{"id":7339,"date":"2026-11-10T14:06:23","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T14:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hacto.umh.es\/2026\/11\/10\/the-abstract-of-a-scientific-article-or-congress\/"},"modified":"2026-11-10T14:19:55","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T14:19:55","slug":"the-abstract-of-a-scientific-article-or-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hacto.umh.es\/en\/2026\/11\/10\/the-abstract-of-a-scientific-article-or-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"The abstract of a scientific article or congress."},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Texto” _builder_version=”4.17.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]The abstract of a scientific article is the first point of contact for editors, reviewers, committee members and other researchers. That is why, together with the title, it serves as the first presentation for your article or conference paper. Writing it well and making it engaging play a very important role in the dissemination of your article.
\nIn this post, we aim to provide a general outline, advice and resources that you can use for this purpose.<\/p>\n

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Not all abstracts are the same or serve for the same purpose. <\/b><\/p>\n

In this post we are focusing on two situations: 1) the abstract of a scientific article for a scientific journal and, 2) the abstract of a scientific article for a congress or conference. <\/span><\/p>\n

What is the abstract of an article? <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

An abstract is the result of a process of abstraction in which essential points are synthesised and highlighted (Diez, 2007).<\/p>\n

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As we mentioned previously, the abstract of a scientific article is very important as it is the window to the rest of the article. One of its main objectives is to convince the reader and reviewers that it is worth it to read your study completely.<\/p>\n

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\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.17.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]In a lot of databases (such as Pubmed or Scopus), the abstract is sometimes the only available part of an article for everybody. Besides, in many review studies ( systematic review, scoping review), part of the inclusion process in the review is based on the abstract. Therefore, the information there provided is crucial to determine if an article is included or not in the final review.<\/p>\n

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\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.17.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]1) The abstract of a scientific article for a scientific journal<\/p>\n

It is important to bear in mind that most scientific journals provide guidelines for authors, so the abstract must be adapted to these guidelines. Each journal has a \u2018Guidelines for Authors\u2019 section setting out the guidelines that the abstract must follow. Furthermore, the criteria for each abstract also depend on the type of study being carried out.
\nHave a look at the \"\"Australian Occupational Therapy Journal \u2018s guidelines for authors.
\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.17.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]Although each journal has its own guidelines, in general we can find that they request an abstract with a maximum of words between 150\/250 words. Besides, the abstract can be structured by sections such as introduction, objectives, methodology, results and conclusions, or not structured, when all the information can be presented just in one paragraph without headlines. Besides, all abstracts should include between 3 and 5 keywords that represent the main topics of the study. These keywords will facilitate its indexing and retrieval in scientific databases, provided that this is required by the publication guidelines.<\/p>\n

The majority of journals request a structured abstract following the IMRyD structure:<\/p>\n