Tips and tricks for writing abstracts for science research articles to maximise citations and impact. Presented at the University of Michigan in May 2018.

1. Writing A Sexier
Research Abstract:
Making Research In Life Science
More Discoverable
PF Anderson, Enriching Scholarship, May 8, 2018

6. exciting,
stimulating,
interesting,
appealing,
intriguing,
slick,
red-hot
Image credits: <https://openclipart.org/detail/230162/chili-pepper>

7. Why would you want a sexier abstract?
Charles A. Schwartz. The Rise and Fall of Uncitedness. College & Research
Libraries, January 1997, 19-29.
Uncitedness Rates
No Disaggregation Articles Only
Physical Sciences 47% 22%
Social Sciences 75% 48%
Humanities 98% 93%

8. Why would you want to rewrite your abstract?
“Citation impact indicators nowadays play a prominent role in
the evaluation of scientific research. The importance of citation
impact indicators in the context of research evaluation has
increased a lot during the past decades, and this is reflected in a
rapidly growing body of scientific literature in which citation
impact indicators are studied.”
Waltman L. A review of the literature on citation impact indicators. Journal of Informetrics 2016
10(2):365-391.
Image credits: <https://openclipart.org/detail/219181/impact>

9. Why would you want to rewrite your abstract?
“Since quantitative performance
measures, notably publication and
citation counts, are associated strongly
with life‐cycle remuneration and career
mobility, both should be utilised in
research assessment exercises.”
Cronin B. Research brief rates of return to citation. Journal of
Documentation 1996 52(2):188-197
Image credits: <<https://openclipart.org/detail/293410/big-bag-of-cash>

10. Why would you want to rewrite your abstract?
“Scientific and science-based innovations begin
with one or few researchers significantly deviating
from previous research practices, a deviation with
subsequently diffuses in the community.”
“This publicly available knowledge can be
understood as the core of a community’s
knowledge, and can be unobtrusively studied by
bibliometrics.”
Gläser J, Laudel G. A Bibliometric Reconstruction of Research
Trails for Qualitative Investigations of Scientific Innovations.
Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung 2015
40(3):299-330.
Image credits: <https://openclipart.org/detail/175355/open-innovation-on>

11. Why would you want to rewrite your abstract?
“In this submission we introduce the notion of under-cited
influential publications and show that these publications
are like “wake-up switches” for significant follow-up
research. … Moreover, one may say that under-cited
influential publications belong to the group of truly
foundational scientific discoveries acting as promoters of
influential research as shown by significant follow-up
research.”
Hu X, Rousseau R. Scientific influence is not always visible: The phenomenon of
under-cited influential publications. Journal of Informetrics 2016 10(4):1079-1091.
Image credits: <https://openclipart.org/detail/185914/scientist-with-beaker>

12. Why would you want to rewrite your abstract?
Image credits: <https://openclipart.org/detail/219181/impact> <https://openclipart.org/detail/293410/big-bag-of-cash> |
<https://openclipart.org/detail/175355/open-innovation-on> | <https://openclipart.org/detail/185914/scientist-with-beaker>

13. “Citations, according to the conventional wisdom, are the glue that binds a
research paper to the body of knowledge in a particular field and a measure of the
paper's importance. So what fraction of the world's vast scientific literature is cited
at least once? Seventy percent? Eighty percent? Guess again.” David P. Hamilton.
Publishing by -- and for? -- the Numbers. Science, 250:1331-2, 1990.
Image credits: <https://openclipart.org/detail/110257/citation-needed>
Why would you want to rewrite your abstract?

14. David P. Hamilton. Publishing by -- and for? -- the Numbers. Science, 250:1331-2,
1990.
Why would you want to rewrite your abstract?

15. David P. Hamilton. Publishing by -- and for? -- the Numbers. Science, 250:1331-2,
1990.
Why would you want to rewrite your abstract?

16. "The conventional wisdom in the field is that 10% of the journals get 90% of the citations,"
says Pendlebury. "These are the journals that get read, cited, and have an impact." David P.
Hamilton. Publishing by -- and for? -- the Numbers. Science, 250:1331-2, 1990.
Why would you want to rewrite your abstract?
The
Rest
Most cited journal list:
http://www.scimagojr.
com/journalrank.php

17. Why would you want to rewrite your abstract?
The
Rest
WHY?

18. “We find that the Journal Impact Factor has a
larger effect on the citation impact than the
quality.”
Bornmann L, Leydesdorff L. Does quality and content matter for citedness?
A comparison with para-textual factors and over time. Journal of
Informetrics 9(3) 2015:419-429.
“The citedness of journal articles thus does not
seem to be detectably influenced by the status of
the journal in which they are published.”
Seglen PO. Causal Relationship between Article Citedness and Journal
Impact. Journal of the American Society for Information Science; New York,
N.Y. Vol. 45, Iss. 1, (Jan 1, 1994): 1.
Caveats
Image credits:
<https://openclipart.org/detail/271641/quality-vs-quan
tity>

19. Charles A. Schwartz. The Rise and Fall of Uncitedness. College & Research
Libraries, January 1997, 19-29.
Uncitedness Rates
No Disaggregation Articles Only
Physical Sciences 47% 22%
Social Sciences 75% 48%
Humanities 98% 93%
Caveats
LIFE SCIENCES

20. Caveats
“The relationship between research quality and citation
frequency probably takes the form of a J‐shaped curve,
with exceedingly bad research cited more frequently
than mediocre research (e.g. as an example of an idea or
line of research that turned out to be a blind alley, or as an
example of what not to do in a particular area).”
Nicolaisen J. "The J‐shaped distribution of citedness." Journal of Documentation 2002
58(4):383-395.
Image credits: <https://openclipart.org/detail/266093/Science-Clipart-3>

21. Why would you want to rewrite your abstract?
Image credits: <https://openclipart.org/detail/219181/impact> <https://openclipart.org/detail/293410/big-bag-of-cash> |
<https://openclipart.org/detail/175355/open-innovation-on> | <https://openclipart.org/detail/185914/scientist-with-beaker>

22. Image credits: <https://openclipart.org/detail/110257/citation-needed>
Why would you want to rewrite your abstract?

23. What’s hot,
what’s not

24. What would a sexy
abstract look like?
Image credits: <https://openclipart.org/detail/102247/twofisted-professor>

25. What would a
(more) citable
abstract look
like?
Image credits:
<https://www.journals.elsevier.com/neuroimage/news/
most-cited-articles-in-2017>

26. What would a
(more) citable
abstract look
like?
Image credits:
<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pi
i/S105381191600210X>

27. What would a
(more) citable
abstract look
like?
Image credits:
<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pi
i/S105381191600210X>

28. Image credits: <https://twitter.com/NEJM/status/968970361760112642>
What would a
(more) citable
abstract look
like?

29. Before you start

30. Who is your
primary audience?
Image credits: <https://openclipart.org/detail/232921/scientist-with-hand-in-pocket> |
<https://openclipart.org/detail/216555/scientist-with-purple-hair>

31. Who is your secondary audience?
Image credits: <https://openclipart.org/detail/22743/doctor-examining-a-patient> | <https://openclipart.org/detail/181617/insurance-umbrella>
| <https://openclipart.org/detail/7868/us-capitol-building-drawing>

32. Who is the audience for the abstract?
A lot more
people than
you’ve been
thinking about

33. Who is the audience for the abstract?
“This is important, because the abstract is all that many people see,” wrote Loder.
“The information it contains about the study helps people decide if they should
retrieve the full article.”

34. Who is publishing the article?
What are their rules for abstracts?
Is the journal open or closed?
What is their target audience?
How different or similar is it to your
ideal audience?
Image credits: <https://openclipart.org/detail/201542/theater-audience>

35. Planning strategy

36. What are the most important ideas?
Image credits:
<https://openclipart.org/detail/35149/jon-phillips
-notepad-idea-session-1>

37. … for which audience?
Image credits: <https://openclipart.org/detail/222289/bright-idea> <https://openclipart.org/detail/244714/brainstorming>

38. What are the most common words for
them?
Image credits: <https://openclipart.org/detail/226080/search-engine-optimization-word-cloud-typography>

39. What are the MeSH Terms for those
concepts?
Image credits:
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/
3314010233>

40. Let’s find out …
Image credits:
<https://openclipart.org/detail/237029/Seek-a
nd-you-will-find-photocopy>

41. Let’s do it!

42. Start in Pubmed

43. Start in Pubmed

44. Go to the MeSH Database

45. Example: Osteogenesis

46. Example: Osteogenesis

47. Example: Osteogenesis

48. MeSH Browser
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html

49. More about MeSH
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/

50. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/authors.html

51. We Like to Help
The NLM is not able to provide individual
assistance in selecting keywords for journal
articles; individual, personalized assistance
should be sought from your local medical
library. <https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/authors.html>

52. MeSH on
Demand
<https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mes
h/MeSHonDemand.html>

53. Yale
MeSH
Analyzer
<http://mesh.med.yale.edu/h
elp>

54. Go
Pubmed
<http://www.gopubmed.com/>

55. Plain Language
Abstracts
AGU: Creating a Plain Language Summary
<https://sharingscience.agu.org/creating-plain-language-summary/>
AGU: The Value of a Plain Language Abstract
<http://blogs.agu.org/sciencecommunication/2016/09/12/value-plain-language-abstract/>
Center on Knowledge Translation for Disability and Rehabilitation Research: Plain
Language Summary Tool <http://ktdrr.org/resources/plst/>
Chris Buddle: A guide for writing plain language summaries of research papers
<https://arthropodecology.com/2013/08/01/a-guide-for-writing-plain-language-summarie
s-of-research-papers/>
Cochrane Collaboration: Standards for the reporting of Plain Language Summaries
<http://methods.cochrane.org/sites/default/files/public/uploads/PLEACS_0.pdf>

56. Visual
Abstracts
Components of an Effective
Visual Abstract
<https://www.surgeryredesign
.com/resources>
Visual Abstracts — Thoughts
from a Medical Librarian
<https://etechlib.wordpress.co
m/2017/03/14/visual-abstracts-
thoughts-from-a-medical-librar
ian/>

57. Visual
Abstract
Example

58. More on Science Communication
UM:
● R.E.L.A.T.E. (Researchers Expanding Lay-Audience Teaching and Engagement):
https://www.learntorelate.org/ (Twitter: @RELATEatUM)
● Science Communication Fellow:
https://lsa.umich.edu/ummnh/faculty-students/u-m-faculty/science-communication-fellows.html
Beyond:
● Altmetric: https://www.altmetric.com/case-studies/
● Science communication: could you explain it to your granny? 2014.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/oct/10/science-communicators-quantum-physics-gra
nny
● Science communication: What it takes. Nature 2017.
http://blogs.nature.com/naturejobs/2017/02/10/science-communication-what-it-takes/
● Scientific writing: A very short cheat sheet. Nature 2016.
http://blogs.nature.com/naturejobs/2016/10/28/scientific-writing-a-very-short-cheat-sheet/

59. Contact
PF Anderson
@pfanderson
<pfa@umich.edu>