The abstract is the most commonly read part of an article after the title. If your title and summary are of interest to the reader, then he or she will take the time to review the rest of your article. Therefore, a successful abstract is one of the most critical factors that increase the rate of reading your article.

When writing an abstract, it is essential to comply with the rules imposed by the journal. All journals require a specific word limit for abstracts, which is usually around 150-250 words. While some journals accept the abstract as plain text (“nonstructured abstract”), in some journals the abstract is structured according to distinct, labeled sections (such as Introduction, Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusion) determined by the journal (“structured abstract”). A structured abstract guides the authors to summarize the content of their article accurately and ensures the inclusion of pertinent information.

Abstracts can vary widely according to the type of the manuscript. However, a research article, whether structured or nonstructured, follows an order as below, and the critical points to consider are:

  • Introduction (or Background/Problem Statement/ Rationale/Significance): In 2-3 sentences, briefly describe the problem or the issue that you address. However, do not dwell into a literature review and mention only points that are directly relevant to your study. This part should answer the question “what is the information gap that this study fills”.
  • Methods: In 3-4 sentences, briefly explain how you performed your study. This part should include information about the material of the study (patients, animals, etc), inclusion/exclusion criteria, the groups, the interventions, and the outcome measures.
  • Results: Mention the primary outcomes of your study with confidence intervals or P values. Keep in mind that the reader will be particularly interested in your results. Do not abstain from mentioning negative results.
  • Conclusion: Describe your study’s clinical or practical implications, avoiding speculations or overgeneralizations, or mention the need for further studies. Make conclusions that are directly supported by your results.

 

Some significant points to keep in mind when writing an abstract:

  • The abstract should be independent of the article; the reader should not have to look at the text to understand the abstract.
  • If there are too many results in the study, only the most important results of the study should be mentioned in the Abstract section.
  • Any sentence in any other part of the article should not be used in the Abstract section by copy-paste method.
  • General statements that do not provide information such as “The results are discussed in this article” or “Significant aspects of this disease are discussed in light of the recent literature” should not be included at the end of the abstract.
  • Abbreviations should not be made, except for the constantly repeated terms in the abstract.
  • References should not be given in the abstract, and tables and figures should not be cited.