Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A 1,500-word brief report in Annals of Internal Medicine describing the validation of a new clinical score in 300 patients
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A case report on a single patient is not a brief report (it is a case report)
Editorial commentary
A brief report is a peer-reviewed publication format for compact original research findings, particularly common in clinical and applied fields, with tight word and figure limits relative to a standard full-length article. It is used where a single, focused result or a small study warrants rapid or concise communication rather than the extended treatment a full article would require.
How this differs from a case report and a letter to the editor
A brief report presents original research findings — typically from a small study or a single focused result — and is closely related to formats called “short communications” or “research letters” in some journals, with the exact label varying by publisher. It is distinct from a case report, which specifically describes one or a small number of individual clinical (or occasionally legal or social) cases rather than a study’s aggregate findings, and distinct from a letter to the editor, which responds to a previously-published article rather than presenting new original data.
Example
A short, word-limited report describing the validation of a new clinical scoring tool in a modest patient cohort, published as a brief report rather than a full-length original article because the scope of the finding fits the shorter format.
Also known as
Brief paper · Short report
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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