Running head: ANALYSIS OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR ENDOCRINOLOGY
Analysis of Journal in Health Science Field
Jainam Shah
Wayne State University
ENG 3010, Section 001
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Running head: ANALYSIS OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR ENDOCRINOLOGY
Abstract
This paper discusses the types of journals and articles used within the field of science. It will
analyze the format of a journal and an article published within that journal including specific
guidelines that must be followed for publishing. Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology is the
journal that will be analyzed along with the following article “Endocrine disruptors and
reproductive health: The case of Bisphenol-A”.
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Running head: ANALYSIS OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR ENDOCRINOLOGY
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Research is critical in every field of study because it allows for the advancement of
knowledge. Scientists and professionals in every field conduct research with the hopes of
discovering something new or confirming something unknown. Their findings are then published
in journals or databases. Here, professionals in a certain field can gain access to new research
and learn about advancements in that field. It is also important to review literature that has been
published in journals. Not only does this help to determine the validity of the research question
posed in an article, but it can also help to spur on further research. The articles published by
Elsevier in the journal, Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, have a certain tone and style of
writing that are important in the field of health sciences.
Elsevier is highly distinguished for its excellence in publishing articles.
It has printed
many articles written by honored scholars, scientific leaders, and educators for the past 125
years. Every year, Elsevier manages to publish 250,000 journal articles. The publisher also
provides an online database for many of its journals. This database allows for easy navigation
because the journals are highly organized and articles are very easy to find. Not only are the
articles organized by volume number and issues, but they are also organized according to the
type of manuscript (such as a research paper or a review). Elsevier publishes many journals
ranging from the fields of accounting and engineering to fields such as psychology and biology.
One such journal in the field of biology is Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology.
The journal Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology publishes articles pertaining to the
molecular and cellular levels of mechanisms involved in hormonal control within the body. In
order to submit an article, strict guidelines must be followed. The article to be published must be
subjected to editorial revision. Also, the author must agree that their work cannot be published
in any other book or journal. They must also ensure that their work has not already been
Running head: ANALYSIS OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR ENDOCRINOLOGY
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published in another journal. In addition to this, authors must format their article in a certain
way in order for it to be considered for publishing. The format of a manuscript in Molecular and
Cellular Endocrinology must be in the following order: title page, summary/abstract, keywords,
the text, the tables, the figures, acknowledgements, and references. Each of these subsections
have there own specific guidelines that must also be followed.
To begin a manuscript, the authors must include an appropriate title that informs the
reader about the subject of the article. It must also include the author’s initials, names, and any
affiliations. After the title page, an abstract must be included. It cannot be more than 150 words
in length. The purpose of the abstract is to summarize the main point of the paper along with the
conclusions reached from the research. Once the abstract is stated, a list of 3-6 keywords must
also be mentioned. This is used to provide the reader with an insight of the key topics that are
going to be discussed within the article. The abstract and the keywords help the reader to
determine the importance of the article and whether it is useful for their intentions.
After the abstract and keywords is the main text of the article. An introduction is
included to provide background information on the topic to be discussed. It is also used to state
the research question that will be presented in the article. Following the introduction is the
materials and methods section.
This is where the authors inform the reader about the
experiments that were performed when conducting the research. It must be very detailed so that
others will be able to replicate the experiment. Once this is stated, the next section is the results.
The purpose of the results is to publish the data collected from the experiments. After stating the
evidence, the authors discuss what they have found. They mention the significance of the results
and discuss further research that may need to be done. The last section of a manuscript in
Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology is the references and acknowledgements section. The
Running head: ANALYSIS OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR ENDOCRINOLOGY
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references in text must be cited by author and year. References in the list must be on a separate
sheet in alphabetical order. The acknowledgements must also be on a separate sheet of paper to
give credit to those individuals who helped in the research.
Within the manuscript, figures and charts may also be included. They must be titled and
cited in the text. The figures must also be numbered consecutively by using Arabic numerals.
These guidelines along with others must be followed when publishing an article in this journal.
If one wants to write book reviews, cutting edge papers, or any other type of paper, additional
guidelines must also be considered. By following the specific format of an article, a journal
builds credibility and the articles published within the journal gain significance.
The articles published within Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology do an excellent job
of adding to the scientific field. They help scientists and health professionals to learn about
mechanisms of hormonal control within the body. Book reviews, and reviews of literature are
some forms of manuscripts published in this journal. There are a variety of topics discussed
which range from mechanisms of extracellular signals to clinical studies that evaluate basic
research conducted in the field of endocrinology. Health professionals can be continually
updated on new information by reading articles published in this journal.
The article “Endocrine disruptors and reproductive health: The case of bisphenol-A”,
was written by Maricel Maffini, Beverly Rubin, Carlos Sonnenschein, and Ana Soto. They are
professionals from Tufts University school of Medicine (department of anatomy and cellular
biology) who have written other articles in this journal pertaining to endocrine disruptors and
there effects on the hormonal system within the body. In essence, this article is basically about
the role BPA plays on the endocrine system. One can get an overview of the article by reading
the abstract to determine if it is relevant. In the abstract of the article, the authors state that
Running head: ANALYSIS OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR ENDOCRINOLOGY
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“BPA doses results in morphological and functional alterations of the male and female genital
tract and mammary gland that may predispose the tissue to earlier onset of disease, reduced
fertility, and mammary and prostate cancer” (Maffini, Rubin, Sonnenschein, Soto, 2006).
Basically, exposure to BPA, even at low doses can alter many functions within the body that
leads to serious health problems in humans. Once an individual has read the abstract, they can
decide if the article pertains to their interests and choose whether or not they want to read the
subsequent sections of the article.
To conduct research on the effects of BPA, a research question is presented in the
introduction, following the abstract.
The purpose of the article is stated before any other
information is presented as seen below:
Understandably, because many of the chemicals found to be endocrine disruptors are
important in the manufacturing industry, there has been controversy about whether low,
environmentally relevant doses produce deleterious effects in humans (Maffini et al.,
2006).
The authors are basically saying that BPA is common in many products, but its effect on humans
has stirred controversy. Experiments done on animals have shown many results when it comes
to endocrine disruptors. The main concern people have is how we can apply this research to
humans since we are biologically different from other organisms. Experiments cannot be done
on humans because of the ethical issues involved. This is why people are skeptical about the
effects of endocrine disruptors on humans. The purpose of this article is to outline hazards BPA
may pose to humans. The introduction does an excellent job in providing the reader with
background information over the concern of BPA. This will interest the reader into further
analyzing the studies in the manuscript so one can make there own conclusions.
Running head: ANALYSIS OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR ENDOCRINOLOGY
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In the body of the article, the authors mention the findings of previous studies to suggest
that BPA can affect humans. In this review of literature, the authors explain the research that has
been conducted relating BPA to many health conditions in animals. After that has been stated,
the authors discuss possible effects these results could show in humans. A figure is also
provided that summarizes the effect of prenatal exposure to BPA. One can see from looking at
the figure that BPA is hazardous to the endocrine system in numerous ways. The authors outline
these effects in different subsections titled: the ovaries and the oocytes, body weight, puberty
and cyclicity, the mammary gland, female reproductive tract, and male reproductive organs.
These different sections mention experiments/data-relating BPA to certain effects in animals
such as early puberty, alterations in sexual maturity, and many more alterations in the
morphology of organs and the genital tract. Because this is a review of literature and not an
original research, the body of the text would be considered the methods/results section of the
article.
Once the results from previous studies are mentioned, the authors discuss the meaning of
the results and suggest future directions in the research of the role of BPA. It is stated that “there
is a clear need for chemical and biochemical approaches aimed at a better understanding of the
mechanism of action of xenoestrogens with regard to the low-dose effects revealed during
developmental exposure” (Maffini et al., 2006). Basically, the authors are saying that more
research needs to be conducted in order to determine the severity of the effect of BPA and other
endocrine disruptors towards humans. The authors suggest how endocrine disruptors can affect
humans at different times during development. They pose two problems to be considered and
suggest a new study that can further be researched to explore the relationship of BPA and other
endocrine disruptors.
Running head: ANALYSIS OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR ENDOCRINOLOGY
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After discussing the results and future research questions, the authors conclude the
article by mentioning the controversy of endocrine disruptors on humans. The researchers claim,
“the ongoing research has both practical and theoretical implications” (Maffini et al., 2006). This
is because scientists are relating the findings obtained from animal studies (the practical
implications) and comparing them to possible health hazards in humans (theoretical
implications). In other words, we base our knowledge on the effects of endocrine disruptors
from experiments conducted on animals and apply these results to humans. The conclusions and
discussion section of the article are important since they summarize key findings from previous
studies and because they also provide new ideas for future research.
Overall, this article provided valuable information that is important in the field of health
sciences. However, due to the scientific terminology used throughout the article, it can be very
difficult to understand some concepts. Because the literature is very scientific, the intended
audiences are scientists, professionals in this specific field, or anyone with a background in
science. Without some basic knowledge of this topic, it is challenging to understand the studies
that were mentioned in the results/method section of this article. The message the authors are
trying to convey is easily understood- low doses of BPA may cause hazardous effects in humans.
However, the mechanism by which this can occur is difficult to understand since it is purely
scientific in nature. Even so, this article is useful in the field of health sciences since it allows
scientists and professionals to better understand the severity and controversy of endocrine
disruptors. This article, along with others in the journal, does a great job as a whole by not only
providing valuable information, but also by asking questions to spur on further research in the
field.
Running head: ANALYSIS OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR ENDOCRINOLOGY
Publishing articles in journals is a very tedious process.
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Strict guidelines must be
followed and the authors must consider the purpose, tone, and style of writing for the intended
audience of their article. Journals not only publish articles on a variety of subjects within a field,
but they also publish different types of manuscripts such as book reviews, original research, and
reviews of previous literature. This helps to advance knowledge and spur on further research.
By publishing in journals, scientists and other professionals can easily access new information
and be aware of issues at the forefront of their field.
Running head: ANALYSIS OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR ENDOCRINOLOGY
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References
Maricel V. Maffini, Beverly S. Rubin, Carlos Sonnenschein, Ana M. Soto. (2006). Endocrine
disruptors and reproductive health: The case of bisphenol-A. Molecular and Cellular
Endocrinology, 254-255. pp 179-186.