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Why do some academic journals requires a separate “summary” paragraph in addition to an abstract?

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12

1

At least in the field of biology, some academic journals have added a separate summary paragraph (for example: "Significance Statement" (in Journal of Neuroscience), or "Significance" (in PNAS), or "In Brief" (in Current Biology)) in recent years. Why do the publishers think an abstract is not enough?

publications publishers

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asked 2 days ago

CloudyCloudy

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  There might be multiple reasons, I guess either they know or believe that it increases the readability of the content they published. Same goes with highlights.The aim of a scientific journal is published articles which are read.
  
  – Dr. H. Lecter
  2 days ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Because Millennials won't read anything too long for a single cell-phone screen?
  
  – Pieter Geerkens
  2 days ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

12

1

At least in the field of biology, some academic journals have added a separate summary paragraph (for example: "Significance Statement" (in Journal of Neuroscience), or "Significance" (in PNAS), or "In Brief" (in Current Biology)) in recent years. Why do the publishers think an abstract is not enough?

publications publishers

share|improve this question

asked 2 days ago

CloudyCloudy

6433 bronze badges

New contributor

Cloudy is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  There might be multiple reasons, I guess either they know or believe that it increases the readability of the content they published. Same goes with highlights.The aim of a scientific journal is published articles which are read.
  
  – Dr. H. Lecter
  2 days ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Because Millennials won't read anything too long for a single cell-phone screen?
  
  – Pieter Geerkens
  2 days ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

At least in the field of biology, some academic journals have added a separate summary paragraph (for example: "Significance Statement" (in Journal of Neuroscience), or "Significance" (in PNAS), or "In Brief" (in Current Biology)) in recent years. Why do the publishers think an abstract is not enough?

publications publishers

share|improve this question

asked 2 days ago

CloudyCloudy

6433 bronze badges

New contributor

Cloudy is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

asked 2 days ago

CloudyCloudy

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New contributor

Cloudy is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

asked 2 days ago

CloudyCloudy

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Cloudy is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

asked 2 days ago

CloudyCloudy

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2 Answers
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14

They serve slightly different purposes.

Specifically, the abstract is what you'd tell your coworkers; the significance statement is more like something you'd tell your mom.

The abstract is meant to quickly summarize this particular paper. A good abstract will provide a little bit of context or background, lest readers wonder why you're studying gene X or brain area Y, but the bulk of the abstract is approach and results. "Here, we show...." The significance statement is meant to put your work in a broader context and explain/justify why your article is worth publishing. (I suspect these are also helpful in attracting media attention, if that is of interest).

For example, suppose your paper investigates an antibiotic resistance gene. The abstract might look somethng like this one from MacMahon et al. (2009):

The ardA gene, found in many prokaryotes including important
pathogenic species, allows associated mobile genetic elements to evade
the ubiquitous Type I DNA restriction systems and thereby assist the
spread of resistance genes in bacterial populations. As such, ardA
contributes to a major healthcare problem. We have solved the
structure of the ArdA protein from the conjugative transposon Tn916
and find that it has a novel extremely elongated curved cylindrical
structure with defined helical grooves....

This briefly hits on the context, but doesn't really delve into it. A significance statement would talk more about this healthcare problem (e.g., X patients have multidrug resistant infections) and how this paper helps solve it (target for co-treatments or whatever?).

Edit: take a look at the PLoS Computational Biology guidelines and examples (linked therein) that @cheersmate found for some more direct comparisons.

share|improve this answer

edited 2 days ago

answered 2 days ago

MattMatt

2,20611 gold badge1111 silver badges1515 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  "something you'd tell your mom" Exactly, see e.g. the guidelines for PLOS CB saying it should be a "non-technical summary" to "make your findings accessible to a wide audience that includes both scientists and non-scientists".
  
  – cheersmate
  2 days ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I think you are correct that journals require this so that the document can speak to two different audiences. However, trying to speak to two different audiences is a bad idea.
  
  – Anonymous Physicist
  yesterday
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

-1

A summary paragraph (without highlighting it by a section title) at the end of an article, especially letters without distincts sections, is very common if not necessary in most STEM journals.

Abstract and summary are different things. Abstract is an overview of content without references and limited, the summary often a conclusion of the results with outlook and references.

So one reason could be they want to stress the summary paragraph more again and therefore make a own section. It surely is of value. Especially for longer articles. Papers are not read in a linear fashion from beginning to end. Different readers with different background read papers in a very different way.

A significance statement is normally given in the cover letter or submission system of the journal, it doesn't belong into the summary, the significance of your research you should outline in the introduction, not at the end of the article.

share|improve this answer

answered 2 days ago

user847982user847982

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14

They serve slightly different purposes.

Specifically, the abstract is what you'd tell your coworkers; the significance statement is more like something you'd tell your mom.

The abstract is meant to quickly summarize this particular paper. A good abstract will provide a little bit of context or background, lest readers wonder why you're studying gene X or brain area Y, but the bulk of the abstract is approach and results. "Here, we show...." The significance statement is meant to put your work in a broader context and explain/justify why your article is worth publishing. (I suspect these are also helpful in attracting media attention, if that is of interest).

For example, suppose your paper investigates an antibiotic resistance gene. The abstract might look somethng like this one from MacMahon et al. (2009):

The ardA gene, found in many prokaryotes including important
pathogenic species, allows associated mobile genetic elements to evade
the ubiquitous Type I DNA restriction systems and thereby assist the
spread of resistance genes in bacterial populations. As such, ardA
contributes to a major healthcare problem. We have solved the
structure of the ArdA protein from the conjugative transposon Tn916
and find that it has a novel extremely elongated curved cylindrical
structure with defined helical grooves....

This briefly hits on the context, but doesn't really delve into it. A significance statement would talk more about this healthcare problem (e.g., X patients have multidrug resistant infections) and how this paper helps solve it (target for co-treatments or whatever?).

Edit: take a look at the PLoS Computational Biology guidelines and examples (linked therein) that @cheersmate found for some more direct comparisons.

share|improve this answer

edited 2 days ago

answered 2 days ago

MattMatt

2,20611 gold badge1111 silver badges1515 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  "something you'd tell your mom" Exactly, see e.g. the guidelines for PLOS CB saying it should be a "non-technical summary" to "make your findings accessible to a wide audience that includes both scientists and non-scientists".
  
  – cheersmate
  2 days ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I think you are correct that journals require this so that the document can speak to two different audiences. However, trying to speak to two different audiences is a bad idea.
  
  – Anonymous Physicist
  yesterday
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

14

They serve slightly different purposes.

Specifically, the abstract is what you'd tell your coworkers; the significance statement is more like something you'd tell your mom.

The abstract is meant to quickly summarize this particular paper. A good abstract will provide a little bit of context or background, lest readers wonder why you're studying gene X or brain area Y, but the bulk of the abstract is approach and results. "Here, we show...." The significance statement is meant to put your work in a broader context and explain/justify why your article is worth publishing. (I suspect these are also helpful in attracting media attention, if that is of interest).

For example, suppose your paper investigates an antibiotic resistance gene. The abstract might look somethng like this one from MacMahon et al. (2009):

The ardA gene, found in many prokaryotes including important
pathogenic species, allows associated mobile genetic elements to evade
the ubiquitous Type I DNA restriction systems and thereby assist the
spread of resistance genes in bacterial populations. As such, ardA
contributes to a major healthcare problem. We have solved the
structure of the ArdA protein from the conjugative transposon Tn916
and find that it has a novel extremely elongated curved cylindrical
structure with defined helical grooves....

This briefly hits on the context, but doesn't really delve into it. A significance statement would talk more about this healthcare problem (e.g., X patients have multidrug resistant infections) and how this paper helps solve it (target for co-treatments or whatever?).

Edit: take a look at the PLoS Computational Biology guidelines and examples (linked therein) that @cheersmate found for some more direct comparisons.

share|improve this answer

edited 2 days ago

answered 2 days ago

MattMatt

2,20611 gold badge1111 silver badges1515 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  "something you'd tell your mom" Exactly, see e.g. the guidelines for PLOS CB saying it should be a "non-technical summary" to "make your findings accessible to a wide audience that includes both scientists and non-scientists".
  
  – cheersmate
  2 days ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I think you are correct that journals require this so that the document can speak to two different audiences. However, trying to speak to two different audiences is a bad idea.
  
  – Anonymous Physicist
  yesterday
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

They serve slightly different purposes.

Specifically, the abstract is what you'd tell your coworkers; the significance statement is more like something you'd tell your mom.

The abstract is meant to quickly summarize this particular paper. A good abstract will provide a little bit of context or background, lest readers wonder why you're studying gene X or brain area Y, but the bulk of the abstract is approach and results. "Here, we show...." The significance statement is meant to put your work in a broader context and explain/justify why your article is worth publishing. (I suspect these are also helpful in attracting media attention, if that is of interest).

For example, suppose your paper investigates an antibiotic resistance gene. The abstract might look somethng like this one from MacMahon et al. (2009):

The ardA gene, found in many prokaryotes including important
pathogenic species, allows associated mobile genetic elements to evade
the ubiquitous Type I DNA restriction systems and thereby assist the
spread of resistance genes in bacterial populations. As such, ardA
contributes to a major healthcare problem. We have solved the
structure of the ArdA protein from the conjugative transposon Tn916
and find that it has a novel extremely elongated curved cylindrical
structure with defined helical grooves....

This briefly hits on the context, but doesn't really delve into it. A significance statement would talk more about this healthcare problem (e.g., X patients have multidrug resistant infections) and how this paper helps solve it (target for co-treatments or whatever?).

Edit: take a look at the PLoS Computational Biology guidelines and examples (linked therein) that @cheersmate found for some more direct comparisons.

share|improve this answer

edited 2 days ago

answered 2 days ago

MattMatt

2,20611 gold badge1111 silver badges1515 bronze badges

share|improve this answer

edited 2 days ago

answered 2 days ago

MattMatt

2,20611 gold badge1111 silver badges1515 bronze badges

answered 2 days ago

MattMatt

2,20611 gold badge1111 silver badges1515 bronze badges

answered 2 days ago

MattMatt

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-1

A summary paragraph (without highlighting it by a section title) at the end of an article, especially letters without distincts sections, is very common if not necessary in most STEM journals.

Abstract and summary are different things. Abstract is an overview of content without references and limited, the summary often a conclusion of the results with outlook and references.

So one reason could be they want to stress the summary paragraph more again and therefore make a own section. It surely is of value. Especially for longer articles. Papers are not read in a linear fashion from beginning to end. Different readers with different background read papers in a very different way.

A significance statement is normally given in the cover letter or submission system of the journal, it doesn't belong into the summary, the significance of your research you should outline in the introduction, not at the end of the article.

share|improve this answer

answered 2 days ago

user847982user847982

2,38455 silver badges1616 bronze badges

add a comment | 

-1

A summary paragraph (without highlighting it by a section title) at the end of an article, especially letters without distincts sections, is very common if not necessary in most STEM journals.

Abstract and summary are different things. Abstract is an overview of content without references and limited, the summary often a conclusion of the results with outlook and references.

So one reason could be they want to stress the summary paragraph more again and therefore make a own section. It surely is of value. Especially for longer articles. Papers are not read in a linear fashion from beginning to end. Different readers with different background read papers in a very different way.

A significance statement is normally given in the cover letter or submission system of the journal, it doesn't belong into the summary, the significance of your research you should outline in the introduction, not at the end of the article.

share|improve this answer

answered 2 days ago

user847982user847982

2,38455 silver badges1616 bronze badges

add a comment | 

A summary paragraph (without highlighting it by a section title) at the end of an article, especially letters without distincts sections, is very common if not necessary in most STEM journals.

Abstract and summary are different things. Abstract is an overview of content without references and limited, the summary often a conclusion of the results with outlook and references.

So one reason could be they want to stress the summary paragraph more again and therefore make a own section. It surely is of value. Especially for longer articles. Papers are not read in a linear fashion from beginning to end. Different readers with different background read papers in a very different way.

A significance statement is normally given in the cover letter or submission system of the journal, it doesn't belong into the summary, the significance of your research you should outline in the introduction, not at the end of the article.

share|improve this answer

answered 2 days ago

user847982user847982

2,38455 silver badges1616 bronze badges

share|improve this answer

answered 2 days ago

user847982user847982

2,38455 silver badges1616 bronze badges

answered 2 days ago

user847982user847982

2,38455 silver badges1616 bronze badges

answered 2 days ago

user847982user847982

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