Where to look
Several repositories can help you find research on firefighter health. You can search any of them by keyword.
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Science to the Station
Re-Search
Our search tool checks Science to the Station resources and PubMed at the same time, filtered to firefighter and EMS health.
Search > -
National Library of Medicine
PubMed
One of the most common places to search the published medical and health research.
Open PubMed > -
Google
Google Scholar
A broad search of scholarly articles across fields, including studies outside medicine.
Open Scholar > -
National Fallen Firefighters Foundation
Everyone Goes Home
Resources organized around the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives.
Visit >
Found a good article? Look at the articles the authors cite in their reference section. That's one of the best ways to expand your search. Some databases also suggest similar references.
Can't get the full article? Some journals offer free online access. Others can be accessed through a university or the National Fire Academy's library. You can also email the contact author directly to request a copy. Copyright agreements often limit authors' ability to post full articles online for public use.
How a study gets published
Journals can be in print, online, or both. Some offer public access (the articles are free online), while others are available by subscription only, usually held by libraries and universities. Most journals publish only peer-reviewed articles.
- The authors submit a manuscript to a journal.
- Two to three other scientists review it. These peer reviewers typically critique the manuscript in detail and return comments to the editors.
- The editors decide. They reject it, accept it, or request revisions.
- Revise and resubmit. If revisions are requested, the authors can revise the manuscript and respond to the reviewers' concerns. The editors then accept or reject the revised work.
Peer review matters because scientists outside the research team have read, evaluated, and approved the work before it is ever published. This helps ensure the manuscript is scientifically sound, quality work that is usually free of major defects.
Anatomy of a study
Here's what the first pages of a typical research article look like, and where to find what matters. Hover or tap a number to see where it is.
Journal of Fire & EMS Health · 2025 · Vol. 12, No. 3
Shift schedules and sleep among career firefighters and EMS providers: a 12-month cohort study
1 Example University 2 Example Fire Department * Corresponding author: m.okafor@example.edu
https://doi.org/10.0000/example.2025.001
Abstract
Background:
Methods:
Results:
Conclusions:
1. Introduction
2. Methods
Participants: N = 412 · Response rate: 68%
3. Results
4. Discussion
Limitations
References
1. Smith J, et al. (2021)…
2. Lee K, et al. (2019)…
- Journal & date. Where and when it was published. Science changes quickly, so newer is usually better.
- Title. The topic, and often the design ("a cohort study"). The design tells you how strong the evidence is.
- Authors. The first author usually led the work; the last is often the senior author. The asterisk marks who to contact with questions.
- DOI. A permanent link to the article. Use it to cite, share or find the full text.
- Abstract. The executive summary. Read this first to decide if the rest is worth your time.
- Introduction. What was already known and the question being asked. A good place to find more studies.
- Methods. Who took part and how. Look for the sample size (N), the response rate, and whether people like you were included.
- Results. The findings, often in tables. Statistically significant results are usually marked.
- Discussion. What it means in plain language, plus the limitations to keep in mind.
- References. The studies the authors cite. One of the best ways to find more research.
Reading a study, part by part
Most research articles follow the same order. Here's what each part tells you.
Date
The date of a publication is important because science changes quickly. To stay up to date on current data, it is useful to refer to more recent publications (for example, roughly the last 10 years).
Authors
Most publications list a corresponding author with contact information. Feel free to contact authors with questions; most are very open to hearing from people who use their research. Author affiliations are also included.
If you find a publication useful, look up the author. Most authors publish within a topic area and have more than one relevant publication.
The order of the authors matters. The first author is typically the primary or lead author. Depending on the traditions of the field, the last author is often the senior author and/or the principal investigator of the study.
Abstract
The abstract, usually available online for free, summarizes the research. It's similar to the executive summary of a fire service report.
It typically opens with what is already known about the topic and what is missing from the literature, then briefly describes the methods and the sample that participated. The results highlight the most important findings. The end usually summarizes the conclusions, suggests future directions, or explains why the results matter.
Introduction
Here the authors summarize what is already known about the topic in the peer-reviewed literature. The introduction typically ends with the research question being studied and/or the authors' hypotheses about what they expect to find.
Introductions are a great place to find additional resources. Data presented should be referenced to the original research where it was published, so check the reference section to find the original study results.
Methods: participants
The methods section explains how the study was done and who took part. Knowing who the participants were tells you how widely the findings can be generalized. If all participants were men, be careful assuming the results would be the same for women. If the firefighters were all from the South, the findings could be different in another part of the country.
Sample size (typically noted as "N" or "n," depending on whether it's the whole group or a portion of it) matters too. The larger the study, the more confident you can be in the findings.
Response rate tells you how many of the people invited chose to participate. If it's low, be more concerned about bias: it could be that only those interested in the topic participated, and they may differ from those who chose not to. The higher the response rate, the more likely the findings represent the actual population.
Methods: measures
This part describes how each thing being studied was measured: what instruments were used, and whether the questions were written by the authors or drawn from existing surveys.
Scientists typically prefer existing measures that have been tested for reliability (the results are the same if you ask and re-ask the questions) and validity (the questions measure what they are intended to measure).
Statistical analysis
Once an article has made it into the published literature, you can usually be confident the statistics used are appropriate. Many editorial boards include statistical experts who review questionable analyses. More important than the ins and outs of each test is knowing how to interpret the results.
Most commonly, statistics are reported with p-values. A p-value tells you how likely it would be to see results at least as strong as these if there were really no effect. For instance, p = .04 means that if there were truly no effect, results like these would show up only about 4% of the time. It is not the probability that the finding is wrong or happened by chance. P-values less than .05 are typically considered statistically significant.
Results
The authors outline the findings of each test they conducted, often both in paragraphs and in tables. Table titles typically explain what data is being presented, and statistically significant findings are usually marked.
Discussion
The discussion typically begins with a plain-language summary of the main findings. It usually also covers the study's strengths and limitations (every study has limitations; they don't necessarily make it less useful, but they explain what to keep in mind when interpreting the results) and future directions (the authors' views on next steps and remaining research questions).
Not all designs are equal
The methods section names the research design. There are several types, and some are stronger than others.
Cross-sectional
Asks firefighters questions at one point in time and statistically examines the relationships between variables.
Cohort
Follows people over time and measures the same things at multiple time points.
Randomized controlled trial
Randomly assigns participants to groups and gives each group a different treatment, then compares the groups to see whether they respond differently.
Review & meta-analysis
A review looks across the literature. A meta-analysis statistically combines the findings of several studies, weighting them by sample size so a small study counts less than a large one, to draw conclusions about a topic as a whole.