How to Prepare the Abstract

This week I present some more points from How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, 9th edition (2022). These points come from Chapter 9, “How to Prepare the Abstract”. 

An abstract should resemble a miniature scientific paper.

Three points from this chapter
 
(1) An abstract should resemble a miniature scientific paper. It should start with a little context for the research, briefly summarize the methods, state the main findings, and finally present the conclusion. 
 
(2) Some journals request keywords in addition to an abstract. These words, which help indicate the content of the paper, can aid in literature searching. Some journals advise to use keywords that are not terms in the title, since the words in the title are already present for literature searching.  
 
(3) Increasingly, authors can include a graphic in their abstract or publish a visual version of an abstract. Guidance in this regard is provided by Cell Press (see https://lnkd.in/gg3X6ti5) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (see https://lnkd.in/g6YCcv2V).  
 

Looking forward to providing some points from other chapters next time!

Barbara Gastel, MD, is professor of integrative biosciences and medical humanities at Texas A&M University, College Station, USA, where she coordinates the graduate program in science communication.

This series of posts originally appeared on Professor Barbara Gastel's LinkedIn page.

How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, by Barbara Gastel and Robert A Day, is available in paperback, hardback and Kindle format.