Why is it important to get a scientific abstract right?
In the world of research, scientific papers play a very important role in advancing our collective understanding of modern medicine and technologies. Before being published in scientific journals, research papers have to undergo a rigorous peer review process, which ensure the data and research presented in an article are robust, accurate and communicated clearly.
In this new edition of the #ThinkClinical campaign, we will discuss abstracts - a crucial part of a scientific paper. As the opening paragraph, it functions as a mini-version of a journal article designed to give readers a full, but also concise, understanding of a study's methodology, findings and conclusions.
- Introduction: briefly outlines what is the state of the art on the topic. Where an author sets the scene and gives an overview of the topic area being researched.
- Aims or purpose of the study: This includes setting out what the author(s) are looking to investigate, hypotheses and/or overarching objectives for the research. what the study set out to investigate.
- Materials and methods: This covers contains the process for how the research was undertaken. information to help the reader understand what and how it was done.
- Results: This reports the results key findings of the research, particularly the results of the analysis, numerical information about the analysis, and including any significant statistics findings.
- Conclusion and discussion: This section highlights the key take-home messages from the study, and is usually the most impactful to. This section has the greatest impact on the reader.
It is important to ensure that a scientific abstract is clear and easy to read, especially given it's frequently the only part of a research paper that people will look at.
