Can the Accuracy of Abstracts Be Improved by Providing Specific Instructions?
Article Abstract:
Many author abstracts in scientific manuscripts contain errors and instructions to the author do not seem to help. Editors at one journal included guidelines for preparing an accurate abstract in 89 manuscripts that were being sent back to authors for revising but not in 114 other returned manuscripts, which served as the control group. When the manuscripts were returned, about one-fourth of the abstracts in both groups still contained errors. Errors included inconsistencies between data in the abstract and article, data in the abstract that was not in the article and conclusions not justified by information in the abstract.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1998
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Reporting of Randomized Clinical Trial Descriptors and Use of Structured Abstracts
Article Abstract:
Authors who are required by journal editors to write a structured abstract are no more likely to write a report that conforms to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) standards. The CONSORT standards provide guidelines on what data should be included in reports of clinical trials. Researchers analyzed scientific reports in several ophthalmology journals before, during and after the standards for structured abstracts were introduced. The average score based on the CONSORT guidelines was 15.8 out of 56 points. The score was not significantly higher after structured abstracts were introduced.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1998
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