A statement from a brokerage firm or other investment advisory service discussing a specific security, industry, market or news item. Research notes are usually meant to contain time-sensitive information that applies to the current day's trading session or some event in the near future. Taobiz explains Research Note Research notes are often short in length (only a few paragraphs is common) and may make reference to an existing and more thorough investment call to buy or sell a security; research notes are also often used to advise clients to change their tactics and take a different course of action, along with the firm's reasons for this advice. Depending on the issuing firm, research notes may only be released to existing or prospective clients, and not to the general public. Many of them make their way into the public domain quickly, even later in the same trading day.