IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/scient/v128y2023i10d10.1007_s11192-023-04807-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Comparing lay summaries to scientific abstracts for readability and jargon use: a case report

Author

Listed:
  • Ju Wen

    (Chengdu Jincheng College)

  • Lan Yi

    (Chengdu Jincheng College)

Abstract

Lay summaries provide a brief account of scientific articles and are supposed to be written in accessible language. However, it remains largely unknown whether lay summaries are readable to the intended non-technical audience. Here, we present a case study that examines the readability of and the use of technical jargon in lay summaries and their corresponding scientific abstracts collected from the journal Medical Mycology. It was found that (1) the average reading grade level of lay summaries was significantly higher than that of scientific abstracts, and (2) a higher proportion of technical terms were used than the recommended threshold in both lay summaries and scientific abstracts. In other words, improvements are needed to make lay summaries more readable for the non-technical audience. Possible explanations for the findings were discussed and suggestions to enhance the readability of lay summaries were offered.

Suggested Citation

  • Ju Wen & Lan Yi, 2023. "Comparing lay summaries to scientific abstracts for readability and jargon use: a case report," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(10), pages 5791-5800, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:128:y:2023:i:10:d:10.1007_s11192-023-04807-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-023-04807-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-023-04807-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11192-023-04807-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karen M. Gainey & Jenna Smith & Kirsten J. McCaffery & Sharon Clifford & Danielle M. Muscat, 2023. "What Author Instructions Do Health Journals Provide for Writing Plain Language Summaries? A Scoping Review," The Patient: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Springer;International Academy of Health Preference Research, vol. 16(1), pages 31-42, January.
    2. Kate Bredbenner & Sanford M Simon, 2019. "Video abstracts and plain language summaries are more effective than graphical abstracts and published abstracts," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(11), pages 1-19, November.
    3. Ju Wen & Lei Lei, 2022. "Adjectives and adverbs in life sciences across 50 years: implications for emotions and readability in academic texts," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(8), pages 4731-4749, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xi Zhao & Li Li & Wei Xiao, 2023. "The diachronic change of research article abstract difficulty across disciplines: a cognitive information-theoretic approach," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Yongchao Ma & Ying Teng & Zhongzhun Deng & Li Liu & Yi Zhang, 2023. "Does writing style affect gender differences in the research performance of articles?: An empirical study of BERT-based textual sentiment analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(4), pages 2105-2143, April.
    3. Mingxin Yao & Ying Wei & Huiyu Wang, 2023. "Promoting research by reducing uncertainty in academic writing: a large-scale diachronic case study on hedging in Science research articles across 25 years," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(8), pages 4541-4558, August.
    4. Tristan Bonnevie & Aurore Repel & Francis-Edouard Gravier & Joel Ladner & Louis Sibert & Jean-François Muir & Antoine Cuvelier & Marc-Olivier Fischer, 2023. "Video abstracts are associated with an increase in research reports citations, views and social attention: a cross-sectional study," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(5), pages 3001-3015, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:128:y:2023:i:10:d:10.1007_s11192-023-04807-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.