Accuracy of Abstracts in Pharmacy Journals for Original Research Articles – Pubrica

Accuracy of Abstracts in Pharmacy Journals for Original Research Articles An Academic presentation

by Dr. Nancy Agnes, Head, Technical O perations, Pubrica Group: www.pubrica.com Email: sales@pubrica.com

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In brief

Although original r esearch publications are widely available, the accuracy of abstracts describing t h e m is critical, as readers of biomedical literature m a y not have access to the full-text item.

Previous studies have shown differences between published original research abstracts a n d the full-text paper.

An omission, defined as d a t a in the abstract that was not found in w riting a n o riginal research article, was one of the out co me measures.

Furthermore, abstracts were d e e m e d deficient if they contained a n omission, inaccurate factual (i.e., quantitative a n d qualitative) information presented in the abstract that differed from the evidence contained in the text, a n inconsistency in following the respective journal's "Instructions for Authors," or a discrepancy between the placement of text in the manuscript a n d a structured abstract.

This research shows that abstracts for original research papers published in pharmacy-specific publications m u s t be improved.

Authors a nd p eer reviewers should c a refully exa m ine the contents of the abstract to verify that it correctly describes the full-text article.

Introductio n

Healthcare practitioners c ontinuously sea rch the litera ture to p rovid e supporting evidence for decisions a n d justification for patient-care actions.

Multiple citations m a y be located even after conducting literature searches that incorporate appropriate search techniques.

At this p oint, the sea rcher m u st review the inform a tion in a tim eefficient m an n er a n d select the m os t relevant articles.

Many users will read the article abstract to obtain a quick overview a n d determine whether the entire article should be read.

The abstract of a n o riginal research manuscript writing article (e.g., clinical trial) published in the biomedical literature is considered a synopsis of the essential principles of the study.

The background, purpose, basic methodology, key results, a n d a general conclusion should be presented within the abstract. Furthermore, specific d a t a on essential aspects of the study a n d statistical significance should be provided.

Another c o mp on e nt of a n informative abstract is the presentation of unbiased information. Abstracts are frequently read since these are provided b y indexing/abstracting services a n d are placed a t the beginning of the articles.

The ab un da nce of published materials c om pet i ng with the finite a m o u n t of time available to stay current with the literature m a y force m a n y practitioners to resort to reading only the article abstract.

Thus, the accuracy of a n abstract of the original research paper is imperative since biomedical literature readers m a y not evaluate the entire article or have access to the full-text article ( a l t h o u g h decisions should not be m a d e based upon only the abstract). Most abstracts are restricted to a word limit, usually < 500 words.

One study reported that 68% of original research abstracts evaluated in one leading medical journal contained discrepancies (i.e., inconsistencies a n d omissions) between the abstract a n d the full-text article.

The other study reported that 52 of 400 (13%) original research abstracts evaluated in 8 psychology journals were deficient (i.e., contained a n inconsistency or omission between the abstract a n d full text).

Method s

The abstracts of original research articles published in 6 p h a r m a c y specific journals were evaluated. The following criteria were used to select the journals for this project:

(1) The primary focus of pharmacy-related activities, (2) Publish original research, (3) Widely circulated, a n d (4) Represent national p h a r m a c y organizations a n d advocate clinical p h a r m a c y practice.

Each abstract also was evaluated for consistency with "Instructions for Authors" specific for each journal a n d assessed for placement of the text within the bo dy of structured abstracts consistent with the order in the s cientific original research article.

After each abstract was evaluated, it was classified as deficient if any omission, quantitative a n d qualitative inaccuracy, inconsistency in following the "Instructions for Authors" for the respective journal, or discrepancy between the pl acement of information in the full-text article a structured abstract occurred.

Summar y

The results of this study d o c u m e n t that omissions a n d discrepancies are present in abstracts for original research articles published in the selected p h a r m a c y journals.

Readers of the biomedical a n d pharmacy literature should be aware of abstract inaccuracies while conducting literature searches a n d reading research article abstracts.

In addition, educators need to emphasize the importance of reading the full-text article in the learning process.

Furthermore, both authors a n d peer reviewers should scrutinize the abstract to ensure that d a t a in the abstract accurately represent the article's content.

Also, revision of the "Instructions for Authors," including more specific guidelines addressing these issues, m a y present a possible solution for discrepancies found in abstracts.

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