Current findings from research on structured abstracts
- PMID: 15243644
- PMCID: PMC442180
Current findings from research on structured abstracts
Abstract
Background: Structured abstracts were introduced into medical research journals in the mid 1980s. Since then they have been widely used in this and other contexts.
Aim: The aim of this paper is to summarize the main findings from research on structured abstracts and to discuss the limitations of some aspects of this research.
Method: A narrative literature review of all of the relevant papers known to the author was conducted.
Results: Structured abstracts are typically longer than traditional ones, but they are also judged to be more informative and accessible. Authors and readers also judge them to be more useful than traditional abstracts. However, not all studies use "real-life" published examples from different authors in their work, and more work needs to be done in some cases.
Conclusions: The findings generally support the notion that structured abstracts can be profitably introduced into research journals. Some arguments for this, however, have more research support than others.
Comment in
-
Down with "op. cit.".J Med Libr Assoc. 2004 Oct;92(4):393; author reply 393. J Med Libr Assoc. 2004. PMID: 15494750 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
Similar articles
-
Structured abstracts: narrative review.Acta Cir Bras. 2006 Jul-Aug;21(4):263-8. doi: 10.1590/s0102-86502006000400014. Acta Cir Bras. 2006. PMID: 16862349
-
Adoption of structured abstracts by general medical journals and format for a structured abstract.J Med Libr Assoc. 2005 Apr;93(2):237-42. J Med Libr Assoc. 2005. PMID: 15858627 Free PMC article.
-
Down with "op. cit.".J Med Libr Assoc. 2004 Oct;92(4):393; author reply 393. J Med Libr Assoc. 2004. PMID: 15494750 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
-
Structured and unstructured abstracts in journal articles: a review.Niger Postgrad Med J. 2003 Sep;10(3):197-200. Niger Postgrad Med J. 2003. PMID: 14692066 Review.
-
Writing a research abstract: eloquence in miniature.Int Angiol. 2012 Jun;31(3):297-302. Int Angiol. 2012. PMID: 22634986 Review.
Cited by
-
What's new in abstracts of science articles.J Med Libr Assoc. 2016 Jul;104(3):235-6. doi: 10.3163/1536-5050.104.3.011. J Med Libr Assoc. 2016. PMID: 27366127 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
-
CONSORT for reporting randomized controlled trials in journal and conference abstracts: explanation and elaboration.PLoS Med. 2008 Jan 22;5(1):e20. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0050020. PLoS Med. 2008. PMID: 18215107 Free PMC article.
-
Writing abstracts and developing posters for national meetings.J Palliat Med. 2011 Mar;14(3):353-9. doi: 10.1089/jpm.2010.0171. Epub 2011 Jan 17. J Palliat Med. 2011. PMID: 21241194 Free PMC article.
-
The Principles of Biomedical Scientific Writing: Abstract and Keywords.Int J Endocrinol Metab. 2020 Jan 28;18(1):e100159. doi: 10.5812/ijem.100159. eCollection 2020 Jan. Int J Endocrinol Metab. 2020. PMID: 32308700 Free PMC article. Review.
-
The standards of reporting trials in pets (PetSORT): Explanation and elaboration.Front Vet Sci. 2023 Mar 30;10:1137781. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1137781. eCollection 2023. Front Vet Sci. 2023. PMID: 37065227 Free PMC article.
References
-
- Ad Hoc Working Group for Critical Appraisal of the Medical Literature. A proposal for more informative abstracts of clinical articles. Ann Intern Med. 1987 Apr; 106(4):598–604. - PubMed
-
- Hartley J. Is it appropriate to use structured abstracts in social science journals? Learned Publishing. 1997 Oct; 10(4):313–7.
-
- Hartley J. Is it appropriate to use structured abstracts in non-medical science journals? J Info Sci. 1998 Oct; 24(5):359–64.
-
- Hartley J. Applying ergonomics to Applied Ergonomics. Appl Ergonom. 1999 Dec; 30(6):535–41. - PubMed
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources