example of an article review to help you grasp the concepts in action. To complete your journey, we'll guide you through the post-writing process, equipping you with essential proofreading techniques to ensure your work shines with clarity and precision!

What Is an Article Review: Grasping the Concept 

A review article is a type of professional paper writing that demands a high level of in-depth analysis and a well-structured presentation of arguments. It is a critical, constructive evaluation of literature in a particular field through summary, classification, analysis, and comparison.

If you write a scientific review, you have to use database searches to portray the research. Your primary goal is to summarize everything and present a clear understanding of the topic you've been working on.

Writing Involves:

• Summarization, classification, analysis, critiques, and comparison.
• The analysis, evaluation, and comparison require the use of theories, ideas, and research relevant to the subject area of the article.
• It is also worth nothing if a review does not introduce new information, but instead presents a response to another writer's work.
• Check out other samples to gain a better understanding of how to review the article.

Types of Review

When it comes to article reviews, there's more than one way to approach the task. Understanding the various types of reviews is like having a versatile toolkit at your disposal. In this section, we'll walk you through the different dimensions of review types, each offering a unique perspective and purpose. Whether you're dissecting a scholarly article, critiquing a piece of literature, or evaluating a product, you'll discover the diverse landscape of article reviews and how to navigate it effectively.

Journal Article Review

Just like other types of reviews, a journal article review assesses the merits and shortcomings of a published work. To illustrate, consider a review of an academic paper on climate change, where the writer meticulously analyzes and interprets the article's significance within the context of environmental science.

Research Article Review

Distinguished by its focus on research methodologies, a research article review scrutinizes the techniques used in a study and evaluates them in light of the subsequent analysis and critique. For instance, when reviewing a research article on the effects of a new drug, the reviewer would delve into the methods employed to gather data and assess their reliability.

Science Article Review

In the realm of scientific literature, a science article review encompasses a wide array of subjects. Scientific publications often provide extensive background information, which can be instrumental in conducting a comprehensive analysis. For example, when reviewing an article about the latest breakthroughs in genetics, the reviewer may draw upon the background knowledge provided to facilitate a more in-depth evaluation of the publication.

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Formatting an Article Review

The format of the article should always adhere to the citation style required by your professor. If you're not sure, seek clarification on the preferred format and ask him to clarify several other pointers to complete the formatting of an article review adequately.

How Many Publications Should You Review?

• In what format should you cite your articles (MLA, APA, ASA, Chicago, etc.)?
• What length should your review be?
• Should you include a summary, critique, or personal opinion in your assignment?
• Do you need to call attention to a theme or central idea within the articles?
• Does your instructor require background information?

When you know the answers to these questions, you may start writing your assignment. Below are examples of MLA and APA formats, as those are the two most common citation styles.

Using the APA Format

Articles appear most commonly in academic journals, newspapers, and websites. If you write an article review in the APA format, you will need to write bibliographical entries for the sources you use:

• Web : Author [last name], A.A [first and middle initial]. (Year, Month, Date of Publication). Title. Retrieved from {link}
• Journal : Author [last name], A.A [first and middle initial]. (Publication Year). Publication Title. Periodical Title, Volume(Issue), pp.-pp.
• Newspaper : Author [last name], A.A [first and middle initial]. (Year, Month, Date of Publication). Publication Title. Magazine Title, pp. xx-xx.

Using MLA Format

• Web : Last, First Middle Initial. “Publication Title.” Website Title. Website Publisher, Date Month Year Published. Web. Date Month Year Accessed.
• Newspaper : Last, First M. “Publication Title.” Newspaper Title [City] Date, Month, Year Published: Page(s). Print.
• Journal : Last, First M. “Publication Title.” Journal Title Series Volume. Issue (Year Published): Page(s). Database Name. Web. Date Month Year Accessed.

Enhance your writing effortlessly with EssayPro.com , where you can order an article review or any other writing task. Our team of expert writers specializes in various fields, ensuring your work is not just summarized, but deeply analyzed and professionally presented. Ideal for students and professionals alike, EssayPro offers top-notch writing assistance tailored to your needs. Elevate your writing today with our skilled team at your article review writing service !

The Pre-Writing Process

Facing this task for the first time can really get confusing and can leave you unsure of where to begin. To create a top-notch article review, start with a few preparatory steps. Here are the two main stages from our dissertation services to get you started:

Step 1: Define the right organization for your review. Knowing the future setup of your paper will help you define how you should read the article. Here are the steps to follow:

• Summarize the article — seek out the main points, ideas, claims, and general information presented in the article.
• Define the positive points — identify the strong aspects, ideas, and insightful observations the author has made.
• Find the gaps —- determine whether or not the author has any contradictions, gaps, or inconsistencies in the article and evaluate whether or not he or she used a sufficient amount of arguments and information to support his or her ideas.
• Identify unanswered questions — finally, identify if there are any questions left unanswered after reading the piece.

Step 2: Move on and review the article. Here is a small and simple guide to help you do it right:

• Start off by looking at and assessing the title of the piece, its abstract, introductory part, headings and subheadings, opening sentences in its paragraphs, and its conclusion.
• First, read only the beginning and the ending of the piece (introduction and conclusion). These are the parts where authors include all of their key arguments and points. Therefore, if you start with reading these parts, it will give you a good sense of the author's main points.
• Finally, read the article fully.

These three steps make up most of the prewriting process. After you are done with them, you can move on to writing your own review—and we are going to guide you through the writing process as well.

Outline and Template

As you progress with reading your article, organize your thoughts into coherent sections in an outline. As you read, jot down important facts, contributions, or contradictions. Identify the shortcomings and strengths of your publication. Begin to map your outline accordingly.

If your professor does not want a summary section or a personal critique section, then you must alleviate those parts from your writing. Much like other assignments, an article review must contain an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Thus, you might consider dividing your outline according to these sections as well as subheadings within the body. If you find yourself troubled with the pre-writing and the brainstorming process for this assignment, seek out a sample outline.

Your custom essay must contain these constituent parts:

• Pre-Title Page - Before diving into your review, start with essential details: article type, publication title, and author names with affiliations (position, department, institution, location, and email). Include corresponding author info if needed.
• Running Head - In APA format, use a concise title (under 40 characters) to ensure consistent formatting.
• Summary Page - Optional but useful. Summarize the article in 800 words, covering background, purpose, results, and methodology, avoiding verbatim text or references.
• Title Page - Include the full title, a 250-word abstract, and 4-6 keywords for discoverability.
• Introduction - Set the stage with an engaging overview of the article.
• Body - Organize your analysis with headings and subheadings.
• Works Cited/References - Properly cite all sources used in your review.
• Optional Suggested Reading Page - If permitted, suggest further readings for in-depth exploration.
• Tables and Figure Legends (if instructed by the professor) - Include visuals when requested by your professor for clarity.

Example of an Article Review

You might wonder why we've dedicated a section of this article to discuss an article review sample. Not everyone may realize it, but examining multiple well-constructed examples of review articles is a crucial step in the writing process. In the following section, our essay writing service experts will explain why.

Looking through relevant article review examples can be beneficial for you in the following ways:

• To get you introduced to the key works of experts in your field.
• To help you identify the key people engaged in a particular field of science.
• To help you define what significant discoveries and advances were made in your field.
• To help you unveil the major gaps within the existing knowledge of your field—which contributes to finding fresh solutions.
• To help you find solid references and arguments for your own review.
• To help you generate some ideas about any further field of research.
• To help you gain a better understanding of the area and become an expert in this specific field.
• To get a clear idea of how to write a good review.

View Our Writer’s Sample Before Crafting Your Own!

Why Have There Been No Great Female Artists?

Steps for Writing an Article Review

Here is a guide with critique paper format on how to write a review paper:

Step 1: Write the Title

First of all, you need to write a title that reflects the main focus of your work. Respectively, the title can be either interrogative, descriptive, or declarative.

Step 2: Cite the Article

Next, create a proper citation for the reviewed article and input it following the title. At this step, the most important thing to keep in mind is the style of citation specified by your instructor in the requirements for the paper. For example, an article citation in the MLA style should look as follows:

Author's last and first name. "The title of the article." Journal's title and issue(publication date): page(s). Print

Abraham John. "The World of Dreams." Virginia Quarterly 60.2(1991): 125-67. Print.

Step 3: Article Identification

After your citation, you need to include the identification of your reviewed article:

• Title of the article
• Title of the journal
• Year of publication

All of this information should be included in the first paragraph of your paper.

The report "Poverty increases school drop-outs" was written by Brian Faith – a Health officer – in 2000.

Step 4: Introduction

Your organization in an assignment like this is of the utmost importance. Before embarking on your writing process, you should outline your assignment or use an article review template to organize your thoughts coherently.

• If you are wondering how to start an article review, begin with an introduction that mentions the article and your thesis for the review.
• Follow up with a summary of the main points of the article.
• Highlight the positive aspects and facts presented in the publication.
• Critique the publication by identifying gaps, contradictions, disparities in the text, and unanswered questions.

Step 5: Summarize the Article

Make a summary of the article by revisiting what the author has written about. Note any relevant facts and findings from the article. Include the author's conclusions in this section.

Step 6: Critique It

Present the strengths and weaknesses you have found in the publication. Highlight the knowledge that the author has contributed to the field. Also, write about any gaps and/or contradictions you have found in the article. Take a standpoint of either supporting or not supporting the author's assertions, but back up your arguments with facts and relevant theories that are pertinent to that area of knowledge. Rubrics and templates can also be used to evaluate and grade the person who wrote the article.

Step 7: Craft a Conclusion

In this section, revisit the critical points of your piece, your findings in the article, and your critique. Also, write about the accuracy, validity, and relevance of the results of the article review. Present a way forward for future research in the field of study. Before submitting your article, keep these pointers in mind:

• As you read the article, highlight the key points. This will help you pinpoint the article's main argument and the evidence that they used to support that argument.
• While you write your review, use evidence from your sources to make a point. This is best done using direct quotations.
• Select quotes and supporting evidence adequately and use direct quotations sparingly. Take time to analyze the article adequately.
• Every time you reference a publication or use a direct quotation, use a parenthetical citation to avoid accidentally plagiarizing your article.
• Re-read your piece a day after you finish writing it. This will help you to spot grammar mistakes and to notice any flaws in your organization.
• Use a spell-checker and get a second opinion on your paper.

The Post-Writing Process: Proofread Your Work

Finally, when all of the parts of your article review are set and ready, you have one last thing to take care of — proofreading. Although students often neglect this step, proofreading is a vital part of the writing process and will help you polish your paper to ensure that there are no mistakes or inconsistencies.

To proofread your paper properly, start by reading it fully and checking the following points:

• Punctuation
• Other mistakes

Afterward, take a moment to check for any unnecessary information in your paper and, if found, consider removing it to streamline your content. Finally, double-check that you've covered at least 3-4 key points in your discussion.

And remember, if you ever need help with proofreading, rewriting your essay, or even want to buy essay , our friendly team is always here to assist you.

Need an Article REVIEW WRITTEN?

Just send us the requirements to your paper and watch one of our writers crafting an original paper for you.

What Is A Review Article?

How to write an article review, how to write an article review in apa format, related articles.

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A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Scientific Review Article

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Manisha Bahl, A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Scientific Review Article, Journal of Breast Imaging , Volume 5, Issue 4, July/August 2023, Pages 480–485, https://doi.org/10.1093/jbi/wbad028

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Scientific review articles are comprehensive, focused reviews of the scientific literature written by subject matter experts. The task of writing a scientific review article can seem overwhelming; however, it can be managed by using an organized approach and devoting sufficient time to the process. The process involves selecting a topic about which the authors are knowledgeable and enthusiastic, conducting a literature search and critical analysis of the literature, and writing the article, which is composed of an abstract, introduction, body, and conclusion, with accompanying tables and figures. This article, which focuses on the narrative or traditional literature review, is intended to serve as a guide with practical steps for new writers. Tips for success are also discussed, including selecting a focused topic, maintaining objectivity and balance while writing, avoiding tedious data presentation in a laundry list format, moving from descriptions of the literature to critical analysis, avoiding simplistic conclusions, and budgeting time for the overall process.

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How to Write a Peer Review

When you write a peer review for a manuscript, what should you include in your comments? What should you leave out? And how should the review be formatted?

This guide provides quick tips for writing and organizing your reviewer report.

Review Outline

Use an outline for your reviewer report so it’s easy for the editors and author to follow. This will also help you keep your comments organized.

Think about structuring your review like an inverted pyramid. Put the most important information at the top, followed by details and examples in the center, and any additional points at the very bottom.

Here’s how your outline might look:

1. Summary of the research and your overall impression

In your own words, summarize what the manuscript claims to report. This shows the editor how you interpreted the manuscript and will highlight any major differences in perspective between you and the other reviewers. Give an overview of the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses. Think about this as your “take-home” message for the editors. End this section with your recommended course of action.

2. Discussion of specific areas for improvement

It’s helpful to divide this section into two parts: one for major issues and one for minor issues. Within each section, you can talk about the biggest issues first or go systematically figure-by-figure or claim-by-claim. Number each item so that your points are easy to follow (this will also make it easier for the authors to respond to each point). Refer to specific lines, pages, sections, or figure and table numbers so the authors (and editors) know exactly what you’re talking about.

Major vs. minor issues

What’s the difference between a major and minor issue? Major issues should consist of the essential points the authors need to address before the manuscript can proceed. Make sure you focus on what is  fundamental for the current study . In other words, it’s not helpful to recommend additional work that would be considered the “next step” in the study. Minor issues are still important but typically will not affect the overall conclusions of the manuscript. Here are some examples of what would might go in the “minor” category:

• Missing references (but depending on what is missing, this could also be a major issue)
• Technical clarifications (e.g., the authors should clarify how a reagent works)
• Data presentation (e.g., the authors should present p-values differently)
• Typos, spelling, grammar, and phrasing issues

3. Any other points

Confidential comments for the editors.

Some journals have a space for reviewers to enter confidential comments about the manuscript. Use this space to mention concerns about the submission that you’d want the editors to consider before sharing your feedback with the authors, such as concerns about ethical guidelines or language quality. Any serious issues should be raised directly and immediately with the journal as well.

This section is also where you will disclose any potentially competing interests, and mention whether you’re willing to look at a revised version of the manuscript.

Do not use this space to critique the manuscript, since comments entered here will not be passed along to the authors.  If you’re not sure what should go in the confidential comments, read the reviewer instructions or check with the journal first before submitting your review. If you are reviewing for a journal that does not offer a space for confidential comments, consider writing to the editorial office directly with your concerns.

Get this outline in a template

Giving Feedback

Giving feedback is hard. Giving effective feedback can be even more challenging. Remember that your ultimate goal is to discuss what the authors would need to do in order to qualify for publication. The point is not to nitpick every piece of the manuscript. Your focus should be on providing constructive and critical feedback that the authors can use to improve their study.

If you’ve ever had your own work reviewed, you already know that it’s not always easy to receive feedback. Follow the golden rule: Write the type of review you’d want to receive if you were the author. Even if you decide not to identify yourself in the review, you should write comments that you would be comfortable signing your name to.

In your comments, use phrases like “ the authors’ discussion of X” instead of “ your discussion of X .” This will depersonalize the feedback and keep the focus on the manuscript instead of the authors.

General guidelines for effective feedback

• Justify your recommendation with concrete evidence and specific examples.
• Be specific so the authors know what they need to do to improve.
• Be thorough. This might be the only time you read the manuscript.
• Be professional and respectful. The authors will be reading these comments too.
• Remember to say what you liked about the manuscript!

Don’t

• Recommend additional experiments or  unnecessary elements that are out of scope for the study or for the journal criteria.
• Tell the authors exactly how to revise their manuscript—you don’t need to do their work for them.
• Use the review to promote your own research or hypotheses.
• Focus on typos and grammar. If the manuscript needs significant editing for language and writing quality, just mention this in your comments.
• Submit your review without proofreading it and checking everything one more time.

Before and After: Sample Reviewer Comments

Keeping in mind the guidelines above, how do you put your thoughts into words? Here are some sample “before” and “after” reviewer comments

✗ Before

“The authors appear to have no idea what they are talking about. I don’t think they have read any of the literature on this topic.”

✓ After

“The study fails to address how the findings relate to previous research in this area. The authors should rewrite their Introduction and Discussion to reference the related literature, especially recently published work such as Darwin et al.”

“The writing is so bad, it is practically unreadable. I could barely bring myself to finish it.”

“While the study appears to be sound, the language is unclear, making it difficult to follow. I advise the authors work with a writing coach or copyeditor to improve the flow and readability of the text.”

“It’s obvious that this type of experiment should have been included. I have no idea why the authors didn’t use it. This is a big mistake.”

“The authors are off to a good start, however, this study requires additional experiments, particularly [type of experiment]. Alternatively, the authors should include more information that clarifies and justifies their choice of methods.”

Suggested Language for Tricky Situations

You might find yourself in a situation where you’re not sure how to explain the problem or provide feedback in a constructive and respectful way. Here is some suggested language for common issues you might experience.

What you think : The manuscript is fatally flawed. What you could say: “The study does not appear to be sound” or “the authors have missed something crucial”.

What you think : You don’t completely understand the manuscript. What you could say : “The authors should clarify the following sections to avoid confusion…”

What you think : The technical details don’t make sense. What you could say : “The technical details should be expanded and clarified to ensure that readers understand exactly what the researchers studied.”

What you think: The writing is terrible. What you could say : “The authors should revise the language to improve readability.”

What you think : The authors have over-interpreted the findings. What you could say : “The authors aim to demonstrate [XYZ], however, the data does not fully support this conclusion. Specifically…”

What does a good review look like?

Check out the peer review examples at F1000 Research to see how other reviewers write up their reports and give constructive feedback to authors.

Time to Submit the Review!

Be sure you turn in your report on time. Need an extension? Tell the journal so that they know what to expect. If you need a lot of extra time, the journal might need to contact other reviewers or notify the author about the delay.

Tip: Building a relationship with an editor

You’ll be more likely to be asked to review again if you provide high-quality feedback and if you turn in the review on time. Especially if it’s your first review for a journal, it’s important to show that you are reliable. Prove yourself once and you’ll get asked to review again!

• Getting started as a reviewer
• Responding to an invitation
• Reading a manuscript
• Writing a peer review

The contents of the Peer Review Center are also available as a live, interactive training session, complete with slides, talking points, and activities. …

The contents of the Writing Center are also available as a live, interactive training session, complete with slides, talking points, and activities. …

There’s a lot to consider when deciding where to submit your work. Learn how to choose a journal that will help your study reach its audience, while reflecting your values as a researcher…

How to write a journal article review: Create a template

• What's in this Guide
• What is a journal article?

Create a template

• Choose your article to review
• Read your article carefully
• Do the writing
• Remember to edit
• Additional resources

It might be helpful to create a template for your assessment.

A template will help you to keep you focussed on the requirements of your task.

Here, you will allocate a percentage of your word count per section, to keep your arguments on point and in accordance with your task’s instructions.

For example, if you are asked to write a journal article review of 800 words, you could break it down like this:

Pathways and Academic Learning Support

• << Previous: What is a journal article?
• Next: Choose your article to review >>
• Last Updated: Apr 27, 2023 4:28 PM
• URL: https://libguides.newcastle.edu.au/how-to-write-a-journal-article-review

Peer review templates, expert examples and free training courses

Joanna Wilkinson

Learning how to write a constructive peer review is an essential step in helping to safeguard the quality and integrity of published literature. Read on for resources that will get you on the right track, including peer review templates, example reports and the Web of Science™ Academy: our free, online course that teaches you the core competencies of peer review through practical experience ( try it today ).

How to write a peer review

Understanding the principles, forms and functions of peer review will enable you to write solid, actionable review reports. It will form the basis for a comprehensive and well-structured review, and help you comment on the quality, rigor and significance of the research paper. It will also help you identify potential breaches of normal ethical practice.

This may sound daunting but it doesn’t need to be. There are plenty of peer review templates, resources and experts out there to help you, including:

Peer review training courses and in-person workshops

• Peer review templates ( found in our Web of Science Academy )
• Expert examples of peer review reports
• Co-reviewing (sharing the task of peer reviewing with a senior researcher)

Other peer review resources, blogs, and guidelines

We’ll go through each one of these in turn below, but first: a quick word on why learning peer review is so important.

Why learn to peer review?

Peer reviewers and editors are gatekeepers of the research literature used to document and communicate human discovery. Reviewers, therefore, need a sound understanding of their role and obligations to ensure the integrity of this process. This also helps them maintain quality research, and to help protect the public from flawed and misleading research findings.

Learning to peer review is also an important step in improving your own professional development.

You’ll become a better writer and a more successful published author in learning to review. It gives you a critical vantage point and you’ll begin to understand what editors are looking for. It will also help you keep abreast of new research and best-practice methods in your field.

We strongly encourage you to learn the core concepts of peer review by joining a course or workshop. You can attend in-person workshops to learn from and network with experienced reviewers and editors. As an example, Sense about Science offers peer review workshops every year. To learn more about what might be in store at one of these, researcher Laura Chatland shares her experience at one of the workshops in London.

There are also plenty of free, online courses available, including courses in the Web of Science Academy such as ‘Reviewing in the Sciences’, ‘Reviewing in the Humanities’ and ‘An introduction to peer review’

The Web of Science Academy also supports co-reviewing with a mentor to teach peer review through practical experience. You learn by writing reviews of preprints, published papers, or even ‘real’ unpublished manuscripts with guidance from your mentor. You can work with one of our community mentors or your own PhD supervisor or postdoc advisor, or even a senior colleague in your department.

Go to the Web of Science Academy

Peer review templates

Peer review templates are helpful to use as you work your way through a manuscript. As part of our free Web of Science Academy courses, you’ll gain exclusive access to comprehensive guidelines and a peer review report. It offers points to consider for all aspects of the manuscript, including the abstract, methods and results sections. It also teaches you how to structure your review and will get you thinking about the overall strengths and impact of the paper at hand.

• Web of Science Academy template (requires joining one of the free courses)
• PLoS’s review template
• Wiley’s peer review guide (not a template as such, but a thorough guide with questions to consider in the first and second reading of the manuscript)

Beyond following a template, it’s worth asking your editor or checking the journal’s peer review management system. That way, you’ll learn whether you need to follow a formal or specific peer review structure for that particular journal. If no such formal approach exists, try asking the editor for examples of other reviews performed for the journal. This will give you a solid understanding of what they expect from you.

Peer review examples

Understand what a constructive peer review looks like by learning from the experts.

Here’s a sample of pre and post-publication peer reviews displayed on Web of Science publication records to help guide you through your first few reviews. Some of these are transparent peer reviews , which means the entire process is open and visible — from initial review and response through to revision and final publication decision. You may wish to scroll to the bottom of these pages so you can first read the initial reviews, and make your way up the page to read the editor and author’s responses.

• Pre-publication peer review: Patterns and mechanisms in instances of endosymbiont-induced parthenogenesis
• Pre-publication peer review: Can Ciprofloxacin be Used for Precision Treatment of Gonorrhea in Public STD Clinics? Assessment of Ciprofloxacin Susceptibility and an Opportunity for Point-of-Care Testing
• Transparent peer review: Towards a standard model of musical improvisation
• Transparent peer review: Complex mosaic of sexual dichromatism and monochromatism in Pacific robins results from both gains and losses of elaborate coloration
• Post-publication peer review: Brain state monitoring for the future prediction of migraine attacks
• Web of Science Academy peer review: Students’ Perception on Training in Writing Research Article for Publication

F1000 has also put together a nice list of expert reviewer comments pertaining to the various aspects of a review report.

Co-reviewing

Co-reviewing (sharing peer review assignments with senior researchers) is one of the best ways to learn peer review. It gives researchers a hands-on, practical understanding of the process.

In an article in The Scientist , the team at Future of Research argues that co-reviewing can be a valuable learning experience for peer review, as long as it’s done properly and with transparency. The reason there’s a need to call out how co-reviewing works is because it does have its downsides. The practice can leave early-career researchers unaware of the core concepts of peer review. This can make it hard to later join an editor’s reviewer pool if they haven’t received adequate recognition for their share of the review work. (If you are asked to write a peer review on behalf of a senior colleague or researcher, get recognition for your efforts by asking your senior colleague to verify the collaborative co-review on your Web of Science researcher profiles).

The Web of Science Academy course ‘Co-reviewing with a mentor’ is uniquely practical in this sense. You will gain experience in peer review by practicing on real papers and working with a mentor to get feedback on how their peer review can be improved. Students submit their peer review report as their course assignment and after internal evaluation receive a course certificate, an Academy graduate badge on their Web of Science researcher profile and is put in front of top editors in their field through the Reviewer Locator at Clarivate.

Here are some external peer review resources found around the web:

• Peer Review Resources from Sense about Science
• Peer Review: The Nuts and Bolts by Sense about Science
• How to review journal manuscripts by R. M. Rosenfeld for Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery
• Ethical guidelines for peer review from COPE
• An Instructional Guide for Peer Reviewers of Biomedical Manuscripts by Callaham, Schriger & Cooper for Annals of Emergency Medicine (requires Flash or Adobe)
• EQUATOR Network’s reporting guidelines for health researchers

And finally, we’ve written a number of blogs about handy peer review tips. Check out some of our top picks:

• How to Write a Peer Review: 12 things you need to know
• Want To Peer Review? Top 10 Tips To Get Noticed By Editors
• Review a manuscript like a pro: 6 tips from a Web of Science Academy supervisor
• How to write a structured reviewer report: 5 tips from an early-career researcher

Want to learn more? Become a master of peer review and connect with top journal editors. The Web of Science Academy – your free online hub of courses designed by expert reviewers, editors and Nobel Prize winners. Find out more today.

Related posts

Reimagining research impact: introducing web of science research intelligence.

Beyond discovery: AI and the future of the Web of Science

Clarivate welcomes the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information

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How to write a superb literature review

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Literature reviews are important resources for scientists. They provide historical context for a field while offering opinions on its future trajectory. Creating them can provide inspiration for one’s own research, as well as some practice in writing. But few scientists are trained in how to write a review — or in what constitutes an excellent one. Even picking the appropriate software to use can be an involved decision (see ‘Tools and techniques’). So Nature asked editors and working scientists with well-cited reviews for their tips.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03422-x

Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

Updates & Corrections

Correction 09 December 2020 : An earlier version of the tables in this article included some incorrect details about the programs Zotero, Endnote and Manubot. These have now been corrected.

Hsing, I.-M., Xu, Y. & Zhao, W. Electroanalysis 19 , 755–768 (2007).

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Ledesma, H. A. et al. Nature Nanotechnol. 14 , 645–657 (2019).

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Choi, Y. & Lee, S. Y. Nature Rev. Chem . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-020-00221-w (2020).

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Article Review

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Struggling to write a review that people actually want to read? Feeling lost in the details and wondering how to make your analysis stand out?

You're not alone!

Many writers find it tough to navigate the world of article reviews, not sure where to start or how to make their reviews really grab attention.

No worries! 

In this blog, we're going to guide you through the process of writing an article review that stands out. We'll also share tips, and examples to make this process easier for you.

Let’s get started.

• 1. What is an Article Review?
• 2. Types of Article Reviews
• 3. Article Review Format
• 4. How to Write an Article Review? 10 Easy Steps
• 5. Article Review Outline
• 6. Article Review Examples
• 7. Tips for Writing an Effective Article Review

What is an Article Review?

An article review is a critical evaluation and analysis of a piece of writing, typically an academic or journalistic article. 

It goes beyond summarizing the content; it involves an in-depth examination of the author's ideas, arguments, and methodologies. 

The goal is to provide a well-rounded understanding of the article's strengths, weaknesses, and overall contribution to the field.

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Types of Article Reviews

Article reviews come in various forms, each serving a distinct purpose in the realm of academic or professional discourse. Understanding these types is crucial for tailoring your approach. 

Here are some common types of article reviews:

Journal Article Review

A journal article review involves a thorough evaluation of scholarly articles published in academic journals. 

It requires summarizing the article's key points, methodology, and findings, emphasizing its contributions to the academic field. 

Take a look at the following example to help you understand better.

Example of Journal Article Review

Research Article Review

A research article review focuses on scrutinizing articles with a primary emphasis on research.

This type of review involves evaluating the research design, methodology, results, and their broader implications. 

Discussions on the interpretation of results, limitations, and the article's overall contributions are key. 

Here is a sample for you to get an idea.

Example of Research Article Review

Science Article Review

A science article review specifically addresses articles within scientific disciplines. It includes summarizing scientific concepts, hypotheses, and experimental methods.

The type of review assesses the reliability of the experimental design, and evaluates the author's interpretation of findings. 

Take a look at the following example.

Example of Science Article Review

Critical Review

A critical review involves a balanced critique of a given article. It encompasses providing a comprehensive summary, highlighting key points, and engaging in a critical analysis of strengths and weaknesses. 

To get a clearer idea of a critical review, take a look at this example.

Critical Review Example

Article Review Format

When crafting an article review in either APA or MLA format, it's crucial to adhere to the specific guidelines for citing sources. 

Below are the bibliographical entries for different types of sources in both APA and MLA styles:

How to Write an Article Review? 10 Easy Steps

Writing an effective article review involves a systematic approach. Follow this step-by-step process to ensure a comprehensive and well-structured analysis.

Step 1: Understand the Assignment

Before diving into the review, carefully read and understand the assignment guidelines. 

Pay attention to specific requirements, such as word count, formatting style (APA, MLA), and the aspects your instructor wants you to focus on.

Step 2: Read the Article Thoroughly

Begin by thoroughly reading the article. Take notes on key points, arguments, and evidence presented by the author. 

Understand the author's main thesis and the context in which the article was written.

Step 3: Create a Summary

Summarize the main points of the article. Highlight the author's key arguments and findings. 

While writing the summary ensure that you capture the essential elements of the article to provide context for your analysis.

Step 4: Identify the Author's Thesis

In this step, pinpoint the author's main thesis or central argument. Understand the purpose of the article and how the author supports their position. 

This will serve as a foundation for your critique.

Step 5: Evaluate the Author's Evidence and Methodology

Examine the evidence provided by the author to support their thesis. Assess the reliability and validity of the methodology used. 

Consider the sources, data collection methods, and any potential biases.

Step 6: Analyze the Author's Writing Style

Evaluate the author's writing style and how effectively they communicate their ideas. 

Consider the clarity of the language, the organization of the content, and the overall persuasiveness of the article.

Step 7: Consider the Article's Contribution

Reflect on the article's contribution to its field of study. Analyze how it fits into the existing literature, its significance, and any potential implications for future research or applications.

Step 8: Write the Introduction

Craft an introduction that includes the article's title, author, publication date, and a brief overview. 

State the purpose of your review and your thesis—the main point you'll be analyzing in your review.

Step 9: Develop the Body of the Review

Organize your review by addressing specific aspects such as the author's thesis, methodology, writing style, and the article's contribution. 

Use clear paragraphs to structure your analysis logically.

Step 10: Conclude with a Summary and Evaluation

Summarize your main points and restate your overall assessment of the article. 

Offer insights into its strengths and weaknesses, and conclude with any recommendations for improvement or suggestions for further research.

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Article Review Outline

Creating a well-organized outline is an essential part of writing a coherent and insightful article review.

This outline given below will guide you through the key sections of your review, ensuring that your analysis is comprehensive and logically structured.

Refer to the following template to understand outlining the article review in detail.

Article Review Format Template

Article Review Examples

Examining article review examples can provide valuable insights into the structure, tone, and depth of analysis expected. 

Below are sample article reviews, each illustrating a different approach and focus.

Example of Article Review

Sample of article review assignment pdf

Tips for Writing an Effective Article Review

Crafting an effective article review involves a combination of critical analysis, clarity, and structure. 

Here are some valuable tips to guide you through the process:

• Start with a Clear Introduction

Kick off your article review by introducing the article's main points and mentioning the publication date, which you can find on the re-title page. Outline the topics you'll cover in your review.

• Concise Summary with Unanswered Questions

Provide a short summary of the article, emphasizing its main ideas. Highlight any lingering questions, known as "unanswered questions," that the article may have triggered. Use a basic article review template to help structure your thoughts.

• Illustrate with Examples

Use examples from the article to illustrate your points. If there are tables or figures in the article, discuss them to make your review more concrete and easily understandable.

• Organize Clearly with a Summary Section

Keep your review straightforward and well-organized. Begin with the start of the article, express your thoughts on what you liked or didn't like, and conclude with a summary section. This follows a basic plan for clarity.

• Constructive Criticism

When providing criticism, be constructive. If there are elements you don't understand, frame them as "unanswered questions." This approach shows engagement and curiosity.

• Smoothly Connect Your Ideas

Ensure your thoughts flow naturally throughout your review. Use simple words and sentences. If you have questions about the article, let them guide your review organically.

• Revise and Check for Clarity

Before finishing, go through your review. Correct any mistakes and ensure it sounds clear. Check if you followed your plan, used simple words, and incorporated the keywords effectively. This makes your review better and more accessible for others.

In conclusion , writing an effective article review involves a thoughtful balance of summarizing key points, and addressing unanswered questions. 

By following a simple and structured approach, you can create a review that not only analyzes the content but also adds value to the reader's understanding.

Remember to organize your thoughts logically, use clear language, and provide examples from the article to support your points. 

Ready to elevate your article reviewing skills? Explore the valuable resources and expert assistance at MyPerfectWords.com. 

Our team of experienced writers is here to help you with article reviews and other school tasks. 

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Dr. Barbara is a highly experienced writer and author who holds a Ph.D. degree in public health from an Ivy League school. She has worked in the medical field for many years, conducting extensive research on various health topics. Her writing has been featured in several top-tier publications.

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How to Review a Journal Article

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For many kinds of assignments, like a  literature review , you may be asked to offer a critique or review of a journal article. This is an opportunity for you as a scholar to offer your  qualified opinion  and  evaluation  of how another scholar has composed their article, argument, and research. That means you will be expected to go beyond a simple  summary  of the article and evaluate it on a deeper level. As a college student, this might sound intimidating. However, as you engage with the research process, you are becoming immersed in a particular topic, and your insights about the way that topic is presented are valuable and can contribute to the overall conversation surrounding your topic.

IMPORTANT NOTE!!

Some disciplines, like Criminal Justice, may only want you to summarize the article without including your opinion or evaluation. If your assignment is to summarize the article only, please see our literature review handout.

Before getting started on the critique, it is important to review the article thoroughly and critically. To do this, we recommend take notes,  annotating , and reading the article several times before critiquing. As you read, be sure to note important items like the thesis, purpose, research questions, hypotheses, methods, evidence, key findings, major conclusions, tone, and publication information. Depending on your writing context, some of these items may not be applicable.

Questions to Consider

To evaluate a source, consider some of the following questions. They are broken down into different categories, but answering these questions will help you consider what areas to examine. With each category, we recommend identifying the strengths and weaknesses in each since that is a critical part of evaluation.

Evaluating Purpose and Argument

• How well is the purpose made clear in the introduction through background/context and thesis?
• How well does the abstract represent and summarize the article’s major points and argument?
• How well does the objective of the experiment or of the observation fill a need for the field?
• How well is the argument/purpose articulated and discussed throughout the body of the text?
• How well does the discussion maintain cohesion?

Evaluating the Presentation/Organization of Information

• How appropriate and clear is the title of the article?
• Where could the author have benefited from expanding, condensing, or omitting ideas?
• How clear are the author’s statements? Challenge ambiguous statements.
• What underlying assumptions does the author have, and how does this affect the credibility or clarity of their article?
• How objective is the author in his or her discussion of the topic?
• How well does the organization fit the article’s purpose and articulate key goals?

Evaluating Methods

• How appropriate are the study design and methods for the purposes of the study?
• How detailed are the methods being described? Is the author leaving out important steps or considerations?
• Have the procedures been presented in enough detail to enable the reader to duplicate them?

Evaluating Data

• Scan and spot-check calculations. Are the statistical methods appropriate?
• Do you find any content repeated or duplicated?
• How many errors of fact and interpretation does the author include? (You can check on this by looking up the references the author cites).
• What pertinent literature has the author cited, and have they used this literature appropriately?

Following, we have an example of a summary and an evaluation of a research article. Note that in most literature review contexts, the summary and evaluation would be much shorter. This extended example shows the different ways a student can critique and write about an article.

Chik, A. (2012). Digital gameplay for autonomous foreign language learning: Gamers’ and language teachers’ perspectives. In H. Reinders (ed.),  Digital games in language learning and teaching  (pp. 95-114). Eastbourne, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

Be sure to include the full citation either in a reference page or near your evaluation if writing an  annotated bibliography .

In Chik’s article “Digital Gameplay for Autonomous Foreign Language Learning: Gamers’ and Teachers’ Perspectives”, she explores the ways in which “digital gamers manage gaming and gaming-related activities to assume autonomy in their foreign language learning,” (96) which is presented in contrast to how teachers view the “pedagogical potential” of gaming. The research was described as an “umbrella project” consisting of two parts. The first part examined 34 language teachers’ perspectives who had limited experience with gaming (only five stated they played games regularly) (99). Their data was recorded through a survey, class discussion, and a seven-day gaming trial done by six teachers who recorded their reflections through personal blog posts. The second part explored undergraduate gaming habits of ten Hong Kong students who were regular gamers. Their habits were recorded through language learning histories, videotaped gaming sessions, blog entries of gaming practices, group discussion sessions, stimulated recall sessions on gaming videos, interviews with other gamers, and posts from online discussion forums. The research shows that while students recognize the educational potential of games and have seen benefits of it in their lives, the instructors overall do not see the positive impacts of gaming on foreign language learning.

The summary includes the article’s purpose, methods, results, discussion, and citations when necessary.

This article did a good job representing the undergraduate gamers’ voices through extended quotes and stories. Particularly for the data collection of the undergraduate gamers, there were many opportunities for an in-depth examination of their gaming practices and histories. However, the representation of the teachers in this study was very uneven when compared to the students. Not only were teachers labeled as numbers while the students picked out their own pseudonyms, but also when viewing the data collection, the undergraduate students were more closely examined in comparison to the teachers in the study. While the students have fifteen extended quotes describing their experiences in their research section, the teachers only have two of these instances in their section, which shows just how imbalanced the study is when presenting instructor voices.

Some research methods, like the recorded gaming sessions, were only used with students whereas teachers were only asked to blog about their gaming experiences. This creates a richer narrative for the students while also failing to give instructors the chance to have more nuanced perspectives. This lack of nuance also stems from the emphasis of the non-gamer teachers over the gamer teachers. The non-gamer teachers’ perspectives provide a stark contrast to the undergraduate gamer experiences and fits neatly with the narrative of teachers not valuing gaming as an educational tool. However, the study mentioned five teachers that were regular gamers whose perspectives are left to a short section at the end of the presentation of the teachers’ results. This was an opportunity to give the teacher group a more complex story, and the opportunity was entirely missed.

Additionally, the context of this study was not entirely clear. The instructors were recruited through a master’s level course, but the content of the course and the institution’s background is not discussed. Understanding this context helps us understand the course’s purpose(s) and how those purposes may have influenced the ways in which these teachers interpreted and saw games. It was also unclear how Chik was connected to this masters’ class and to the students. Why these particular teachers and students were recruited was not explicitly defined and also has the potential to skew results in a particular direction.

Overall, I was inclined to agree with the idea that students can benefit from language acquisition through gaming while instructors may not see the instructional value, but I believe the way the research was conducted and portrayed in this article made it very difficult to support Chik’s specific findings.

Some professors like you to begin an evaluation with something positive but isn’t always necessary.

The evaluation is clearly organized and uses transitional phrases when moving to a new topic.

This evaluation includes a summative statement that gives the overall impression of the article at the end, but this can also be placed at the beginning of the evaluation.

This evaluation mainly discusses the representation of data and methods. However, other areas, like organization, are open to critique.

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How to write a review article?

In the medical sciences, the importance of review articles is rising. When clinicians want to update their knowledge and generate guidelines about a topic, they frequently use reviews as a starting point. The value of a review is associated with what has been done, what has been found and how these findings are presented. Before asking ‘how,’ the question of ‘why’ is more important when starting to write a review. The main and fundamental purpose of writing a review is to create a readable synthesis of the best resources available in the literature for an important research question or a current area of research. Although the idea of writing a review is attractive, it is important to spend time identifying the important questions. Good review methods are critical because they provide an unbiased point of view for the reader regarding the current literature. There is a consensus that a review should be written in a systematic fashion, a notion that is usually followed. In a systematic review with a focused question, the research methods must be clearly described. A ‘methodological filter’ is the best method for identifying the best working style for a research question, and this method reduces the workload when surveying the literature. An essential part of the review process is differentiating good research from bad and leaning on the results of the better studies. The ideal way to synthesize studies is to perform a meta-analysis. In conclusion, when writing a review, it is best to clearly focus on fixed ideas, to use a procedural and critical approach to the literature and to express your findings in an attractive way.

The importance of review articles in health sciences is increasing day by day. Clinicians frequently benefit from review articles to update their knowledge in their field of specialization, and use these articles as a starting point for formulating guidelines. [ 1 , 2 ] The institutions which provide financial support for further investigations resort to these reviews to reveal the need for these researches. [ 3 ] As is the case with all other researches, the value of a review article is related to what is achieved, what is found, and the way of communicating this information. A few studies have evaluated the quality of review articles. Murlow evaluated 50 review articles published in 1985, and 1986, and revealed that none of them had complied with clear-cut scientific criteria. [ 4 ] In 1996 an international group that analyzed articles, demonstrated the aspects of review articles, and meta-analyses that had not complied with scientific criteria, and elaborated QUOROM (QUality Of Reporting Of Meta-analyses) statement which focused on meta-analyses of randomized controlled studies. [ 5 ] Later on this guideline was updated, and named as PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses). [ 6 ]

Review articles are divided into 2 categories as narrative, and systematic reviews. Narrative reviews are written in an easily readable format, and allow consideration of the subject matter within a large spectrum. However in a systematic review, a very detailed, and comprehensive literature surveying is performed on the selected topic. [ 7 , 8 ] Since it is a result of a more detailed literature surveying with relatively lesser involvement of author’s bias, systematic reviews are considered as gold standard articles. Systematic reviews can be diivded into qualitative, and quantitative reviews. In both of them detailed literature surveying is performed. However in quantitative reviews, study data are collected, and statistically evaluated (ie. meta-analysis). [ 8 ]

Before inquring for the method of preparation of a review article, it is more logical to investigate the motivation behind writing the review article in question. The fundamental rationale of writing a review article is to make a readable synthesis of the best literature sources on an important research inquiry or a topic. This simple definition of a review article contains the following key elements:

• The question(s) to be dealt with
• Methods used to find out, and select the best quality researches so as to respond to these questions.
• To synthetize available, but quite different researches

For the specification of important questions to be answered, number of literature references to be consulted should be more or less determined. Discussions should be conducted with colleagues in the same area of interest, and time should be reserved for the solution of the problem(s). Though starting to write the review article promptly seems to be very alluring, the time you spend for the determination of important issues won’t be a waste of time. [ 9 ]

The PRISMA statement [ 6 ] elaborated to write a well-designed review articles contains a 27-item checklist ( Table 1 ). It will be reasonable to fulfill the requirements of these items during preparation of a review article or a meta-analysis. Thus preparation of a comprehensible article with a high-quality scientific content can be feasible.

PRISMA statement: A 27-item checklist

Contents and format

Important differences exist between systematic, and non-systematic reviews which especially arise from methodologies used in the description of the literature sources. A non-systematic review means use of articles collected for years with the recommendations of your colleagues, while systematic review is based on struggles to search for, and find the best possible researches which will respond to the questions predetermined at the start of the review.

Though a consensus has been reached about the systematic design of the review articles, studies revealed that most of them had not been written in a systematic format. McAlister et al. analyzed review articles in 6 medical journals, and disclosed that in less than one fourth of the review articles, methods of description, evaluation or synthesis of evidence had been provided, one third of them had focused on a clinical topic, and only half of them had provided quantitative data about the extend of the potential benefits. [ 10 ]

Use of proper methodologies in review articles is important in that readers assume an objective attitude towards updated information. We can confront two problems while we are using data from researches in order to answer certain questions. Firstly, we can be prejudiced during selection of research articles or these articles might be biased. To minimize this risk, methodologies used in our reviews should allow us to define, and use researches with minimal degree of bias. The second problem is that, most of the researches have been performed with small sample sizes. In statistical methods in meta-analyses, available researches are combined to increase the statistical power of the study. The problematic aspect of a non-systematic review is that our tendency to give biased responses to the questions, in other words we apt to select the studies with known or favourite results, rather than the best quality investigations among them.

As is the case with many research articles, general format of a systematic review on a single subject includes sections of Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion ( Table 2 ).

Structure of a systematic review

Preparation of the review article

Steps, and targets of constructing a good review article are listed in Table 3 . To write a good review article the items in Table 3 should be implemented step by step. [ 11 – 13 ]

Steps of a systematic review

The research question

It might be helpful to divide the research question into components. The most prevalently used format for questions related to the treatment is PICO (P - Patient, Problem or Population; I-Intervention; C-appropriate Comparisons, and O-Outcome measures) procedure. For example In female patients (P) with stress urinary incontinence, comparisons (C) between transobturator, and retropubic midurethral tension-free band surgery (I) as for patients’ satisfaction (O).

Finding Studies

In a systematic review on a focused question, methods of investigation used should be clearly specified.

Ideally, research methods, investigated databases, and key words should be described in the final report. Different databases are used dependent on the topic analyzed. In most of the clinical topics, Medline should be surveyed. However searching through Embase and CINAHL can be also appropriate.

While determining appropriate terms for surveying, PICO elements of the issue to be sought may guide the process. Since in general we are interested in more than one outcome, P, and I can be key elements. In this case we should think about synonyms of P, and I elements, and combine them with a conjunction AND.

One method which might alleviate the workload of surveying process is “methodological filter” which aims to find the best investigation method for each research question. A good example of this method can be found in PubMed interface of Medline. The Clinical Queries tool offers empirically developed filters for five different inquiries as guidelines for etiology, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis or clinical prediction.

Evaluation of the Quality of the Study

As an indispensable component of the review process is to discriminate good, and bad quality researches from each other, and the outcomes should be based on better qualified researches, as far as possible. To achieve this goal you should know the best possible evidence for each type of question The first component of the quality is its general planning/design of the study. General planning/design of a cohort study, a case series or normal study demonstrates variations.

A hierarchy of evidence for different research questions is presented in Table 4 . However this hierarchy is only a first step. After you find good quality research articles, you won’t need to read all the rest of other articles which saves you tons of time. [ 14 ]

Determination of levels of evidence based on the type of the research question

Formulating a Synthesis

Rarely all researches arrive at the same conclusion. In this case a solution should be found. However it is risky to make a decision based on the votes of absolute majority. Indeed, a well-performed large scale study, and a weakly designed one are weighed on the same scale. Therefore, ideally a meta-analysis should be performed to solve apparent differences. Ideally, first of all, one should be focused on the largest, and higher quality study, then other studies should be compared with this basic study.

Conclusions

In conclusion, during writing process of a review article, the procedures to be achieved can be indicated as follows: 1) Get rid of fixed ideas, and obsessions from your head, and view the subject from a large perspective. 2) Research articles in the literature should be approached with a methodological, and critical attitude and 3) finally data should be explained in an attractive way.

How to write a good scientific review article

Affiliation.

• 1 The FEBS Journal Editorial Office, Cambridge, UK.
• PMID: 35792782
• DOI: 10.1111/febs.16565

Literature reviews are valuable resources for the scientific community. With research accelerating at an unprecedented speed in recent years and more and more original papers being published, review articles have become increasingly important as a means to keep up to date with developments in a particular area of research. A good review article provides readers with an in-depth understanding of a field and highlights key gaps and challenges to address with future research. Writing a review article also helps to expand the writer's knowledge of their specialist area and to develop their analytical and communication skills, amongst other benefits. Thus, the importance of building review-writing into a scientific career cannot be overstated. In this instalment of The FEBS Journal's Words of Advice series, I provide detailed guidance on planning and writing an informative and engaging literature review.

© 2022 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.

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A literature review is a document or section of a document that collects key sources on a topic and discusses those sources in conversation with each other (also called synthesis ). The lit review is an important genre in many disciplines, not just literature (i.e., the study of works of literature such as novels and plays). When we say “literature review” or refer to “the literature,” we are talking about the research ( scholarship ) in a given field. You will often see the terms “the research,” “the scholarship,” and “the literature” used mostly interchangeably.

Where, when, and why would I write a lit review?

There are a number of different situations where you might write a literature review, each with slightly different expectations; different disciplines, too, have field-specific expectations for what a literature review is and does. For instance, in the humanities, authors might include more overt argumentation and interpretation of source material in their literature reviews, whereas in the sciences, authors are more likely to report study designs and results in their literature reviews; these differences reflect these disciplines’ purposes and conventions in scholarship. You should always look at examples from your own discipline and talk to professors or mentors in your field to be sure you understand your discipline’s conventions, for literature reviews as well as for any other genre.

A literature review can be a part of a research paper or scholarly article, usually falling after the introduction and before the research methods sections. In these cases, the lit review just needs to cover scholarship that is important to the issue you are writing about; sometimes it will also cover key sources that informed your research methodology.

Lit reviews can also be standalone pieces, either as assignments in a class or as publications. In a class, a lit review may be assigned to help students familiarize themselves with a topic and with scholarship in their field, get an idea of the other researchers working on the topic they’re interested in, find gaps in existing research in order to propose new projects, and/or develop a theoretical framework and methodology for later research. As a publication, a lit review usually is meant to help make other scholars’ lives easier by collecting and summarizing, synthesizing, and analyzing existing research on a topic. This can be especially helpful for students or scholars getting into a new research area, or for directing an entire community of scholars toward questions that have not yet been answered.

What are the parts of a lit review?

Most lit reviews use a basic introduction-body-conclusion structure; if your lit review is part of a larger paper, the introduction and conclusion pieces may be just a few sentences while you focus most of your attention on the body. If your lit review is a standalone piece, the introduction and conclusion take up more space and give you a place to discuss your goals, research methods, and conclusions separately from where you discuss the literature itself.

Introduction:

• An introductory paragraph that explains what your working topic and thesis is
• A forecast of key topics or texts that will appear in the review
• Potentially, a description of how you found sources and how you analyzed them for inclusion and discussion in the review (more often found in published, standalone literature reviews than in lit review sections in an article or research paper)
• Summarize and synthesize: Give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole
• Analyze and interpret: Don’t just paraphrase other researchers – add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole
• Critically Evaluate: Mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources
• Write in well-structured paragraphs: Use transition words and topic sentence to draw connections, comparisons, and contrasts.

Conclusion:

• Summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance
• Connect it back to your primary research question

How should I organize my lit review?

Lit reviews can take many different organizational patterns depending on what you are trying to accomplish with the review. Here are some examples:

• Chronological : The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time, which helps familiarize the audience with the topic (for instance if you are introducing something that is not commonly known in your field). If you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order. Try to analyze the patterns, turning points, and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred (as mentioned previously, this may not be appropriate in your discipline — check with a teacher or mentor if you’re unsure).
• Thematic : If you have found some recurring central themes that you will continue working with throughout your piece, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic. For example, if you are reviewing literature about women and religion, key themes can include the role of women in churches and the religious attitude towards women.
• Qualitative versus quantitative research
• Empirical versus theoretical scholarship
• Divide the research by sociological, historical, or cultural sources
• Theoretical : In many humanities articles, the literature review is the foundation for the theoretical framework. You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts. You can argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach or combine various theorical concepts to create a framework for your research.

What are some strategies or tips I can use while writing my lit review?

Any lit review is only as good as the research it discusses; make sure your sources are well-chosen and your research is thorough. Don’t be afraid to do more research if you discover a new thread as you’re writing. More info on the research process is available in our "Conducting Research" resources .

As you’re doing your research, create an annotated bibliography ( see our page on the this type of document ). Much of the information used in an annotated bibliography can be used also in a literature review, so you’ll be not only partially drafting your lit review as you research, but also developing your sense of the larger conversation going on among scholars, professionals, and any other stakeholders in your topic.

Usually you will need to synthesize research rather than just summarizing it. This means drawing connections between sources to create a picture of the scholarly conversation on a topic over time. Many student writers struggle to synthesize because they feel they don’t have anything to add to the scholars they are citing; here are some strategies to help you:

• It often helps to remember that the point of these kinds of syntheses is to show your readers how you understand your research, to help them read the rest of your paper.
• Writing teachers often say synthesis is like hosting a dinner party: imagine all your sources are together in a room, discussing your topic. What are they saying to each other?
• Look at the in-text citations in each paragraph. Are you citing just one source for each paragraph? This usually indicates summary only. When you have multiple sources cited in a paragraph, you are more likely to be synthesizing them (not always, but often
• Read more about synthesis here.

The most interesting literature reviews are often written as arguments (again, as mentioned at the beginning of the page, this is discipline-specific and doesn’t work for all situations). Often, the literature review is where you can establish your research as filling a particular gap or as relevant in a particular way. You have some chance to do this in your introduction in an article, but the literature review section gives a more extended opportunity to establish the conversation in the way you would like your readers to see it. You can choose the intellectual lineage you would like to be part of and whose definitions matter most to your thinking (mostly humanities-specific, but this goes for sciences as well). In addressing these points, you argue for your place in the conversation, which tends to make the lit review more compelling than a simple reporting of other sources.

Journal Article Review in APA Style

Journal article reviews refer to the appraisal of potencies and limitations of an article’s opinion and subject matter. The article reviews offer the readers with an explanation, investigation and clarification to evaluate the importance of the article. A journal article review usually follows the APA style, which is in itself an exceptional mode of writing. Writing a journal article review in APA style requires a thorough reading of an article and then present our personal opinions on its subject matter.

In order to write a journal article review in APA style, one must necessarily conform to the detailed guidelines of APA style of writing. As such, a few tips for writing a journal article review in APA style have been provided in details below.

Tips for Writing Journal Article Review in APA Style

Getting started.

Read the complete article. Most journal articles use highly complicated and difficult language and wording. Thus, it is suggested to read the article thoroughly several times to understand it perfectly. Select a statement that effectively conveys the main idea of your review. Present the ideas in a rational order, keeping in mind that all opinions must sustain the main idea.

Start with a header with citation

Journal article reviews start with a header, including citation of the sources being reviewed. This citation is mentioned at the top of the review, following the APA style (refer to the APA style manual for more information). We will need the author’s name for the article, title of the article, journal of the published article, volume and issue number, publication date, and page numbers for the article.

Write a summary

The introductory paragraph of the review should provide a brief summary of the article, strictly limiting it to one to three paragraphs depending on the article length. The summary should discuss only the most imperative details about the article, like the author’s intention in writing the article, how the study was conducted, how the article relates to other work on the same subject, the results and other relevant information from the article.

Body of the review

The succeeding paragraphs of the review should present your ideas and opinions on the article. Discuss the significance and suggestion of the results of the study. The body of the article review should be limited to one to two paragraphs, including your understanding of the article, quotations from the article demonstrating your main ideas, discussing the article’s limitations and how to overcome them.

Concluding the review

The concluding paragraphs of the review should provide your personal appraisal of the journal article. Discuss whether the article is well-written or not, whether any information is missing, or if further research is necessary on the subject. Also, write a paragraph on how the author could develop the study results, what the information means on a large scale, how further investigation can develop the subject matter, and how the knowledge of this field can be extended further.

Citation and Revision

In-text citation of direct quotes or paraphrases from the article can be done using the author’s name, year of publication and page numbers (refer to the APA-style manual for citation guidelines). After finishing the writing of journal article review in APA style, it would be advised to re-visit the review after a few days and then re-read it altogether. By doing this, you will be able to view the review with a new perspective and may detect mistakes that were previously left undetected.

The above mentioned tips will help and guide you for writing a journal article review in APA style. However, while writing a journal article review, remember that you are undertaking more than just a narrative review. Thus, the article review should not merely focus on discussing what the article is about, but should reveal your personal ideas and opinions on the article.

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You can use our templates to help you structure and format your manuscript in the Royal Society of Chemistry style

Please note, these guidelines are relevant to all of our journals. Make sure that you check your chosen journal’s web pages for specific guidelines too.

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Use of the template is optional for our journals; the only exception to this is you must use the Communication template for preparing Communications submitted to ChemComm. For communications, use the Communication template; for all other article types (including reviews and Edge articles), use the article template. Please note that Faraday Discussions uses a single-column format so it will look different to the template.

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Find out more about our partnership with Overleaf on the  PCCP homepage  or  Soft Matter homepage .

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In legal practice, timekeeping is a critical yet often challenging task. Precision in billing is crucial for a firm’s revenue, but amidst busy days filled with client meetings and court hearings, timekeeping can fall by the wayside. This leads to hasty or delayed time entries, affecting the overall profitability of a firm.

The issue compounds when attorneys use varied timekeeping methods, from traditional pen and paper to legal time tracking software . This diversity in approaches leads to inconsistency, causing headaches for managing partners and administrators who must consolidate these varying time records. Such disarray can lead to significant billable leakage and affect a firm’s recurring revenue.

Our guide on attorney billing timesheet templates aims to address these challenges head-on. We’ll answer commonly asked questions about timesheet templates, examine some PDF and Excel templates for lawyers, and offer practical tips to help you reclaim control over your timekeeping processes.

What Is a Timesheet for Billable Hours in a Law Firm?

A timesheet for billable hours in a law firm is a document that attorneys use to record the amount of time they spend on various client-related activities. These activities range from case research and drafting legal documents to client meetings and court appearances. The primary purpose of these timesheets is to track billable hours accurately, ensuring that the firm is billing clients fairly for the services they receive.

Why Do Attorneys Use Billing Timesheet Templates?

Attorneys use billing timesheet templates to bring some order and consistency to the timekeeping process. They typically include fields for date, client name, description of the task, and the time spent on each task. By standardizing the format, the firm can streamline the billing process and reduce the time spent on administrative tasks.

Despite these advantages, attorneys often find timesheet templates restrictive and cumbersome, especially when dealing with complex cases that don’t fit neatly into standard time increments or categories. Moreover, the manual process of filling out these templates is prone to errors and omissions, especially when done under time pressure. These challenges underscore the need for a more flexible and efficient solution to manage time tracking and billing in law firms.

How Do I Make a Professional Timesheet?

Creating a professional timesheet in a law office involves balancing the need for detailed record-keeping with the ease of use for attorneys. An easier solution here is to adopt time tracking software , which streamlines and standardizes timekeeping across an entire firm. However, if you are tasked with making a timesheet for your law office, you can follow these basic steps:

• Choose a Clear Layout : Start with a layout that is easy to read and fill out. Include columns for the date, client name, case number, a brief description of the task, and the time spent. The layout should allow attorneys to quickly enter information without confusion.
• Include Room for Details : There should be plenty of room to accurately describe every task performed. As noted repeatedly by the American Bar Association , invoices should show clients the value of your work and tell the story of their case progress. Vague descriptions can lead to misunderstandings with clients and even a bar complaint.
• Set Standard Time Increments : Decide on the time increments for billing (commonly in six-minute or fifteen-minute increments). Consistent increments ensure uniformity across all billings.
• Make It Accessible : The timesheet should be easily accessible to all attorneys in the firm. Consider a central location or a system where timesheets can be submitted electronically.
• Encourage Regular Updates : Encourage attorneys to update their timesheets daily. Catching up on a backlog of entries often leads to mistakes or forgotten billable activities. This issue is easily solved with time tracking software, as you can automatically track your time in real-time instead of manually after a long day.

While these steps guide in creating a professional timesheet, the process underscores several pain points. The time and effort spent in meticulous record-keeping, the challenge of accurate descriptions after exhausting workdays, and the risk of errors or omissions reflect a need for a more streamlined approach. 

Still, many legal professionals may find themselves tempted to use an attorney timesheet template that’s free—but there are numerous problems with these that we’ll explore next.

Free Attorney Billing Timesheet Templates

A quick Google search for free attorney billing timesheet templates PDF reveals millions of results. However, many of these templates are seriously lacking and won’t help lawyers accurately track their time. Let’s examine a few popular ones. 

Ask a few questions, and the problems with this template immediately jump out at you. 

• What’s the lawyer billable hours rate? 
• What happens if timekeepers with varying rates calculate their time? 
• Which billing increments should attorneys use here?
• What happens if I need to use UTBMS codes for a particular task, entry, or line item?
• What if the attorney faces multiple interruptions during the same task?
• Should attorneys delineate between services and expenses, meetings, research, and communication?

This template doesn’t really make any of this clear, yet it’s been downloaded over 50,000 times. Some attorneys even complained that this template didn’t do any Excel calculations for them. 

We hear you, Linda. The last thing attorneys have time for is adding up all their billable hours. But even free attorney billing timesheet templates in Excel are somewhat lacking. Let’s take a look.

Does Excel Have a Timesheet Template?

Excel offers numerous timesheet templates, but none of them are really sufficient for a law office. Take this Excel template , for example:

While this Excel spreadsheet does automatically calculate the hours spent on a task, it still doesn’t combat the numerous issues found in the PDF timesheet from above and presents new issues, like:

• Distinguishing between in-court and out-of-court hours is great, but it doesn’t account for other billable activities like expenses or travel time.
• You can’t track nonbillable hours if that’s something your firm wants to do to understand internal productivity.
• The hourly intervals may not match the actual time spent on tasks, as legal work can often be unpredictable and not fit neatly into hourly blocks.
• Some may accidentally use an older version of the template spreadsheet.
• Attorneys who want to do things differently may choose to “tweak” the spreadsheet a bit to “improve things,” leading to inconsistencies across the firm.

These problems are baked in. They’re an inherent part of using spreadsheets. And the more attention you divert to these problems, the less attention you can spend on your clients or practicing law. Ultimately, this is unfair to your firm, and it’s unfair to each of the timekeepers in your firm. This is where many start looking for a more efficient, automated solution.

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• Open access
• Published: 09 May 2024

Facilitators of and barriers to County Behavioral Health System Transformation and Innovation: an interview study

• Xin Zhao 1 , 2 ,
• Rachel Varisco 3 ,
• Judith Borghouts 3 ,
• Elizabeth V. Eikey 4 , 5 ,
• David Safani 6 ,
• Dana B. Mukamel 3 ,
• Stephen M. Schueller 7 &
• Dara H. Sorkin 3  

BMC Health Services Research volume  24 , Article number:  604 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Inadequate and inequitable access to quality behavioral health services and high costs within the mental health systems are long-standing problems. System-level (e.g., fee-for-service payment model, lack of a universal payor) and individual factors (e.g., lack of knowledge of existing resources) contribute to difficulties in accessing resources and services. Patients are underserved in County behavioral health systems in the United States. Orange County’s (California) Behavioral Health System Transformation project sought to improve access by addressing two parts of their system: developing a template for value-based contracts that promote payor-agnostic care (Part 1); developing a digital platform to support resource navigation (Part 2). Our aim was to evaluate facilitators of and barriers to each of these system changes.

We collected interview data from County or health care agency leaders, contracted partners, and community stakeholders. Themes were informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research.

Five themes were identified related to behavioral health system transformation, including 1) aligning goals and values, 2) addressing fit, 3) fostering engagement and partnership, 4) being aware of implementation contexts, and 5) promoting communication. A lack of fit into incentive structures and changing state guidelines and priorities were barriers to contract development. Involving diverse communities to inform design and content facilitated the process of developing digital tools.

Conclusions

The study highlights the multifaceted factors that help facilitate or hinder behavioral health system transformation, such as the need for addressing systematic and process behaviors, leveraging the knowledge of leadership and community stakeholders, fostering collaboration, and adapting to implementation contexts.

Peer Review reports

In the United States, the system of providing and coordinating behavioral health services is inefficient. Health care systems are largely paid via a “fee-for-service” model that incentivizes increasing the number of billable hours rather than improving patient outcomes and quality of care [ 1 ]. At the system level, provider shortage, disparities in insurance coverage, and the existing fee-for-service reimbursement model contributed to longstanding unmet service needs [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. At the individual level, behavioral health stigma, limited mental health literacy, and lack of knowledge about appropriate resources challenge people’s ability to navigate and access behavioral health resources, especially among historically marginalized and uninsured groups [ 3 ].

In light of the multilevel barriers hindering access to behavioral health services, system transformation is needed. According to California Health Interview Survey reports, one in five Orange County residents reported they needed, but did not receive, behavioral health support [ 6 ]. Those from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds were less likely to access behavioral health support than those with more resources. The unmet need within the County behavioral health system can be improved if providers and patients have access to information about care (efficient resource navigation) and patients get linked with value-based behavioral health services regardless of their insurance status (payor-agnostic care). Orange County’s Behavioral Health System Transformation (BHST) Innovation Project in California aims to create a patient-centered system where all residents in Orange County can be served regardless of their insurance status and clinical needs. An innovation project introduces a new practice or approach in the field of behavioral health with a primary focus on learning or process change. The BHST Innovation Project includes two parts: developing a template for value-based payment contracts that promote payor-agnostic care (Part 1) and developing a public-facing digital platform (OC Navigator) to increase access to information and support resource navigation (Part 2) [ 6 ]. Innovation projects are limited to a maximum of five years, with the expectation that successful projects should transition to integration into standard practices and sustainment. The data for this paper come from the first half of a five-year innovation project. Thus, the current paper focuses on early lessons learned regarding facilitators and barriers.

Backgrounds for components of the BHST Innovation Project

Part 1. developing a template for value-based payment contracts that promote payor-agnostic care.

Value-based payment models tie payments for services to the quality of care and patients’ clinical outcomes rather than the volume of services delivered [ 7 ]. Since 2016, several states in the US, such as Washington, New York, Minnesota, Maine, and Massachusetts, made attempts to implement value-based care [ 1 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ]. In Washington and New York, transitioning to value-based care improved the quality of behavioral health services. In Washington State, a value-based care initiative targeted the implementation of the Collaborative Care Model, an evidence-based team approach to behavioral health interventions in primary care. In this program, 25% of funding to participating community clinics was contingent on meeting value-based payment targets (i.e., providing evidence-based care) and active participation in the program [ 8 ]. Compared to patients enrolling in the program without the value-based components, those enrolling in the program with value-based components were more likely to have depression outcomes that improved in a shorter amount of time (Bao et al., 2017). New York State Collaborative Care Medicaid also used a value-based program. In this program, 25% of the monthly, patient-level case-rate payment was withheld each month and was paid retroactively after six months for patients who had clinical improvement or had their treatment plan adjusted in response to a lack of clinical improvement [ 12 , 13 ]. This program led to an increase in the proportion of patients screened for depression and patients who showed clinical improvement after 10 weeks of treatment at participating sites, compared to before launching the program. In addition to improving the quality of care, value-based payment models also have the potential to help address challenges faced by the traditional fee-for-service model, such as overutilization of services and high costs [ 7 , 14 ].

Despite the reported positive implementation outcomes of the value-based payment initiatives, the process of implementing and sustaining value-based payment models is often challenging and varies largely by state [ 7 , 10 ]. In the United States, buy-in of value-based payment models from commercial payors is challenging. For example, qualitative analyses of interview data revealed limited interest in adopting value-based contracts with providers among commercial payors in Arkansas, Maine, and Minnesota [ 10 ]. Specifically, commercial payors expressed concerns about (1) the need for tailoring a value-based contract to align with just one state when they have business in multiple states; and (2) market competition, such as subsidizing the care of patients covered by other payors who did not make similar investments to adopt value-based payment models [ 10 ].

Payor-agnostic care allows all patients to be served regardless of their insurance status and clinical needs, as it prioritizes patient needs and outcomes above financial profitability. A payor-agnostic model typically includes supporting uninsured individuals. Funding sources for uninsured individuals might include self-pay options, philanthropic donations, and government grants. The barriers to and facilitators of multi-payor alignment have been more studied in primary care settings. One notable effort is the Comprehensive Primary Care (CPC) initiative launched by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which is one of the largest multi-payor initiatives [ 15 ]. Interviews from CMS staff, CPC-participating payors, and stakeholder organizations described that competitive market dynamics and competing institutional priorities were barriers to multi-payor and multi-sector collaboration. Leveraging champion support and seeking input on decisions related to system transformation from key community stakeholders helped build trusting relationships and align different payors. In the sphere of behavioral health, emerging efforts of moving towards payor-agnostic care hold great potential in ensuring equitable health care access. However, barriers to and facilitators of implementing payor agnostic behavioral health care are less known. One example was the Blue Shield Health Reimagined pilot program. In this program, Blue Shield embedded Community Health Advocates in ten primary and specialty care practices to provide payor-agnostic care to support individuals who were not Blue Shield members to receive services [ 16 ]. In the first fourteen months of the program, a large and diverse population was served (i.e., N  > 1,900 patients, > 30% Latinx/Hispanic) across four participating regions in California (Paulson et al., 2021). Paulson et al. (2021) analyzed focus group and interview data to identify facilitators of and barriers to embedding Community Health Advocates within primary and specialty care practices to provide payor-agnostic care, with a focus on intervention implementation. Overall, to improve access to behavioral health care access, additional work is needed to understand facilitators of and barriers to promoting payor-agnostic care.

Part 2. Developing a digital platform to increase access to information and support resource navigation

A digital resource navigator is a public-facing digital platform that serves as a resource directory. A great digital resource navigator can improve the efficiency of resource navigation, care coordination, and knowledge sharing by speeding up communication among different sectors and reducing the need for human labor. Past work on digital resource navigation has mostly focused on supporting care coordination for patients and providers who are already situated in the care system, such as through the use of the electronic health record and web-based communications [ 17 ]. Much less work has focused on knowledge sharing and information exchange of service options before patients connect with a provider in the behavioral health sphere. One exception was the M ental health I ntelligent information R esource A ssistant (MIRA), a web-based conversational chatbot developed in Canada during the COVID-19 global pandemic [ 18 ]. MIRA was developed to provide individuals with (1) information on substance use and mental health and (2) information on behavioral health services in Canada. This digital resource navigation tool is publicly available and informed by subject experts. As described by their published protocol, data collection was anticipated to take place from May 2022 to May 2023 [ 18 ]. However, no published work is available regarding provider and stakeholder perceptions of such tools. A digital resource navigator presents a scalable opportunity to streamline information sharing and improve access to care, although further exploration of facilitators of and barriers to developing and implementing such tools is needed.

Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) framework

CFIR is a comprehensive framework that can capture innovation-related factors and the complicated contextual factors that may influence implementation of an innovation. The initial version of CFIR comprised 39 subdomains grouped into the following five broad domains, including (1) innovation characteristics, (2) inner setting, (3) outer setting, (4) individual characteristics, and (5) process factors [ 19 ]. Innovation characteristics refer to characteristics of the template for value-based contracts (Part 1) and the digital resource navigator (Part 2), such as the perceived innovation source, complexity, evidence strength and quality, and relative advantage. Inner setting refers to the context in which the innovation takes place (in this study the Orange County Public Behavioral Healthcare System) including factors such as compatibility, leadership engagement, and networks and communication. Outer setting refers to the wider economic and social context that influences the innovation, such as federal and state policies and external incentives. Process refers to the steps taken during the innovation and implementation process, such as engaging and planning. Individual characteristics refer to the values and views of individual users of the innovation. Adapted definitions of CFIR constructs are presented in Table  1 .

Researchers have used CFIR to understand complicated system transformation efforts within organizations and health care systems [ 20 , 21 , 22 ]. For example, Kilaru et al. (2022) interviewed regulators and health care agency leaders about the all-payor global budget system in Maryland; their analyses using CFIR revealed factors that facilitated the design, implementation, and sustainability of system transformation efforts, such as clear and reasonable expectations, the appropriate amount of autonomy within the global budget, close communication, actionable data, and shared commitment and readiness for change. As such, CFIR has demonstrated its applicability when evaluating system transformation in different settings.

Evaluation context and aims

The BHST Innovation Project, approved by the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission (MHSOAC), is a five-year Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Project with a total budget of approximately $18 million. California uses innovation projects as part of their Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) program to provide resources for mental health. The goal of Orange County’s BHST Innovation Project is a system transformation effort to enable access to behavioral health services regardless of insurance status, insurance type, and/or level of clinical need. Specifically, this project included two parts:

Part 1: leveraging a value-based contract to align legal, fiscal, and regulatory requirements to improve the quality of behavioral health services, and implementing payor-agnostic care to improve access to care; and.

Part 2: developing a digital resource navigator to improve resource sharing and behavioral health service navigation.

The aim of this paper is to use the CFIR framework to evaluate facilitators of and barriers to the success of a behavioral health system transformation project. This paper fills a gap in knowledge by sharing learnings from the early stages of innovation in behavioral health payment and care and organizing these learnings in the CFIR model to promote their application to other projects. Although many systems are exploring such models, the learnings in county behavioral health settings from such explorations are too rarely shared. Moving towards value-based payor agnostic behavioral health care (Part 1) and improving access to information about care (Part 2) can help alleviate the unmet need within the County behavioral health system.

Participants

As part of an evaluation of the BHST Innovation Project, 29 individuals participated in key informant interviews between May and August 2022. Participant information is available in Table  2 . Seven individuals who had leadership roles at the County or a participating health care agency (L) participated in interviews that included both Part 1 and Part 2. Staff who only have knowledge about one part of the project participated in part-specific interviews, including eight contracted partners in Part 1 (CP1), four contracted partners in Part 2 (CP2), three community members and County stakeholders in Part 1 (CS1), and seven community members and County stakeholders in Part 2 (CS2). These interviewees were recruited due to their knowledge and involvement in the BHST Innovation Project.

The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) was selected to guide the evaluation of both Part 1 and Part 2 in a consistent and systematic way.

Data collection

Our institutional review board deemed that this work was exempt from human participant research approval (University of California, Irvine Institutional Review Board (IRB)# #20,195,406). All participants provided verbal consent prior to participating in the interviews.

We developed a semi-structured interview guide based on relevant constructs from the CFIR model (Damschroder et al., 2009). The interview guide included a set of general questions for all interviewees with additional tailored questions for interviewees with different project roles (e.g., CP1, CP2, CS1, CS2, L). Interview guides are available in the supplementary material (Supplement 1 ). Each interview question was anchored to a CFIR construct. All interviewers had expertise in program evaluation or implementation science (DS, RV, SMS). Interviews were a mix of one interviewer, two interviewers, and two interviewers and a notetaker. Each interview lasted approximately 30 to 60 min. A total of 29 interviews were conducted, auto-transcribed by Zoom, and then the transcripts were verified and cleaned by the evaluation team.

Data analyses

We conducted thematic analyses following Braun and Clarke’s recommendation (2006). We outline how we follow their 6 proposed phases of analysis below.

Phase 1–2 (being familiar with data and initial coding)

XZ and RV were both trained in the CFIR framework, qualitative coding best practices, and use of the coding software (ATLAS.ti, version 22) prior to conducting data analyses. All data cleaning and analyses were completed using ATLAS.ti. We developed an initial draft of the codebook with adapted definitions of the CFIR constructs (Table  1 ). We used the five broad CFIR domains (intervention characteristics, outer setting, inner setting, characteristics of individuals, and process) and identified relevant subdomains. We completed initial coding, adapted the general CFIR definitions to be project-specific, and added a subdomain (i.e., COVID-19 as a factor in the outer setting). A total of 29 codes derived from the CFIR, including CFIR domains and subdomains, were included in the final codebook. Adapted definitions of the CFIR codes for both Part 1 and Part 2 of the project are presented in Table  2 .

Phase 3–5 (searching for, reviewing, defining, and naming themes)

XZ and RV double coded all transcripts. Initial percentages of agreement between two coders at the transcript level ranged from 46 to 74%. XZ and RV met weekly to review discrepancies and discuss revisions of the codebook (e.g., clarification of domain and subdomain definitions, addition of relevant subdomains). Coding was discussed during weekly team meetings to support consistency and resolve any discrepancies. These meetings were attended by the two coders and two other members of our research team (DS and SMS). Through discussion, final codes were decided for any discrepancies. Thus, our codes used for data analysis were codes with initial agreement or codes with discrepancies resolved through discussion with the broader research team.

We used ATLAS.ti software to calculate the frequency of the codes by CFIR domain and project aspect (Part 1 vs. Part 2) to obtain an overview of code distribution. This allowed an initial overview of codes and identification of which codes were more common for Part 1 and/or Part 2. We followed best practices in qualitative analyses mentioned by Braun and Clarke (2006) and constructed salient themes that “capture something important about the data in relation to the research and represents some level of patterned response or meaning within the data set.”

Phase 6 (locating exemplars and producing the report)

XZ, RV, and SMS engaged in documenting the themes described in this paper. XZ built a narrative of the data and selected illustrative example quotes under each theme. XZ labeled individual participants; for example, an example quote from the first contracted partner in Part 1 (CP1) was labeled “CP1.1”. RV and SMS reviewed the themes and examples and provided feedback.

Guided by CFIR, we examined facilitators and barriers related to behavioral health care system transformation efforts in Orange County separately for each of the two parts: (Part 1) developing a template for value-based payment contracts that promote payor-agnostic care, and (Part 2) creating a digital resource navigator. Overall, five themes were identified from the key informant interviews including (1) aligning goals and values (2) assessing and addressing fit, (3) fostering partnership and engagement, (4) being aware of implementation contexts, and (5) promoting communication. In Table  3 , we presented barriers and facilitators along with their CFIR domains related to each of the five themes. Different barriers and facilitators were identified for Part 1 and Part 2. Some barriers in the outer setting, such as changing state guidelines and priorities and fostering partnerships with private and nonprofit sectors, were unique to developing a template for value-based contracts that move toward payor-agnostic care. Engaging diverse communities to inform the design and content, mostly innovation characteristics, was a key facilitator for developing the digital resource navigator.

Part 1: Develop a Template for Value-Based Payment Contracts That Promote Payor-Agnostic Care

Themes and example quotes for facilitators of and barriers to developing a template for value-based payment contracts that promote payor-agnostic care are presented in Table  4 .

Aligning goals and values

Despite shared enthusiasm about value-based payment models that promote payor-agnostic care, misalignment in vision and scope was a barrier (inner setting, compatibility). For example, CP1.1 shared their excitement for increasing access to care and expressed a desire for payor-agnostic care (e.g., “From a clinician standpoint, it’s so much easier when a clinician can just treat the client and not have to worry about what type of insurance do they have, what can I not and what can I, and can I not do. What can or can they not receive for resources referrals”). Despite the shared enthusiasm among contracted partners and County health care agency leaders about increasing access to care via payor-agnostic care, perceptions of vision and scope of the contract varied, posing barriers in the inner setting. A County health care agency leader (L.1) described this barrier: “I would say that I think that there has not been alignment and agreement on the focus or the vision or the purpose and it’s felt like a kind of ongoing debate in terms of whether we want a liberal or conservative interpretation of the Constitution. It’s just fundamental disagreement on how to come to what that approved proposal was and how lenient and open to interpretation that approval is, and therefore we have not been able to get on the same page.” Confusion about the scope of the current project vision (e.g., L.2: “How it’s going to happen, I have no idea”) and skepticism about its feasibility (e.g., L.1: “Payor-agnostic… too ambitious and it’s certainly not doable or feasible in the time left on the project”) were barriers that tempered the enthusiasm for the project. Leveraging strong management and leadership (inner setting, leadership) as internal champions facilitated the process of aligning visions within the organization (e.g., “… the previous Health Care Agency Director was a champion and then the previous Behavioral Health Director was a champion… just having external subcontractors moving it forward isn’t enough to be able to realize the full value of the planning project or… to be able to support what the resulting plan would be.”).

Assessing and addressing fit

Lack of fit with existing health care system infrastructure was identified as a barrier to developing a template for value-based payment contracts that move toward payor-agnostic care. County health care agency leaders mentioned that private and public payors had different priorities and incentives within their organizations (outer setting, external policies and incentives). When describing challenges of bringing the private sector to the table, county health care agency leaders (L.2, L.4) used words such as “profit” and “return on investment.” L.2 described that a lack of incentives for commercial plans and private companies was a key challenge to engaging commercial payors: “It’s really hard to bring all the insurance companies to the table and say, ‘hey forget your profits, let’s just provide services at any cost’… the number one obstacle is getting those people to the table and questioning their profit level”. In contrast, the public sector had a bigger focus on compliance. For example, certified public expenditures (CPE) in the public sector were described as very specific (L.3). As described by L.5, the lack of flexibility of CPE suggested a poor fit between the value-based contracting and public funding structure: “So, I think for the Medi-Cal payment, I don’t think that we’re there, and we can’t gift public funds as a reward or an incentive to providers. It’s not laid out there. I know there are conversations at the state, but I think we’re [Orange County] so far ahead, as I understand it, and we don’t have the ability to just pay people extra, let them keep things that …there’s not a cost to it.”

Foster partnership

Strong cross-sector partnerships facilitated the process of braiding different funding streams. The importance of private-public payor partnership was recognized, especially related to factors in the outer setting. For instance, staff members and community stakeholders reported successful buy-in from commercial plans (outer setting, cosmopolitanism). CP1.2, CP1.3, and CS1.1 mentioned Kaiser Permanente as an example. CP1.2 stated: “Some of them [Commercial Plans] were already there. I mean Kaiser was a very early participant. They were an investor…They’re a big component of the… ecosystem, and they’re very much there”). This indicated a clear need for more efforts to facilitate the partnership with private insurance companies. CP1.2 also shared that their team’s cross-sector background and expertise facilitated establishing relationships and building cross-sector partnerships: “I come from a place of cross-sector, cross-organizational collaboration, and I think we can only improve what we’re doing if we learn what’s happening in other people’s backyards in like… how hard their jobs are”. Additionally, L.3 mentioned partnering with philanthropic organizations to obtain funding that aligns with the project mission (i.e., being able to serve everyone regardless of insurance status and clinical needs) could facilitate moving the County behavioral health system towards payor-agnostic care: “bring philanthropy to the table as well, because we really have a lot of wealth in our county. Philanthropy and some sort of a fund that accrues good interest, and we could utilize that as a stopgap between someone who doesn’t have payment and someone who does.” Participants with different roles on the project (CP1.1, CP1.3, L.3, L.4, CS1.2) described the COVID-19 global pandemic as disruptive to partnership relationship building and capacity of community members and staff members (outer setting, COVID-19). For example, CP1.3 stated: “We also had COVID, a lot of that [collaboration] got disrupted.”

Being aware of implementation contexts

A multitude of barriers influenced implementation contexts, including workforce challenges, the impact of COVID-19, and state-level policies. Workforce challenges were related to barriers in both inner and outer settings. Staff turnover and limited time and bandwidth were noted challenges in the inner setting and oftentimes led to de-prioritization of value-based contracting over other initiatives, particularly within the context of various state regulations (outer setting, external incentives and policies). For example, CP1.3 stated: “When there was turnover… that’s where kind of some of the thread may have gotten lost a little bit…. the focus of [value-based contracting] …was diminished…”. Relatedly, health care agencies had to shift their priorities due to COVID-19 related disruptions (e.g., CP1.3: “COVID changed things…there’s been a huge amount of distraction from the focus on COVID, and COVID response and vaccine, and response to COVID response… the transformation in the Community that happened from the CARES [The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security] Act dollars and other things getting poured in. It really took up a whole lot of time and space from elected officials to County staff to providers to take that in beyond what the usual kind of extravaganza of MHSA funding does every year. It really took all of that and poured gasoline on that fire, so it really changed the capacity of folks to engage in the work that we were trying to do.”). In addition to COVID-19 related disruptions and initiatives, state-level policies and the current CA health care infrastructure, such as the “carve-out” (the separation of mental health and substance use treatment services from the broader health care system), were mentioned by staff members and community stakeholders as barriers (CS1.3, CP1.2, CP1.3, CP1.4). CP1.2 described: “…in California, as long as the carve-out remains, there’re only so many levers you can pull.”

Promoting transparent and efficient communication

The complexity of developing a template for value-based contracts requires transparent and efficient communication. The need for promoting communication was identified as a theme related to building trust and relationships within a team (inner setting, networks and communication) and cultivating external partnerships (outer setting, cosmopolitism). A lack of transparent communication was identified as a barrier in both inner and outer settings. For example, L.2 described that the lack of communication could lead to a lack of shared understanding and trust within the project team (inner setting). L.4 mentioned that open communication with the state about the project progress was necessary to obtain state support and guidance (outer setting). To enhance communication among diverse stakeholders, the need for tailoring communication styles was mentioned. Participants (CP1.5, CS1.2, CS1.3) implied that using academic and technical jargon could be a barrier to communicating with community members and the lay workforce. For example, CS1.2 stated: “I looked at the summary of the survey and I said ‘…we are not baking a cake, so stop using the word measure. This is technical jargon; this is behind-the-scenes jargon. If you’re giving this to the Community, it should be as simple as I’m talking to you right now’.

Part 2: develop a Digital Resource Navigator (OC Navigator)

Themes and example quotes for facilitators of and barriers to developing a digital resource navigator to improve resource sharing and behavioral health service navigation are presented in Table  5 .

Shared enthusiasm was a facilitator for the development of the digital resource navigator. Specifically, its clear fit with County values and workflows in the inner setting and its relative advantages (innovation characteristics) contributed to the shared enthusiasm. Participants with different roles shared the same goal of improving existing workflows and increasing patient care in Orange County (inner setting, compatibility). As described by CP2.1: “It’s like knowing that the people that I’m interfacing with, the people that I’m like bothering and requesting meetings for, they all have the same like… we all share the same goal of like wanting to help people, and improve services, and improve access to services.” Multiple community stakeholders (CS2.1, CS2.5) described the strong fit between the digital resource navigator and the County’s equity-driven values. For instance, CS2.1 described the digital resource navigator as in line with the equity-driven values of the County: “One of our [Orange County Health Care Agency’s] key focuses was decreasing inequity, increasing equity… this is going to the next step on bringing more resources… I would say absolutely [the digital resource navigator] fits with Orange County’s values and workflows”. In addition to the clear fit between the digital resource navigator and County values, the strong fit between the digital resource navigator and existing workflows also contributed to enthusiasm among providers and community members. L.2 described that the digital resource navigator improved the efficiency of day-to-day tasks of County staff: “It’s helping the workflows [at OCHCA] be more efficient and cut out the extra unnecessary steps. It definitely is working to improve the system at the County.” Despite its fit into the larger values and workflows of Orange County Health Care Agency, not everyone deemed the digital resource navigator as a current need. For example, CP2.2 raised the question about whether the digital resource navigator was a redundant resource in the community: “We got a lot of comments and there’s a lot of chatter in the Community about is this [digital resource navigator] a waste of money because it’s a redundant resource?”.

The clear relative advantages (innovation characteristics) of the digital resource navigator contributed to shared enthusiasm among stakeholders and contracted partners. One relative advantage (innovation characteristics) was implementing a more centralized information-sharing, compared to the traditional paper-pencil format and other existing online tools. For example, L.1 stated: “ I would say it’s changed workflows in terms of centralizing and digitizing what used to be manual paper notes, post-it notes, some documentation here, some documentation there. They’ve digitized and in some cases automated a lot of the workflows for our telephone-based navigation line”. The increased efficiency in referral workflow was described as another relative advantage of the digital resource navigator. CP2.2 stated: “…you get to a point [when using other applications to find behavioral health resources] and you’d be stuck, and you just have to call the agency. You might have a list of twenty agencies, and you have to call them all before you can get some real basic information. But ours has… the way that they’re [the digital resource navigator] setting up the information cards. They give a lot of information, and then it just seems to be more robust and user-friendly.”

Fostering Engagement

Community engagement was identified as a process factor that facilitated the development and improvement of the digital resource navigator. Outreach efforts to community organizations facilitated the process of gathering feedback from community members and raising awareness about the digital resource navigator, as described by a community stakeholder (CS2.2) and multiple contracted partners (e.g., CP2.1, CP2.2, CP2.3). CP2.2 described: “… we have been successful in this sense where we’ve been talking to organizations and collaboratives and coalitions. Our pitch has been… give us your resource directory. We will highlight it on the website [the digital resource navigator]. You can correct it. We’ll tell you who authored it. We will give you a link that highlights your website, and these resource directories on the site and just let us help us help you, and then do your job better.” CP2.3 and CS2.2 identified connections with external networks as an important innovation source (e.g., National Council of Negro Women, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)) because they increased the team’s knowledge base about available resources and community needs. For example, CS2.2 described that conversations with NAMI informed the design, content, and implementation of the digital resource navigator: “So it was really great to be able to sit with [the technology vendor team] and have them ask sort of what [NAMI’s] vision was for the database and search platform to be, how we wanted it implemented, and just even how it looks so it’s not so scary” (innovation source, innovation characteristics).

Engaging community members, such as individuals with lived experiences and from marginalized groups, facilitated the improvement of design features. CP2.4 recommended leveraging community champions as a way of reaching historically marginalized groups: “Have [County leaders] help us identify champions in the community that might be good representatives for different sorts of things. So that kind of got us started. I remember a couple of years ago… they said, ‘this group is working on this, and this group is working on that’. They kind of helped with some initial introductions.” Despite the support from champions, engaging community members was especially challenging in the context of the COVID-19 global pandemic. COVID-19 lockdowns disrupted engagement with consumers who needed or preferred in-person engagement, as described by CP2.1: “At the beginning of the project, it was definitely like come one come all because we were getting started, it was COVID and really hard to engage.” (COVID, outer setting).

Lack of connections with historically marginalized communities was a barrier to curating multilinguistic and culturally relevant content on the digital resource navigator. The contracted partner’s team (e.g., CP2.3) commented on the earlier challenges of connecting with the Spanish-speaking community: “…not having been able to connect with more Spanish-speaking populations than we have. Along with that, having all the other languages that we represent on the Navigator… Not really having that much direct access to folks in that community”. Additionally, CP2.2 described that community engagement could have been more helpful in the early planning process of the project: “…we recently had a couple work groups with… a group of Latinas. They were Spanish-speaking only and they actually had a lot of suggestions because they actually have their own Facebook group, but these are the conversations I wish we’d had a little bit earlier. But better late than never.” In addition to engaging Latinx and Spanish-speaking populations through Spanish work groups (CS2.3, CS2.4), multiple participants (CP2.2, CP2.3, CS2.3, CS2.5) also mentioned that effective marketing and outreach efforts might facilitate the process of connecting with other historically underrepresented groups, such as veteran communities, faith-based organizations, individuals with special needs, and Korean and Chinese communities.

Transparent and open communication between County, contracted partners, and community partners was the most highlighted facilitator. CP2.1 described that a trusting relationship allowed more time and resources to be allocated to innovation development and community engagement: “There’s a very wide level of trust within everybody in the team to making the best decisions as possible for the project and for staff, so less checks and balances there, and more like this is what the Community wants. This is what we’re going to try to do as much as possible.” Multiple participants across different roles on the project (CP2.1, CP2.4, L.6) expressed that they were able to build trusting and collaborative relationships with proactive communication. Regularly scheduled meetings with clear agenda items, openness to feedback, active incorporation of feedback from community members, and discussions about specific design features and usefulness of the content improved design and feature development of the digital resource navigator. For example, CP2.2 described the process of engaging community co-chairs in the decision making around the need for broader community outreach, “for short things we run it by them [community co-chairs] and sort of get their temperature about if we should ask a broader group. Then, of course, we asked the County…it’s not a perfect process…and it’s iterative but we try our best….”.

This paper fills a literature gap by disseminating insights garnered from the initial phases of innovation in behavioral health payment and care. Applying the CFIR framework, we identified important facilitators of and barriers to Orange County’s behavioral health system transformation efforts under several key themes in the context of an innovation project. Specifically, aligning goals and values, fostering engagement and partnership, and promoting communication were all highlighted as important factors related to developing a template for value-based contracts that promote payor-agnostic care (Part 1) and creating a digital resource navigator (Part 2). Changing state guidelines and priorities, different incentive structures within the US health care system, and difficulties in braiding public and private funds (e.g., private insurance companies, philanthropic organizations) were unique barriers to developing a template for value-based contracts that promote payor-agnostic care. Leveraging diverse communities to inform the design and content of the digital platform, mostly in the domain of innovation characteristics, was a facilitator of creating the resource navigator.

Part 1. Develop a template for value-based payment contracts that promote payor-agnostic care

Misalignment in incentives, values, and goals posed barriers to developing a template for value-based contracts. Value-based payment models and payor-agnostic care are a disruption to the status quo of fee-for-service predominance and service fragmentation by payor source. Thus, the change to value-based payments could be perceived as adding regulatory and financial risks for both public and private sectors. Similar to challenges identified in our study, in a study of value-based care for substance use disorder treatment, researchers identified providers’ buy-in to value-based concepts as a key workforce challenge [ 11 ]. Additionally, we found developing a template for value-based contracts was perceived as a lower priority compared to other organizational and state initiatives due to limited agency bandwidth and competing priorities during the COVID-19 global pandemic. This was not unique in this implementation context. Delayed transition to value-based payments has been common in many hospital settings. For example, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) stopped accepting applications for new Accountable Care Organizations (a type of value-based contract) in 2021 [ 23 ].

Providing financial incentives may increase the acceptability of value-based contracts that promote payor-agnostic care. Existing financial strategies often rely on public funds, such as increased pay-for-service, grants, and cost-sharing, which may not be a sustainable and scalable solution [ 1 ]. Braiding public and private funding streams may help change the current incentive structure and provide sustainable resources for implementing value-based payment and payor-agnostic care. Funding from philanthropic organizations may be a potential funding source to fill some gaps in the behavioral healthcare sphere, and venture capital firms are getting involved in creating new innovations that may increase access to behavioral health services [ 24 ]. With both private and public sectors around the table, long-term cost-saving potentials of a value-based contract may act as a shared motive towards creating momentum that is needed to facilitate system transformation efforts [ 25 ].

Our work furthers the understanding of factors influencing the development of a digital resource navigator. We find that aligning goals and values, fostering engagement, and promoting transparent and efficient communication were important to the development and implementation of a digital resource navigator in Orange County. In our analyses, the perceived compatibility between the digital resource navigator and the extent to which it improved the current referral process workflow impacted the enthusiasm about the digital resource navigator. Consistent with our findings, past research has also found that providers were more likely to implement a technology-enabled tool when the tool could fit into or improve the existing workflow [ 26 , 27 ]. Our data also revealed that some interviewees did not deem the digital resource navigator as a priority. Similarly, Zhao et al. (2022) found that some providers perceived implementing a technology-enabled tool as a low priority, especially considering that there were limited resources in their organizations.

Inclusive design, communication and engagement strategies allowed the contracted partners to better align a digital resource navigator with the needs and priorities of the diverse communities in Orange County. In particular, it is important to understand the unique needs for information and resources among marginalized and underrepresented populations (e.g., monolingual communities, faith-based organizations) [ 28 ]. The design of technology-enabled behavioral health tools, including the digital resource navigator that was evaluated in this study, needs feedback from diverse community stakeholders. In our analyses, staff members and community champions shared their wishes for engaging diverse community members early in the iterative design process of the digital resource navigator. This cross-sector collaboration process requires inclusive communication strategies, as contracted partners, community stakeholders, and academic evaluators often speak different languages and have different levels of technological understanding. It was highlighted in our data that leveraging connections and knowledge of community champions not only facilitated communication but also outreach to the broader community. However, it is also worth noting that centering community voice and consistent outreach activities often required additional staff time and bandwidth, which could be challenging within the constraints of the County’s resources and regulations. Additionally, ongoing tailoring and adaptation of existing resources on the digital resource navigator are necessary. For example, community members shared frustration when resources on the platform were outdated. The process of sustaining timely updates of platform content may be costly and create workforce challenges.

Limitations

As found in the current study, external state policies and financial incentives in the outer setting were barriers to the acceptance of value-based and payor-agnostic care; although, government initiatives, such as California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM), could also facilitate the process. Attitudes and approaches towards system transformation may differ by state due to different state initiatives. It is important to note this project, along with a few mentioned past studies [ 8 , 9 ] relied on public funding, which could be even more limited in lower-resourced states and counties. This project was conducted in the state of California, which has more resources than other states, as evidenced by higher income and higher GDP. Substantial variations in resources (e.g., provider availability, funding) at the County and state level may also impact agency bandwidth to pilot value-based payment contracts [ 25 ] and develop and sustain a digital resource navigator. Additionally, we did not conduct consumer interviews and observations. Consumer perspectives and outcomes can be particularly helpful in curating inclusive content and improving the user interface of the digital resource navigator. However, it is worth noting that we included a diverse group of interviewees, including staff members, leadership, and community stakeholders. Some of the interviewees worked closely with the community being served in this early stage of the grant. Additionally, the data were from an early stage (first 2.5 years) of a five-year grant-funded project in Orange County; some identified facilitators (e.g., shared enthusiasm about a new and exciting project) and barriers (e.g., COVID-19) may be related to the time point.

Future directions

First, given the influence of external state policies, financial incentives, and County resources on the acceptability of value-based and payor-agnostic care, further investigation is needed to understand the impact of a specific County health care initiative on behavioral health care system transformation efforts. Comparative evaluation of barriers to and facilitators of various system transformation efforts across states and counties can provide valuable insights into policy implications and guide tailored support for local stakeholders. Second, centering the voices and experiences of consumers can be particularly helpful in ensuring the inclusivity of the content and design of the digital resource navigator. Collecting data from consumers through interviews and surveys can facilitate understanding the perceived usefulness and usability of the platform and content on the digital resource navigator.

We analyzed 29 key informant interviews to provide insight into the barriers and facilitators related to County behavioral health system transformation in a state-funded project. Overall, aligning goals and values, fostering engagement and partnership, and promoting communication were important factors to consider when developing a template for value-based contracts that promote payor-agnostic care (Part 1) and developing a digital resource navigator (Part 2). Being aware of changing state guidelines and priorities, having cross-sector specialty knowledge about incentive structures in the public and private sectors, and braiding public and private funds were important to developing a template for value-based contracts that promote payor-agnostic care. Leveraging diverse communities to inform the design and content and incorporating their timely feedback was particularly important to the development of the resource navigator. As these insights were drawn from diverse perspectives within the County Behavioral Health system, we hope that our research will prove invaluable to similar transformation endeavors in the future.

Availability of data and materials

The data collected and analyzed for this study are not publicly available because this was not a requirement of the project’s funder, and the verbal consent process did not elicit participants’ consent for their data to be publicly shared.

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This work was funded by the Orange County Health Care Agency, Mental Health and Recovery Services, Innovation Projects, Mental health Services Act/Prop 63 (contract number MA-042-21011324). This work was also supported by the Institute for Clinical and Translational Sciences (ICTS) under Grant (UL1TR001414). The information or content and conclusions presented here are those of the authors and should not be construed as official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by, the participating partners and/or the Orange County Health Care Agency.

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XZ contributed to the conceptualization of the work, analysis and interpretation of data, and writing the original draft, and writing-review and editing. RV contributed to conceptualization of the work, collection analysis, interpretation of the data and writing-review and editing. JB, EE, DS, and DM contributed to writing-review and editing. SS contributed to the conceptualization of the work, collection and interpretation of the data, and writing-review and editing. DHS contributed to funding acquisition, conceptualization of the work, collection and interpretation of the data, and writing-review and editing.

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Our institutional review board deemed that this work was exempt from human participant research approval (University of California, Irvine Institutional Review Board# #20195406). Key informant interviews are considered non-human subject research because results are intended to describe the specific context under which the data is collected, and will not be used to generalize beyond this context. Verbal informed consent was obtained from all participants.

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SMS has received consulting payments from Otsuka Pharmaceuticals and Boehringer Ingelheim, and is a member of the Headspace Scientific Board, for which he receives compensation. XZ has received consulting payments from FirstThen Inc for work unrelated to this manuscript. The authors have no further interests to declare.

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Zhao, X., Varisco, R., Borghouts, J. et al. Facilitators of and barriers to County Behavioral Health System Transformation and Innovation: an interview study. BMC Health Serv Res 24 , 604 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-11041-9

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Received : 08 February 2024

Accepted : 24 April 2024

Published : 09 May 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-11041-9

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