Journal club presentation: a paper review template

Use five parts: the research question, the study design, the main result, the limitations and the implications for your group. Keep the citation and source passages close to each claim. The downloadable worksheet below is an original MedLit discussion aid, not an official checklist or a validated scoring system.

Before generating an appraisal, ask what decision or scientific question the paper informs. Identify the population, comparison and primary outcome. A focused question helps a journal club avoid spending the whole meeting retelling the abstract.

Review the methods, bias and evidence sections in MedLit. Choose a few judgments that materially affect interpretation and bring their source passages to the meeting. Mark missing information and competing interpretations explicitly. A quotation is a place to start the discussion, not an automatic resolution.

Save appraisals to the Library and compare two or three papers by population, design, source coverage and limitations. Different populations or outcome definitions can make headline numbers incomparable. MedLit’s comparison is a reading aid; it does not calculate a pooled treatment effect or perform a meta-analysis.

Export the report and citation for your meeting notes. Keep a library backup if you rely on browser storage. After discussion, record what changed your interpretation and which questions remain open. Do not treat a high traceability score as proof that a study is correct or clinically applicable.

Give the group enough background to understand the question, then spend most of the meeting on interpretation. For a 30-minute session, one possible plan is five minutes on the question, five on the design and results, fifteen on two or three contested judgments, and five on the remaining questions. Adapt the timing to your teaching programme and audience; this is a suggested format, not an evidence-based time requirement.

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