How to Start a Research Title? Examples from 105,975 Titles

I analyzed a random sample of 105,975 full-text research papers, uploaded to PubMed Central between the years 2016 and 2021, in order to explore common ways to start a research title.

I used the BioC API to download the data (see the References section below).

Common ways to start a title

The most common 3-word phrases to start a title

Three-word phraseNumber of occurrences
(in 105,975 titles)
Percent of occurrences
The role of…4120.39%
The effect of…4060.38%
The impact of…2480.23%
A case of…2200.21%
The effects of…1840.17%
Development of a…1440.14%
Evaluation of the…1330.13%
The influence of…1180.11%
Efficacy and safety…1170.11%
The relationship between…1110.10%

The most common 2-word phrases to start a title

Two-word phrasesNumber of occurrences
(in 105,975 titles)
Percent of occurrences
Effects of…8480.80%
Effect of…8230.78%
Evaluation of…6050.57%
Comparison of…5350.50%
Impact of…4870.46%
Identification of…4340.41%
The role…4170.39%
The effect…4110.39%
A novel…3490.33%
Development of…3480.33%

The most common words to start a title

WordNumber of occurrences
(in 105,975 titles)
Percent of occurrences
The…6,8826.49%
A…4,7384.47%
An…9230.87%
Effects…8530.80%
Effect…8310.78%
Evaluation…6400.60%
Association…6230.59%
Comparison…5890.56%
Clinical…5770.54%
Identification…5290.50%

Can a title start with “How”?

In our sample, 289 titles out of 105,975 (0.27%) started with the word “How”.

Here are some examples:

Example 1:

How Useful are Systematic Reviews for Informing Palliative Care Practice? Survey of 25 Cochrane Systematic Reviews

Link to the article on PubMed

Example 2:

How the Leopard Hides Its Spots: ASIP Mutations and Melanism in Wild Cats

Link to the article on PubMed

Example 3:

How Do Red Blood Cells Know When to Die?

Link to the article on PubMed

Can a title start with “Why”?

In our sample, 68 titles out of 105,975 (0.06%) started with the word “Why”.

Here are some examples:

Example 1:

Why Don’t All Infants Have Bifidobacteria in Their Stool?

Link to the article on PubMed

Example 2:

Why Women Bleed and How They Are Saved: A Cross-Sectional Study of Caesarean Section Near-Miss Morbidity

Link to the article on PubMed

Example 3:

Why Most Published Research Findings Are False

Link to the article on PLOS MEDICINE

References

  • Comeau DC, Wei CH, Islamaj Doğan R, and Lu Z. PMC text mining subset in BioC: about 3 million full text articles and growing, Bioinformatics, btz070, 2019.

Further reading