The First Journal Club Meeting: From Artificial Intelligence to Scientific Publication
On September 25, 2026, the first Journal Club meeting, organized by the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Evidence-Based Medicine, was held at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Care of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University.
The first meeting brought together undergraduate, Master’s, and PhD students interested in scientific research, academic writing, and publishing their research findings.
The Journal Club was led by Professor Faina Y. Linkov, PhD, MPH, Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, USA), who is visiting Kazakhstan as part of the international Fulbright Program. Professor Linkov has extensive experience in epidemiology, public and global health, scientific research, and academic publishing. She is the author of more than 100 scientific publications and has a Scopus h-index of 25.
The first meeting — Artificial Intelligence in research
The first Journal Club meeting opened with a lecture entitled “From AI to Impact: How to Do, Evaluate, and Publish Health Research in the Age of AI?”
Participants discussed one of the most relevant topics in modern science — how artificial intelligence can be effectively used in healthcare, scientific research, and academic publishing.
Particular attention was given to an important principle: AI should be used as a research assistant, not as the researcher. Artificial intelligence can help researchers summarize large amounts of information, organize materials, improve academic English, develop manuscripts, and identify suitable journals. However, formulating research questions, critical thinking, making ethical judgments, and providing the final interpretation of research findings remain the responsibility of the researcher.
The discussion on how to distinguish a reputable scientific journal from a predatory journalgenerated particular interest among participants. The session highlighted several important red flags, including promises of guaranteed or extremely rapid publication, little or no peer review, misleading journal metrics, unclear publication fees, and inaccurate information about journal indexing.
More than lectures — a space to work on your own research
The key feature of the Journal Club is its practical focus. Rather than being a traditional lecture series, it is designed as a working environment where participants can bring their own research questions, data, ideas, and manuscripts in progress and work on them together.
Future sessions will gradually cover developing a publishable research question and study design, finding relevant literature and identifying a meaningful research gap, academic writing, preparing the Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussionsections of a manuscript, selecting the right journal, authorship and publication ethics, and responding effectively to reviewers’ comments. Special attention will also be given to the responsible and ethical use of AI throughout different stages of research and scientific publishing.
The Journal Club is designed to be highly interactive. Participants are encouraged to bring their own research questions, research materials, and laptops. Part of each meeting will be dedicated to discussion, while another part will focus on hands-on work with scientific manuscripts.
The first meeting marked the beginning of a series of weekly Journal Club sessions. We invite undergraduate, Master’s, and PhD students, as well as early-career researchers, who want not only to learn more about modern research but also to turn their own research ideas into high-quality scientific work and move step by step from a research question to publication.
If you already have a research topic or a manuscript in progress, are struggling to complete your paper, have questions about choosing the right journal, or simply want to improve your scientific writing skills — join us at the next Journal Club meetings. Your research idea may take its next important step toward publication right here!
Organizer:
Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Evidence-Based Medicine
Journal Club Coordinator:
Acting Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Evidence-Based Medicine, PhD Aizhan M. Raushanova
The Journal Club continues — join us for the upcoming sessions!
