Prevalence and characteristics of graphical abstracts in a specialist pharmacology journal

Russyl Gilling, Marissa Scandlyn and Blair Hesp ()
Additional contact information
Russyl Gilling: Kainic Medical Communications Ltd.
Marissa Scandlyn: Kainic Medical Communications Ltd.
Blair Hesp: Kainic Medical Communications Ltd.

Scientometrics, 2024, vol. 129, issue 12, No 17, 7888 pages

Abstract: Abstract Graphical abstracts (GAs) are publication extenders used to visually communicate scientific concepts and data alongside their parent manuscript. This study investigated the prevalence and characteristics of GAs published in a clinical pharmacology journal that facilitates GA use through free publication and providing templates to authors. The characteristics of clinical publications in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology in issues dated 2021–2023 were collated and accompanying GAs reviewed and compared with the associated written abstracts. In total, 64/1019 (6.3%) publications were accompanied by a GA. There was no association between the presence of a GA and the geographical location of the principal investigator, year of publication or open access status. Industry-funded studies were significantly more likely to include a GA compared with non-industry funded studies (19/179 [10.6%] vs. 25/458 [5.5%]; Fisher’s exact test, p = 0.0246). Professional medical writing support was also associated with a numerically higher prevalence of GAs (16.7% [11/66] vs. 7.6% [7/92] with no medical writing support; Fisher’s exact test, p = 0.1257). While GAs generally included study results (94%), only approximately half presented methodology (58%) and conclusions (50%). Few GAs (27%) included the title of the publication. In conclusion, uptake of GAs by authors was low. Industry and professional medical writing support was associated with increased GA uptake, but the prevalence remained below 20%. GAs are also heterogenous in nature, often inconsistent with the written abstract and are generally unable to stand alone.

Keywords: Graphical abstract; Plain-language summary; Publication extender; Visual communication (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-024-05146-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:scient:v:129:y:2024:i:12:d:10.1007_s11192-024-05146-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11192

DOI: 10.1007/s11192-024-05146-5

Access Statistics for this article

Scientometrics is currently edited by Wolfgang Glänzel

More articles in Scientometrics from Springer, Akadémiai Kiadó
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().