Addressing the Limitations of Structured Abstracts
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2004)

Editorials16 March 2004Addressing the Limitations of Structured AbstractsThe EditorsThe EditorsSearch for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-140-6-200403160-00015 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail The abstract is, arguably, the most important part of an article in a medical journal because it is the only part of an article that many people read. The abstract is also important because it is the only part of an article that many journals will make accessible through search engines. Through PubMed, for example, the National Library of Medicine disseminates the abstracts of many articles to a worldwide audience. Since the abstract of an article is so important, anything that makes it more useful is a notable contribution to biomedical journalism. The structured abstract is a legitimate candidate for ...References1. A proposal for more informative abstracts of clinical articles. Ad Hoc Working Group for Critical Appraisal of the Medical Literature. Ann Intern Med. 1987;106:598-604. [PMID: 3826959] LinkGoogle Scholar2. Huth EJ. Structured abstracts for papers reporting clinical trials [Editorial]. Ann Intern Med. 1987;106:626-7. [PMID: 3826962] LinkGoogle Scholar3. Haynes RB, Mulrow CD, Huth EJ, Altman DG, Gardner MJ. More informative abstracts revisited. Ann Intern Med. 1990;113:69-76. [PMID: 2190518] LinkGoogle Scholar4. Dupuy A, Khosrotehrani K, Lebbe C, Rybojad M, Morel P. Quality of abstracts in 3 clinical dermatology journals. Arch Dermatol. 2003;139:589-93. [PMID: 12756095] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Taddio A, Pain T, Fassos FF, Boon H, Ilersich AL, Einarson TR. Quality of nonstructured and structured abstracts of original research articles in the British Medical Journal, the Canadian Medical Association Journal and the Journal of the American Medical Association. CMAJ. 1994;150:1611-5. [PMID: 8174031] MedlineGoogle Scholar6. Trakas K, Addis A, Kruk D, Buczek Y, Iskedjian M, Einarson TR. Quality assessment of pharmacoeconomic abstracts of original research articles in selected journals. Ann Pharmacother. 1997;31:423-8. [PMID: 9101002] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar7. Narine L, Yee DS, Einarson TR, Ilersich AL. Quality of abstracts of original research articles in CMAJ in 1989. CMAJ. 1991;144:449-53. [PMID: 1993292] MedlineGoogle Scholar8. Wilczynski NL, Walker CJ, McKibbon KA, Haynes RB. Preliminary assessment of the effect of more informative (structured) abstracts on citation retrieval from MEDLINE. Medinfo. 1995; 8 Pt 2 1457-61. [PMID: 8591474] MedlineGoogle Scholar9. Harbourt AM, Knecht LS, Humphreys BL. Structured abstracts in MEDLINE 1989-1991. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association. 1995;83:190-5. MedlineGoogle Scholar10. Hartley J, Sydes M, Blurton A. Obtaining information accurately and quickly: are structured abstracts more efficient? Journal of Information Science. 1996;22:349-56. CrossrefGoogle Scholar11. Booth A, O'Rourke AJ. The value of structured abstracts in information retrieval from MEDLINE. Health Libraries Review. 1997;14:157-66. CrossrefGoogle Scholar12. McIntosh N. Structured abstracts and information transfer. British Library R&D Report 6142. London: British Library; 1994. Google Scholar13. Scherer RW, Crawley B. Reporting of randomized clinical trial descriptors and use of structured abstracts. JAMA. 1998;280:269-72. [PMID: 9676678] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar14. Froom P, Froom J. Deficiencies in structured medical abstracts. J Clin Epidemiol. 1993;46:591-4. [PMID: 8326342] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Corresponding Author: Customer Service, American College of Physicians, 190 N. Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoAddressing the Limitations of Structured Abstracts Matthew Falagas and Pashalis I. Vergidis Metrics Cited byImpact of adding a limitations section to abstracts of systematic reviews on readers’ interpretation: a randomized controlled trialQuality of abstracts in articles submitted to a scholarly journal: A mixed methods case study of the journal Research in the SchoolsStructured abstracts: Do they improve citation retrieval from dental journals?Presenting software engineering results using structured abstracts: a randomised experimentA survey of abstracts of high-impact clinical journals indicated most statistical methods presented are summary statisticsReporting Experiments in Software EngineeringA systematic review of titles and abstracts of experimental studies in medical education: many informative elements missingHow to write an abstractRevision of author abstracts: how it is carried out by LISA editorsStructured abstracts: narrative reviewAnnals 2004–2005: A Peek Back and a Look ForwardThe EditorsFrom conference abstract to full paper: differences between data presented in conferences and journalsAddressing the Limitations of Structured AbstractsMatthew Falagas, MD, MSc and Pashalis I. Vergidis, MDLimitations 16 March 2004Volume 140, Issue 6Page: 480-481KeywordsLibrariesMotivationPostural control ePublished: 16 March 2004 Issue Published: 16 March 2004 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2004 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...