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How to Read a Scientific Paper
David W. Ramey, DVM

Biomedical literature is expanding at a phenomenal pace. At the same time, the time that’s available to read that literature is becoming increasingly hard to find. Thus, if you want to try to stay current with medical developments and you don’t want to get overwhelmed, it is important to develop a system for reading and evaluating papers of interest. This paper will look at why you might read a scientific paper, suggest ways to decide whether to read a particular paper, and how to interpret the evidence presented. Author’s address: PO Box 5231, Glendale, CA 91221. 1999 AAEP.

1.

Why Read a Scientific Paper?

If you want to continue to try to do more good than harm for the horses in your care, you need to recognize the need to change and/or improve your diagnostic and therapeutic interventions so that they remain consistent with valid new knowledge. If you don’t stay current, you run the risk of falling short in your clinical practice. Clinical journals are generally the most accessible means of obtaining the information that you need. There are any number of reasons why you might read a clinical journal; 10 of them are listed in Table 1. Of particular interest to practitioners are items 5–7; these will be discussed in more detail later in this article.
2. Whether to Read a Particular Scientific Paper

out of your reading time, you should consider focusing on the few articles that are both valid and applicable to your area of interest and rejecting most articles almost immediately. The following guidelines should help you do that (Figure 1).
3. Is the Study Relevant?

If the study doesn’t apply to you or your practice, it may not be worth reading at all. Here are a few suggestions on how you might be able to tell if an article is worth a more thorough evaluation. 1. Look at the title. Is the article one that is potentially useful in your practice? For example, do you have a reproductive