INNOVATIVE RESEARCH: WRITING AN EFFECTIVE ABSTRACT TO IMPROVE YOUR ARTICLE QUALITY AND READABILITY

There are plenty of good reasons why you should invest time and energy in writing your abstract. It will form the basis for several key decisions: whether an editor sends out your submission for review, whether the reviewer accepts that review invitation, and whether other researchers read your published paper. Unless your article is open access, the title and abstract are the only elements freely available to everyone. Don’t forget, the more your article is read, the greater the chance it will be cited in further research papers! So, getting your abstract right is important. In this review paper, we answer common questions from early career researchers, including, "What is the ideal length for an abstract?" How much detail should I include? And what kind of language works best? You will come away with an understanding of the role the abstract can play in your paper’s success and the actions you can take to ensure it is the very best it can be.