Many readers only read a paper’s abstract rather than the entire paper, whether within the journal or on PubMed or online. Therefore, it’s important that the abstract reflect key aspects of the work, including main takeaways. Here are some key points to keep in mind when formatting an abstract:

• Adhere to word/character count limit; many online submission systems auto-count words/characters and will not allow the submission to proceed if over allowed count
• Journals may require different abstract formats for different types of articles (structured vs. unstructured)
  • Use abstract subheadings as instructed
    • If instructions state that the first paragraph should be titled “Background,” do not use “Introduction”
    • If no specific instructions for abstract structure are given (“your paper, your way”), look at several articles in recent issues and follow the same general formatting
• Spell out all abbreviations at first mention
• Do not include references
• To keep word count down:
  • Remove articles such as “the,” “a/an”
    • “The Results demonstrated …”
  • Shorten phrases where possible
    • “We sought to determine whether…” ➜ “We examined...”