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 phrase | Number of occurrences (in 105,975 titles) | Percent of occurrences |
|---|---|---|
| The role of… | 412 | 0.39% |
| The effect of… | 406 | 0.38% |
| The impact of… | 248 | 0.23% |
| A case of… | 220 | 0.21% |
| The effects of… | 184 | 0.17% |
| Development of a… | 144 | 0.14% |
| Evaluation of the… | 133 | 0.13% |
| The influence of… | 118 | 0.11% |
| Efficacy and safety… | 117 | 0.11% |
| The relationship between… | 111 | 0.10% |
The most common 2-word phrases to start a title
| Two-word phrases | Number of occurrences (in 105,975 titles) | Percent of occurrences |
|---|---|---|
| Effects of… | 848 | 0.80% |
| Effect of… | 823 | 0.78% |
| Evaluation of… | 605 | 0.57% |
| Comparison of… | 535 | 0.50% |
| Impact of… | 487 | 0.46% |
| Identification of… | 434 | 0.41% |
| The role… | 417 | 0.39% |
| The effect… | 411 | 0.39% |
| A novel… | 349 | 0.33% |
| Development of… | 348 | 0.33% |
The most common words to start a title
| Word | Number of occurrences (in 105,975 titles) | Percent of occurrences |
|---|---|---|
| The… | 6,882 | 6.49% |
| A… | 4,738 | 4.47% |
| An… | 923 | 0.87% |
| Effects… | 853 | 0.80% |
| Effect… | 831 | 0.78% |
| Evaluation… | 640 | 0.60% |
| Association… | 623 | 0.59% |
| Comparison… | 589 | 0.56% |
| Clinical… | 577 | 0.54% |
| Identification… | 529 | 0.50% |
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.