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.
Full text
PDF
Images in this article
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- A proposal for more informative abstracts of clinical articles. Ad Hoc Working Group for Critical Appraisal of the Medical Literature. Ann Intern Med. 1987 Apr;106(4):598–604. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Comans M. L., Overbeke A. J. De gestructureerde samenvatting: een hulpmiddel voor lezer en auteur. Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 1990 Dec 1;134(48):2338–2343. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Froom P., Froom J. Deficiencies in structured medical abstracts. J Clin Epidemiol. 1993 Jul;46(7):591–594. doi: 10.1016/0895-4356(93)90029-z. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Haynes R. B. More informative abstracts: current status and evaluation. J Clin Epidemiol. 1993 Jul;46(7):595–599. doi: 10.1016/0895-4356(93)90030-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Haynes R. B., Mulrow C. D., Huth E. J., Altman D. G., Gardner M. J. More informative abstracts revisited. Ann Intern Med. 1990 Jul 1;113(1):69–76. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-113-1-69. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hayward R. S., Wilson M. C., Tunis S. R., Bass E. B., Rubin H. R., Haynes R. B. More informative abstracts of articles describing clinical practice guidelines. Ann Intern Med. 1993 May 1;118(9):731–737. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-118-9-199305010-00012. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Mulrow C. D., Thacker S. B., Pugh J. A. A proposal for more informative abstracts of review articles. Ann Intern Med. 1988 Apr;108(4):613–615. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-108-4-613. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Narine L., Yee D. S., Einarson T. R., Ilersich A. L. Quality of abstracts of original research articles in CMAJ in 1989. CMAJ. 1991 Feb 15;144(4):449–453. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Taddio A., Pain T., Fassos F. F., Boon H., Ilersich A. L., Einarson T. R. Quality 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. CMAJ. 1994 May 15;150(10):1611–1615. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. BMJ. 1991 Feb 9;302(6772):338–341. doi: 10.1136/bmj.302.6772.338. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]