Q: Are 'journal article' and 'research article' the same?

Detailed Question -

Actually I've to make a presentation on the topic "Critical analysis of research article, research proposal, report writing, and thesis" and I'm unable to find any material for it. I don't know these terms explicitly, that's why I don't know what material is right and how to present it. So while searching I found "9 differences between thesis and journal article" so now I don't know that journal article and research article are the same thing or not.

1 Answer to this question
Answer:

Any article that is published in a journal can be referred to as a "journal article." However, journals publish different types of articles, some of which require original research, while others do not. A "research article" however, refers to only those article types that require original research. Typically, empirical studies or original research articles belong to this category. Review articles, opinion and perspective pieces, commentaries, letters, etc. are typically do not fall under the bracket of research articles.

However, the points discussed in the infographic 9 differences between thesis and journal article can be applied to research articles. This is because theses involve original research, and therefore, the type of  journal articles that a thesis is converted into are almost always original research articles. 

Since you mentioned having difficulty in finding material on the topic of your presentation, here are some resources for you: