Structured abstracts in MEDLINE, 1989-1991.

A M Harbourt · Lou S. Knecht · Betsy L. Humphreys

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Academic Writing and Publishing scientometrics and bibliometrics research Meta-analysis and systematic reviews

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the structured abstracts in biomedical journals indexed in MEDLINE over a three-year period as an initial step in exploring their utility in enhancing bibliographic retrieval. DESIGN: The study examined the occurrence of structured abstracts in MEDLINE from March 1989 to December 1991, characteristics of MEDLINE records for articles with structured abstracts, editorial policies of six selected MEDLINE journals on structured abstracts, and a sample of twenty-five structured abstracts from the six journals. RESULTS: The study revealed that the number of structured abstracts in MEDLINE and the number of MEDLINE journals publishing structured abstracts increased substantially between 1989 and 1991. On average, articles with structured abstracts had more access points (Medical Subject Heading [MeSH] terms and text words) than MEDLINE articles as a whole. The average length of the structured abstract was greater than the average length of all abstracts in MEDLINE. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of structured abstracts may be associated with other article characteristics that lead to the assignment of a higher average number of MeSH headings or may itself contribute to the assignment of more headings. The variations in the structured-abstract formats prescribed by different journals may complicate the exploitation of these abstracts in bibliographic retrieval systems. More research is needed on a number of questions related to the quality and utility of structured abstracts.

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References

1990More Informative Abstracts Revisited 1987A proposal for more informative abstracts of clinical articles. Ad Hoc Working Group for Critical Appraisal of the Medical Literature.1994Quality of nonstructured and structured abstracts of original research articles in the British Medical Journal, the Canadian Medical Association Journal and the Journal of the American Medical Association.1991Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.1988A Proposal for More Informative Abstracts of Review Articles 1993Presentation Deficiencies in structured medical abstracts 1991Quality of abstracts of original research articles in CMAJ in 1989.

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2000Clarifying the abstracts of systematic literature reviews.2007Better reporting of randomized trials in biomedical journal and conference abstracts 2011A retrospective cohort study of structured abstracts in MEDLINE, 1992–2006 2006Structured abstracts: narrative review 2018Structure formats of randomised controlled trial abstracts: a cross-sectional analysis of their current usage and association with methodology reporting

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