Iran Journal of Nursing

Dear Editor
The abstract is often the first text that people read before starting to read the entire article. Therefore, a great effort and attention should be paid in writing it. [1, 2] Since summarizing an article in a few sentences is difficult and requires professional skills [2, 3], we aimed to address the importance and impact of an abstract and its function and types, and provide a practical guide to writing an effective and accessible scientific abstract.
Scientific publications are the main pillar of academic achievements and collaborations, but their impact is very limited due to using traditional writing style [4]. Recently, some authors have called for more fluent and attractive writing style to attract both beginners and advanced readers. Abstract is the second most important part of an article after title, and provides an overview/summary of the article [5], and enough information about the relevance of the article [1, 3]. It also helps to identify keywords and provides a very short summary of the article content right at the beginning of the article [6]. Abstracts compete for the readers’ attention; therefore; therefore, they should be error-free, informative, and attractive [2, 4]. Freeling et al. stated that the “scientific abstracts written in a more accessible style resulted in higher readability, understanding, and confidence” [4], and suggested that it is important to rethink the way we communicate our science to empower a more interactive, collaborative, and diverse industry. 
The most common style of a formal writing for college students is to write an abstract for their Bachelor’s, Master’s, or doctoral thesis [1]. An abstract is a fundamental part of the published manuscript, book, proposal, thesis, case report, [3] or conference paper [1, 2]. The abstract often starts with a short background, followed by stating the problem, the study purpose/question, methodology, main results, implications or recommendations based on the conclusion [2, 3, 5] “The proposal abstract is crucial to the success of the proposal and should present a case to why the project needs to be funded. It should include clinical significance of the project, study’s purpose, conceptual or theoretical framework, design and method (including sample and outcome variables, and intervention if the research is a clinical trial), and approach to analysis” [7].
The readers are not expected to make any decisions regarding the quality and validity of a research simply based on the abstract, and they may not accept the methods, findings, conclusions, or recommendations without reading the full text [5] The abstract is not a summary, since the goal of a summary is to introduce and compress the full text so that it can be reviewed without reading the full text.  In writing an abstract, the journal requirements for the format and structure of the abstract should be followed. The role of an abstract is to (a) provide a brief overview of all parts of the research, (b) present a clear preview of main ‘story’ or core components of the research (or an opinion paper) and a couple of crucial details [3, 5], (c) serve as a good screening tool to allow readers to find out if the article matches their interest [1, 3], (d) be accessible when the full text of the article is not be available; (3, 5) 5) be used for indexing purposes, since most databases allow the readers to search for abstracts.[2, 3, 6]. 
 There are two main types of scientific abstract: Publication and non-publication abstracts. Publication abstracts can be categorized into informative, structured, and descriptive [5]. An informative abstract is also called “hypothesis testing” which mostly report information of an article in a single written paragraph with sections of introduction, methods, results, and conclusion (generally 150-250 words).  A structured abstract is also used for hypothesis testing and present information with sections of background, purpose/aim, participants/patients, methods, findings, and conclusion [2, 5]. These abstracts are mainly used in articles reporting original research such as clinical trials, and they may contain up to 400 words. A descriptive/indicative abstract is typically used for theoretical, methodological, or literature review or review studies [2, 5], and they cannot be used in the articles reporting original research. They describe the content of the article in a single paragraph which is basically considered as a table of contents. Non-publication abstracts are used in various contexts including conference proceedings or can be an introductory section of a poster and slide presentations. These abstracts may also be presented before the publication of the article or prior to the completion of the research; however, they are usually longer and may contain tables and figures.
Obviously, an abstract should be clear and understandable without reading the entire article. It is recommended to write the abstract after completing the article [5]. Readers should not have to guess what you are trying to say.; grammatical and linguistic errors should be avoided; clear and understandable words and statement should be used; the key terms found in the article should be used and the journal guidelines regarding the abstract format or structure should be followed; no undefined abbreviations and unfamiliar terms or citations in the abstract should be used; the content of the abstract and the verb tense rules should be consistent with the entire article and avoid adding materials to the abstract that are not mentioned in the article; and no reference to tables or figures should be made. Keywords (3-5 words) usually come under the abstract and based on the APA style [6]. They should address the essential parts of the article, such as research purpose, participants, method, and implications.
With growing global diversity in research, the authors need to develop strategies to empower the readers and make science more inclusive and connected [4]. Abstract is the key to the success of creating convincing evidence for why the reader should read the article. It is required to follow the journal instructions regarding the format and the structure of the abstract. The author should write a scientific, accurate, and accessible abstract to invite a broad range of readers who are interested in reading the full text. 


References

1. Klimova BF. Common mistakes in writing an abstract in English. Procedia Soc Behav Sci. 2013; 93(1):512-6. [Link]
2. Bahadoran Z, Mirmiran P, Kashfi K, Ghasemi A. The principles of biomedical scientific writing: Abstract and keywords. Int J Endocrinol Metab. 2020; 18(1):e100159. [DOI:10.5812/ijem.100159] [PMID]
3. Patten ML. Understanding research methods: An overview of the essentials. New York: Routledge; 2018 [DOI:10.4324/9781315213033]
4. Freeling BS, Doubleday ZA, Dry MJ, Semmler C, Connell SD. Better writing in scientific publications builds reader confidence and understanding. Front Psychol. 2021; 12:714321.  [DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.714321] [PMID]  
5. Hoffmann AH. Scientific writing and communication. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. [Link]
6. American Psychological Association. Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. Washington: American Psychological Association; 2020. [Link]
7. Melnyk BM, Finout-Overholt E. Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: A guide to best practice. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2022. [Link]