This study investigates the use of two selected metatext categories, previews and reviews, in English and Persian research articles (RAs). The distribution of previews and reviews in five major sections of the articles in both languages was also examined. Sixteen RAs from the field of economics (8 in English and 8 in Persian) were analyzed according to a set of criteria established in advance, and the quantitative results of the analysis were further examined statistically. The results showed that the number of occurrences of the selected metatext categories in English RAs is larger than that in Persian RAs. Although the two languages roughly follow the same pattern of distribution of previews, this is not the case for reviews.