Navigating Academic Journal Articles: The Problem
Many people look for health information by doing their own searches of the peer-reviewed medical journal literature on Pubmed. This sounds like a great idea, but creates additional problems. If you do not have a medical background, or have no formal training (meaning, graduate training) in science or medicine, the medical literature is wide open for misinterpretation. There are thousands of publications people can sift through, but some are based on poor studies, and some are based on good studies. Some are bad review articles, some are good review articles. Conflicts of interest and bias are other problems that can pollute the literature. It is simply not possible for a layperson without some training in science or medicine to sift through scientific or medical literature and use it effectively. It is difficult enough for scientists and doctors to do this; even they can’t always use the literature effectively. As a result, many patient advocacy websites now offer opinions or “translations” of the medical literature for the lay-browser. The result can be disastrous: a misinterpreted article can travel through listserves and websites like a virus. That’s how misinformation occurs. There is no real solution to the problem of eliminating the wide gaps in knowledge between the “medical science education” haves and have nots. The unfortunate fact is that people with no medical or science background cannot fully comprehend the scientific journal articles and accurately interpret what s/he’s reading. Please review our guidelines for searching the medical literature.