A Multimodal Move Analysis of Graphical Abstracts in Medicine and Chemistry

Abstract

Graphical abstracts (GAs), as other new digital forms of communicating science, have been promoted as tools to escalate the reach of journal articles and move science into unconventional environments such as social media. Despite the rapid and widespread adoption of the GA in various fields, its genre status is still controversial due to its unstable structure and functions. Here, we examine the move structure of 100 GAs published in 2022 in 10 high impact journals in medicine and chemistry. We aim to verify adherence to the Introduction-Methods-Results-Discussion pattern and the role of visual and written resources in move realization. We also discuss selections of multimodal resources that may result from the processes of recontextualization of scientific discourse to audiences other than expert peers. Our findings reveal that move structure varies across fields: in chemistry, only Results are obligatory, while in medicine the obligatory pattern is Methods-Results-Conclusion. Move realization in predominantly multimodal, with visual resources as the key element in the presentation of Methods and Results, while the written mode is characteristic of Conclusion. Acknowledgment of readers other than the peer scientist is evident in three medicine journals whose GAs are not produced by the author of the respective articles, but by graphic designers.