Guidelines for Plain Language Summaries
Description
A text-only plain language summary (PLS) is a brief summary written in clear, jargon-free language for an audience of nonexperts, including patients, news outlets, clinicians, and researchers. A PLS conveys the important points of the scientific research in a way that engages more readers and reaches a broader audience.
Author guidelines
- The PLS should have a maximum of 250 words.
- Each sentence should contain no more than 25 words.
- Each word should have no more than 2 syllables.
- Break up sentences with a period. Avoid the use of semicolons, parentheses, and too many commas.
Have your audience in mind when drafting your PLS. The recommended reading level is Grade 8 (use tools in Microsoft Word and online to assess the reading level of your PLS).
Avoid jargon, technical terms, abbreviations, and difficult words.
Use the active voice (“We did” vs “done by us”).
- Why did you conduct the study and why is it important?
- What is the purpose of the study?
- What methods did you use?
- What did you discover?
- How will patients, researchers, or clinicians benefit from your findings?
- Why was the study done? What did the researchers do and find? What do the results mean? What is the objective influence on the wider field?
Aside from a text PLS, you may also submit a visual abstract (similar to an infographic). The visual abstract must be one page only. It may also be posted on our social media platforms to reach a wider audience.
- Link to the article on the The Journal’s website and/or the article DOI.
- Include The Journal logo on the top right of the graphic (or the first page if it has multiple pages)
- Include the article information (ie, Author names. Article Title. Journal name. Year; Volume:Page Numbers).
- Alternatively, use the Supplementary Material PDF from the article on our website (located in the Supplement tab).
Copyright
The PLS has the same copyright agreement as the article. See our Guide for Authors for more information about copyright and Open Access publication. For more information about submitting a PLS, please contact manuscripts@jrheum.com.