A visual abstract is a one-image summary of your study — design, population, intervention and main result — built to be understood in under a minute. Journals adopted them because they work: randomized evaluations show articles shared with a visual abstract reach substantially more readers on social media.
The three-panel skeleton: population and design on the left, intervention in the center, result with the headline number on the right.
A visual abstract communicates the primary outcome — nothing else. Write it as a single sentence first.
Title on top; population, intervention and result in the panels; citation and logo at the bottom.
Effect sizes, percentages and hazard ratios should be the biggest elements. Icons illustrate; they never replace the data.
Two or three colors (use the journal palette), one icon family, one typeface. Free tools cover everything: Noun Project or Flaticon icons; layout in PowerPoint, Canva or BioRender.
PNG at 1200×675, check phone-size legibility, and post it with the article link and DOI at publication.
No. PowerPoint, Canva or BioRender, with free icons from Noun Project or Flaticon, get it done in under an hour.
No — it complements it. It is the visual gateway that leads readers to the abstract and the full paper.
Yes: randomized evaluations in surgical journals showed far more impressions and article visits when shared with a visual abstract.
Written by Francisco Tustumi, digestive system surgeon (FMUSP), associate editor of ABCD.
Desenvolvido por Surya MKT