title: Structured abstracts: do they improve the quality of information in abstracts?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This retrospective observational study was designed to assess the impact on quality of changing from unstructured to structured abstract format. Six dental journals, 3 that adopted structured abstracts and 3 with unstructured abstracts, were used.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred abstracts from original articles, published between January 1995 and December 1998, were selected from each journal. A 29-question checklist was developed and used to assess the quality of the information in the abstracts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean score for abstracts published in all journal was 53.9% (SD 11.5; 95% CI 52.8%, 54.8%). There was no statistically significant difference between the scores of the first 50 abstracts and the second 50 abstracts from any journals with unstructured abstracts (P = .19-.80). The mean score of the second 50 abstracts from journals that adopted the structured abstract format was significantly higher than scores from journals with unchanged formats (P < or =.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Structured abstracts provide higher-quality information. Journal editors should be encouraged to use a structured abstract format.
authors.affiliation: Saltaire Orthodontics, Bradford, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sandeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Jayne E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Harrison
mesh_terms: D000043:Abstracting and Indexing / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D015706:Bibliometrics; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods*; D007598:Journalism, Dental / Q000592:standards*; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000592:standards*