Table 1 Different types of Journal Club

Critical appraisal based journal club

Critical appraisal journal clubs, generally deal with reviewing an article, which is usually chosen and assessed by the presenter using a critical appraisal checklist. The foremost drawback with this type of club is that participants may not feel confident in their critical appraisal skills and are therefore reluctant to join in. Additionally, this kind of journal club is directed to experienced adult learners.

Hill A, Spittlehouse C. What is critical appraisal? London: Hayward Medical Communications, 2006.

Evidence based journal clubs

Evidence based journal clubs involve the process of systematically reviewing, appraising, and using clinical research findings to aid the delivery of optimum clinical patient care. The key feature of this journal club includes posing a question followed by carrying out a literature search, and then selecting relevant papers, as well as critical appraisal of the selected article(s > in light of the question posed.

Phillips R, Glasziou P. What makes evidence based journal clubs succeed? Evidence Based Medicine 2004;9:36–7.

Mentored journal clubs

Mentored journal clubs involve the participation of a mentor who helps the presenter to identify appropriate article(s) that fits to address a prespecified scientific question. The mentor also meets with the presenter prior to the journal club to discuss the article(s) and help the presenter with the preparation of the presentation.

Judd S, Antaki F Approach to presenting a clinical journal club.

Gastroenterology. 2014; 146(7):1591–3

Student-led journal clubs

Student led journal clubs are voluntary journal clubs where a student presents an article to address a pre-specified scientific/clinical question. These kind of journal clubs are generally organized by students in their residency years.

Funston G. The promotion of academic medicine through student- led initiatives. Int J Med Educ. 2015 Nov 21;6:155–7.

Virtual journal clubs

Any of the above journal clubs when delivered in an electronic format with discussion taking place via e mail and social media is defined as a virtual journal club.

The above four journal clubs require protected time for attendees to attend. Virtual journal club overcomes this limitation.

Oliphant R, Blackhall V, Moug S, Finn P, Vella M and Renwick A. Early experience of a virtual journal club.

Clin Teach. 2015 Dec;12(6):389–93.