Visual abstract: An innovative way to disseminate scientific research

Abstract

An innovative way to disseminate scientific researchAcademic journals and conferences are traditional media through which researchers disseminate their research, scientific data and observations. Eventually, such information is utilized in systematic reviews and meta-analyses to formulate clinical guidelines. Although the academic publishing model has seen a transition from a subscription, print-based to open-access or hybrid online versions, an introductory abstract is still an essential component that provides a 'snap-shot' view of the ensuing published scientific article. 1 Therefore, it is imperative that the summary or abstract is clear, unambiguous and conveys the essential purpose of the research or the clinical study.Over the past few years, authors and journals have developed innovative ideas to convey the key findings of a research study to the readers and a wider audience. The Altmetric Attention score (Altmetrics) is one such complementary measurement of a research article compared to the traditional, citation-based metrics or a journal's impact factor. This is derived predominantly from the web-based social media platforms. 2 Similarly, visual abstract (VA) is a visual or graphic summary of the information contained in a written or digital abstract with an aim of improving the display of an abstract and readership of the subsequent article (Fig. 1). Since the introduction of this idea in 2016, the concept of VA is being increasingly used by scientific journals, academic conferences and even health magazines to boost visibility of their literary content. 3 This has become even more relevant during the Covid-19 pandemic when virtual-learning platforms including e-education models have been promoted as effective modalities to disseminate continuing medical education and journalistic content. 4 VA provides a concise visual summary to help readers scan and find the most relevant content for them. VA briefly informs the reader of the key findings of the article before undertaking a detailed assessment of the scientific study, trial or report. 5 Altmetrics provides evidence of increased visibility of scientific content due to VA. Prospective cross-over studies and cross-sectional surveys have shown that compared to standard tweets with links to research articles, VAs of articles were liked twice more and quadrupled retweets. 6 The authors also discuss the framework to convert existing abstracts to VA for wider dissemination, which would eventually increase readership, Yes/No