Each style or type of title is perfectly functional. However, the type of title used in research articles may no longer be a simple matter of the author\u2019s preference or a journal\u2019s guidelines.<\/p>\n
Both authors and journal editors benefit from a multitude of readers viewing the work. These views are recorded as citation metrics. High citation metrics promotes prestige for both the author and the journal in which the article is published. With the introduction of the Altmetric<\/a> Top 100 in 2013, there is a new way to track readership. Altmetric tracks the 100 most shared journal articles\u2014everyone wants to make it on the list. Researchers are now taking a look at how the title of a research article may affect readership.<\/p>\n In June 2016, Nicola Di Girolamo DMV, MSc(EBHC), PhD and Reint M. Reynders DDS, MSc, MSc(EBHC) presented a study entitled, \u201cAssociation between titles of healthcare articles and inclusion in the Altmetric Top 100<\/em>.\u201d They posited the following key objectives of an article title:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They looked for differences between declarative and descriptive (referred to as \u201cIndicative\u201d) titles and how that affected readership in a variety of online platforms, including social media, and in Altmetric. Di Girolamo and Reynders selected healthcare articles from those named in the Altmetric Top 100 between 2013 and 2015\u2014108 medical and health sciences articles were matched to 216 control articles. The abstract from their report<\/a> in the JCE<\/em> is referenced below.<\/p>\n For each title, they measured the following<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The findings observed in the study are as follows:<\/p>\n In addition, the authors also state that, despite the limitations of their study, the findings showed that the characteristics of a title only explained a part of the variability between articles that are highly discussed and those that are not.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n Another study, entitled, \u201cDo declarative titles affect readers\u2019 perceptions of research findings? A randomized trial\u201d<\/em> was conducted by Elizabeth Wager, Douglas G. Altman, Iveta Simera and Tudor P. Toma and appears in BioMed Central\u2019s Research Integrity and Peer Review<\/a>. Unlike the study by Di Girolamo and Reynders, Wager, et al., looked at whether the title of a journal article affected the reader\u2019s agreement with the article\u2019s conclusion or findings.<\/p>\n The basic structure of the trial\u00a0is as follows:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The authors concluded that they did not find any evidence in the use of a declarative title affecting readers\u2019 perceptions in the study. They also suggested that editors\u2019 who feared that declarative titles influenced readers\u2019 judgments about the study conclusions were unfounded in regards to the reports of randomized trials.<\/p>\n In 2004, JCE proceeded with a full implementation of their policy for authors to use declarative titles for newly submitted articles. Clearly, the journal\u2019s editors believed that short, declarative titles would be an efficient way to attract readers and for their scholarly articles to be indexed. Although the implementation of the JCE policy was 12 years prior to the study regarding the Altmetric Top 100, JCE editors anticipated the usefulness and importance of declarative titles.<\/p>\n Academic publishing is going the way of all other communication, at least where the titles are concerned: short and impactful. While there is no telling how long a platform like Twitter will last, the trend towards using language in its most abbreviated form is everywhere. Authors and journal editors, even in the open access world, still rely upon citation metrics to measure success. The Altmetric Top 100 is just one of the newest ways to assess the acclaim of an author\u2019s work and, by association, the publishing journal or platform. Following this study by Di Girolamo and Reynders, it is likely that more journals and academic publishers will recommend the use of declarative titles in scholarly articles.<\/p>\nThe Journal of Clinical Epidemiology<\/em> (JCE) Report<\/h2>\n
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BioMed Central Study<\/h2>\n
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Journal Requirements and General Recommendations<\/h2>\n
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