How to write an abstract

合作小组：五班四组（王力 王喆 王敏敏 谢迎 吴丹 杨艳 张

少甫 张晓乐 张晓玉 朱正波 张艳华）

Since the abstracts of original papers

are one of their most frequently read

and most easily accessible elements,

they should be as informative and

accurate as possible.

因为原创性论文的摘要是最经常被阅读和最容易被理解的部分，所以摘要应该尽可能的概括和准确。

It is therefore worrying that 18-68% of 264 abstracts from six major general medical journals, were shown to contain data that were either inconsistent with or absent from the main body of the article.从 264 份来自六个主要的医学期刊的摘要统计数据来看， 18-68% 的摘要包含了与论文主体不连续或者论文中根本不存在的内容。这个现象非常地令人担忧

This paper provides an overview of published structures for writing an abstract of an original study or review and quality criteria to assess such abstracts.

本文综述了正式发表的原创性研究或评论的摘要的结构，并且介绍了这种摘要的质量判据。

我们一起看看写摘要前的一些基本背景

Guidelines for structured abstracts were first proposed in

1987 and have been under continuous review since.

结构式摘要的准则自 1987 年发表以来，一直不断地被讨论。

Today, nearly all journals request authors to prepare a structured abstract before peer review, preferably in accordance with the IMRAD format or the eight-

heading format .

今天几乎所有的期刊都要求作者在同行审查之前准备一份结构式摘要，最好符合 IMRAD 结构或者八要素结构。

In addition, guidelines for structured abstracts for review

studies are available.

另外，以前关于结构式摘要的研究也是易于获得的。

评定摘要的质量判据

Quality criteria to assess abstracts have been available since 1993. Their use has been associated with decreased discrepancy between the abstract and the main report.

评定摘要的质量判据自从 1993 年就已经确定了。他们的使用伴随着摘要和主体之间差异的降低。

Editorial boards of journals are recommended

to provide instructions on the components of

structured abstracts. Authors should provide

accurate data, including the notion if these

are preliminary or final.

人们建议期刊的编辑委员会提供结构式摘要的要素的说明。作者们应该提供精确的数据，包括这些数据

的想法来源和最终结果。

Reviewers should pay increased attention

to the quality of the abstract, while

readers must retain a cautious and critical

reading attitude at all times.

评论家们应该重视摘要的质量，同时读者们也要始终保持谨慎和严肃的阅读态度。

Scientific abstract is a shortened version of a scientific paper. It is, aside from the title, the most frequently read and most easily accessed portion of an

article reporting original scientific research.

科学性论文的摘要就是原文的缩略版本。在原创性科研论文中，除了标题，摘要是被阅读得最频繁和最

易被读者接近的部分。

Broadly, two types of abstracts exist. Indicative or descriptive abstracts deal with the content of the entire

paper, whereas informative abstracts summarize the entire paper and

provide an overview of the facts laid out in detail in the paper itself. These days, most abstracts are informative. 概括来说，摘要分两种。指示性或者描述性的摘要涉及整个论文的内容，而情报性的摘要总结了整个论文并且从总体上看待问题，这些问题在论文里会进行进一步细节的分析。如今，大部分的摘

要都是情报性的。

Respected scientific journals began publishing abstracts in 1956, while structure was not

added until 1991.

重要的科学性期刊从 1956 年开始发表摘要，然而直到 1991 年结构性摘

要才被加入。

Only about 50% of research projects that are initially submitted as conference

abstracts, will eventually be published as full articles in peer-reviewed journals and full publication may not occur for several

years.

只有约 50％的开始提交会议摘要的研究项目，最终将以完整论文的形式发表在同行评审期刊上，完整论文的出版可能要等好几年。

As a result, a published abstract from a scientific meeting is often

the only permanent source of information available on the methodology and results of a

research project.

因此，从一个科研项目的方法论和结果来讲，它在科学会议上发表的摘要往往是该研究项目唯一永久的信息来源。

Accurately reflecting the contents of the entire paper seems the most basic requirement for an abstract. However, it was found that 18-68%

of 264 abstracts in six major general medical journals, had data

in the abstract that were either inconsistent with or absent from

the main body of the article. 准确地反映整个论文的内容似乎是摘要最基本的要求。然而，人们从六大重要医学期刊的 264 份摘要中发现， 18~68% 的摘要包含了与论文主体不连续或者论文中根本不存在的内容。

This finding is especially worrying, since abstracts are widely used, often in separation from the original text, and data from the abstracts may be reported and disseminated in other

works, other formats, and in the media.

这个发现非常让人忧虑，因为很多时候摘要独立于原始文章被非常广泛的应用，而且摘要里的数据也许会在其他的作品，设计或者

媒体里被报告或者传播。

It is against this background that we describe here structures for writing an abstract of an original study or

review and the quality criteria used to assess such abstracts.

正是在这种背景下，我们在这里介绍原创性研究或者评论的摘要的结构，以及用来评估摘要的质量判据。

Finally, we make recommendations both for authors, readers, reviewers and editors with regard to writing, reading and publishing abstracts.

最后，我们建议作者，读者，评论家和编辑们都重视写，读和发表摘要。

Structures of abstracts

The elements of a structured abstract are important because they oblige authors to provide basic information that readers

need.

结构性摘要的元素是很重要的，因为他们强迫作者提供读者所需要的基本信息。

Structured abstracts are designed to meet three objectives: (1) to inform readers better, (2) to improve search retrieval, and (3) to facilitate peer review.

结构性摘要需要达到三个目标：（ 1）更好地指引读者（ 2）提高搜索检索的准确性（ 3）方便同行审查。

We describe two formats for structured abstracts.

我们这里描述结构性摘要的两种形式。

In 1987 the Ad Hoc Working Group for Critical Appraisal of the Medical Literature proposed guidelines for

informative seven-heading abstracts.

1987 年医学文献的关键评估特设工作组对于情报性摘要提出七个元素的准则。

These guidelines were prepared by Haynes and colleagues at McMaster University, Canada and 358 others

from 18 countries.

这些准则的编写由来自加拿大麦克马斯特大学的 Haynes和他的同事，以及来自18个国家的 358 个学者准备。

The proposal was for original articles and not for other articles such as editorials, reviews, case

reports, etcetera.

这个提案是对于原创的论文而不是对其他非原创性的论文如社论，评论，回顾，个案评论等等。

These seven headings are: (1) objective: the exact question

addressed by the article, (2) design: the basic design of the study, (3) setting: the location and level of

(clinical) care, (4) patients or participants: the manner of selection

and numbers of patients or participants who entered and

completed the study, 这些标题是：（ 1）目标：论文确切涉及的问题；（ 2）设计：研究的基本设计；（ 3）环境：研究进行的地点和医疗（临床）护理水平；（ 4）患者和参与者：选择实验者的方式和参加研究的患者或参与者的

数量；

(5) intervention: the exact treatment or intervention, if any, (6) measurements and results: the methods of assessing

patients and key results, and (7) conclusions: key conclusions including

direct (clinical) applications.

（ 5）干预：确切的治疗和干预措施；如果有的话：（ 6）测量方法和结果：评估患者的测量方法和关键结果；（ 7）结论：关键的结论，包括直接的（临床）应用。

In 1990 Haynes et al reconsidered the structured abstract of clinical

research and proposed new, revised guidelines, now including review

articles and meta-analysis.

1990 年海恩斯等人重新考虑临床研究的结构性摘要，并且提出了重新修订过的准则，现在包括评论文章和荟萃分析。

They emphasized that the structured abstract should be prepared by authors before the manuscript is peer reviewed, to ensure that it accurately reflects the

contents of the articles

他们强调在手稿被同行审阅前，作者就应该写好结构性摘要，以此来保证摘要准确地反映论文的内容。