The snapshot: abstract and keywords

在本帖中，理文编辑 学术总监Dr. Daniel McGowan将向大家展示如何写出吸引读者的“摘要和关键词”。

Your paper’s abstract is critical because many researchers will read that part only, rather than reading the entire paper. Therefore, it is critical that it provides an accurate and sufficiently detailed summary of your work so that those researchers can understand what you did, why you did it, what your findings are, and why your findings are useful and important. Your abstract must be able to stand alone, that is, to function as an overview of your study that can be understood without reading the entire text. Readers interested in learning details than could not be included in the abstract will inevitably proceed to the full text. Therefore, the abstract does not need to be overly detailed; for example, it does not need to include a detailed methods section.

Even though the abstract is one of the first parts of your paper, it should actually be written last. You should write it soon after finishing the other sections, while the rest of the manuscript is fresh in your head, enabling you to write a concise but comprehensive summary of your study without overlooking anything important. Requirements for abstracts differ among journals, so the target journal’s instructions for authors should be consulted for specific details. Despite differences among journals, there are a few general rules that should be obeyed when writing an abstract:

• The word limit should be observed; 250 words is probably about average and commonly adopted as a word limit for abstracts, but many journals request shorter abstracts (for example, Nature Articles and BBRC both have a 150-word limit) while many others (for example, BioMed Central journals) allow longer ones. This is one very good reason why the target journal should be identified before you write your paper.
• Technical jargon should be avoided so that the abstract is understandable for a broad readership, although what is considered “technical” may vary depending on the target journal’s audience. For example, “a test of anxiety” would generally be clearer than “elevated plus-maze test” in an abstract, unless the journal was specifically targeted to behavioural researchers. Usually, there simply isn’t enough space in the abstract to define and explain technical terminology. If such terminology is unavoidable, it should be defined in simple terms where it is first used.
• Like technical jargon, abbreviations should be limited as much as possible, although their acceptability may again depend on the target journal. For example, HIV is likely to be acceptable in abbreviated form by most journals. By contrast, RT-PCR might be considered acceptable by a journal reporting molecular biology techniques, but it would need to be spelt in full (reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction) in most journals at first use. Many journals provide a list of acceptable abbreviations on their websites. Necessary abbreviations used three or more times should be defined at first use; however, abbreviations used only once or twice should be spelled out in full unless doing so causes the word limit to be exceeded. Abbreviations that are defined in the abstract will need to be defined again at first use in the main text.
• Although some journals do allow references to be cited in the abstract, the vast majority do not. Therefore, unless you plan to submit to a journal that allows it, you should not cite references in your abstract.

If we look at the instructions to authors for BBRC, we can see the following guidelines:

• The Abstract should be on page 2, i.e., after the title page
• The Abstract must be a single paragraph that summarizes the main findings of the paper in fewer than 150 words.
• A list of up to 10 keywords useful for indexing or searching should be included after the Abstract.

Some journals request structured abstracts divided into sections such as background, objectives, methods, results, and conclusions. Clinical journals may require additional or alternative sections. Therefore, it is again necessary to check the target journal’s instructions for authors to determine the particular formatting/outline requirements prior to writing.

Abstracts are frequently followed by a list of keywords selected by the authors. The instructions for authors will state how many keywords are required and may even provide a list of recommended keywords. Choosing appropriate keywords is important, because these are used for indexing purposes. Well chosen keywords enable your manuscript to be more easily identified and cited. Thus, the keywords should be as specific to your manuscript as possible, and general terms, which could apply to an enormous number of studies, should be avoided.

Example:

Let’s consider some appropriate keywords for the example title from the previous post:

“ Region-specific neuronal degeneration after okadaic acid administration” (note that this title is and one of two suggested alternatives for the poor title in the example in the previous post).

Good keywords would be: okadoic acid, hippocampus, neuronal degeneration, MAP kinase signaling, and possibly mouse (or rat or whatever experimental animal was used).

Poor keywords would be: neuron, brain, OA (as an abbreviation), regional-specific neuronal degeneration, and signaling

练习：
Suggest 3–5 suitable keywords to accompany the title in the exercise in the previous post: “Carvedilol produces dose-related improvements in LV function and dose-related reductions in mortality and hospitalization rate in subjects with chronic heart failure from systolic dysfunction”.

They don’t all have to relate to information contained in the title, so let your imagination run wild: it is the type of keyword rather than the content (the word itself) that is important to consider.

对于上述练习，希望各位可以例举3至5个合适的关键词；同时也欢迎发来您自己的英文摘要以获得 Dr. McGowan 的改进建议。

在这里还需提请各位注意，Dr. McGowan 的母语是英语，无法阅读中文，因此请大家尽量使用英文回帖，如有任何需要与他沟通的学术和语言问题也请使用英语，Dr. McGowan 会及时回复大家的。

Dr. Daniel McGowan 曾任 Nature Reviews Neuroscience 副编辑，负责约稿，管理和撰写期刊内容。于2006年加入理文编辑（Edanz Group） 并从2008年起担任学术总监。Dr. Daniel McGowan 有超过十年的博士后和研究生阶段实验室研究经验，主要致力于神经退化疾病、分子及细胞生物学、蛋白质生物化学、蛋白质组学和基因组学。

相关专题：论文写作
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