Most readers decide whether to read — and later cite — your paper based on the abstract alone. Databases show it for free, reviewers form their first impression from it, and search engines index it. These 250 words deserve as much care as any section of the manuscript.
The backbone of a structured abstract — even without headings, keep this logical order.
Background, objective, methods, results and conclusion — in that order. In unstructured abstracts, keep the same logic without the headings.
Report effect sizes and confidence intervals, not only p-values — and the primary outcome always comes first.
Skip generic openers and state the specific gap your study fills.
Abstract and title are the fields PubMed and Google Scholar index most. Use the exact terms readers will search for (including MeSH terms).
Draft the abstract after the paper is finished, then remove every sentence that does not answer: why, how, what was found, what it means.
The same content travels in two formats. The abstract is read by whoever already found your paper; the visual abstract is the image that circulates on social media and in slide decks, and ABCD publishes one with every article.
It answers three questions in about five seconds — why the study was done, what was done and what was found — and it is submitted as the editable PowerPoint file, never as an exported image. The complete guide, with the four models, colour palettes, typography and the icon bank, is on its own page.
Visual abstract: how to build one →⬇️ Download the template
Most journals cap it at 250 words — ABCD follows this standard. Every sentence must earn its place.
No. The abstract must be self-contained: no citations, undefined abbreviations or data absent from the paper.
Vague results ('significant improvement') without numbers, and a textbook first sentence that does not state the gap the study fills.
Yes. Every submission to ABCD includes a visual abstract, and it is published with the article on the journal website. Use the ABCD template so the figure keeps the same identity across the journal.
A central figure can be reused if it is legible at a small size and does not carry axis labels or captions that only make sense inside the article. In most cases a clean redraw with icons works better than a screenshot of a figure.
Use the ABCD icon bank, which is free for any use (MIT licence). Icons taken from a search engine usually carry unclear licences and cannot be published with the article.
The editable PowerPoint file (.pptx). Do not export it as an image: the editorial office adjusts typography and colour before publication.
Written by Francisco Tustumi, digestive system surgeon (FMUSP), associate editor of ABCD.
Developed by Surya MKT