The visual abstract is what travels: the image shared on social media, projected in journal clubs and pasted into slide decks. ABCD publishes one with every article — and it is often the first, sometimes the only, contact a reader has with your work.

Seven models, one file

Seven models in the same file — four analytical, three built for social media. Pick one and delete the rest.

• A · Three columns — why, what we did, what we found — the default
• B · Horizontal flow — population → intervention → comparator → outcome
• C · Figure panel — when the article’s central figure carries the message
• D · Two arms — a direct comparison between two groups
• E · One figure, one message — a large illustration and a single sentence — made for social media
• F · Square for Instagram — the marked square is what gets posted
• G · Three illustrated panels — who, what, so what — almost no text

⬇️ Download the template (7 models) ⬇️ Download all icons (.zip) Browse the icon bank →

Simpler is allowed — and often travels further

You are free to choose a lighter visual abstract, closer to a poster for the public than to a slide for a congress: one large illustration, a sentence in plain language and the journal signature. For many studies this reaches more readers than a dense figure full of numbers.

Models E, F and G of the template were built for that: a figure that occupies most of the space, one sentence a non-specialist understands, at most one number — and the ABCD signature, so whoever reshares it knows where the study was published.

A common mistake in this style is the opposite of the analytical one: keeping the paragraphs and only adding a drawing beside them. If the text still has to be read to make sense, it is not a social-media figure yet.

What goes in, and what stays out

The most common mistake is treating the figure as a poster and pouring every result into it. A reader who wants the full results will open the article; the figure only has to make them want to.

Fewer words — and the right ones

Write in noun phrases, not sentences: “median follow-up 30 months”, not “the median follow-up of the cohort was 30 months”. Keep each block under about 60 characters.

Use the same key terms as your title and abstract — the words a colleague would type into PubMed. The figure is reshared with captions that search engines read.

Replace adjectives with numbers. “Shorter hospital stay” says little; “7.5 vs 11 days” says it all.

Four rules that decide whether it is read

Colour palettes to choose from

Typography

Use the journal’s own pair: Montserrat for the headings and Raleway for the text. Both are free on Google Fonts, and together they look neither stiff nor decorative. Lato and Source Sans work just as well; keep Helvetica or Arial as a fallback if a font is missing on the computer that opens the file. Avoid script, handwriting, condensed and decorative faces, outlines, shadows and 3-D effects; avoid long passages in capitals; never mix more than two families. Nothing under 10 pt at final size, and the take-home line at 13 pt or more.

Icons

A sample of the bank below — click through for all 105 icons, with search and individual download. Free to use (Health Icons, MIT licence).

Browse the icon bank →

How to submit it

Send the visual abstract as the editable PowerPoint file (.pptx), the same one you filled in. The editorial office adjusts typography, colour and alignment before publication, which is impossible in a flattened image.

Checklist before submitting

• Readable on a phone: shrink the slide to 25% and check the numbers.
• No block longer than two lines; nothing under 10 pt.
• One icon per block, all icons the same height and colour.
• The take-home sentence answers “what changes in practice?”.
• Colours from one palette only.
• No frame, no drop shadow, no gradient.
• No patient-identifiable image; no logo other than ABCD.
• Sent as the editable .pptx file.