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<abstract> Abstract

Summarized description of the content of a document or document component.

Usage/Remarks

Many journal publishers request an abstract that is a very short summary of the major findings or conclusions of an article and limit this abstract to a paragraph or two. Some publishers require “long” or “summary” abstracts in which each section of the paper is summarized in a separate abstract section that has the same title as the article section being summarized. Such abstracts may be extensive, incorporating figures and tables. While the model for the element <abstract> has been made flexible enough to allow for these titled sections, it is expected that most abstracts will be much simpler and will contain one or more paragraphs.
Multiple Abstracts
A single article or sub-article may have many abstracts, each aimed at a different use, such as display at the beginning of the article, ePub promotional abstract, RSS/Atom feed, issue cover blurb, magazine style dek on the first page of the article, pronouncing abstract, or small article summary for the issue or web Table of Contents. Two attributes may be used to describe the type or usage for a particular abstract:
  • The @specific-use attribute may be used to identify a processing purpose, such as RSS feed or pronunciation.
  • The optional @abstract-type attribute may be used to identify special types of abstracts, for example, graphical abstracts, stereochemical abstracts, ASCII abstracts for sending to small devices, and Table-of-Contents abstracts that are so short they are inserted as annotations into a Table of Contents. See the attribute page for @abstract-type for a list of suggested types.
Locations of Abstracts
Abstracts inside the element <article-meta> pertain to the entire article. Some other elements, such as figures and tables, may also include the <abstract> element, and any abstract inside a smaller component refers only to that component, not to the entire article.
Accessibility
For accessibility purposes, it is useful to provide a very short synopsis abstract (much like a Table of Contents blurb or a dek in some journals) whose purpose is to tell a non-sighted reader what the document is about. This abstract can be given the @abstract-type such as “meta-description”, “description”, or “dc:description” to indicate that, when making web pages from this XML, the abstract should be used to create the XHTML metadata description.
The <abstract> element should not be used to take the place of the regular accessibility elements <alt-text> or <long-desc>, which are, respectively, shorter and longer descriptions of a component of a document, such as a table or figure.
Related Elements
The element <trans-abstract> contains another version of the abstract, one translated into a language other than that of the original publication.
Attributes
abstract-type
specific-use

Base Attributes

id
xml:base
xml:lang
Models and Context
May be contained in
<app-group>, <article-meta>, <chem-struct-wrap>, <disp-formula>, <disp-formula-group>, <fig>, <fig-group>, <front-stub>, <graphic>, <media>, <sec-meta>, <statement>, <supplementary-material>, <table-wrap>, <table-wrap-group>
Description
The following, in order:
Content Model
<!ELEMENT  abstract     %abstract-model;                             >
Expanded Content Model

((object-id)*, (sec-meta?, label?, title?, (address | alternatives | answer | answer-set | array | block-alternatives | boxed-text | chem-struct-wrap | code | explanation | fig | fig-group | graphic | media | preformat | question | question-wrap | question-wrap-group | supplementary-material | table-wrap | table-wrap-group | disp-formula | disp-formula-group | def-list | list | tex-math | mml:math | p | related-article | related-object | ack | disp-quote | speech | statement | verse-group | x)*, (sec)*, (notes | fn-group | glossary | ref-list)*))

Tagged Samples
Single paragraph abstract 
<article dtd-version="1.3">
 <front>
  <journal-meta>...</journal-meta>
  <article-meta>
   ...
   <volume>97</volume>
   <issue>4</issue>
   <fpage>1665</fpage>
   <lpage>1670</lpage>
   <history>...</history>
   <permissions>
    <copyright-statement>Copyright &#x00A9; 2000, The National Academy of
     Sciences</copyright-statement>
   </permissions>
   <abstract>
    <p>We describe a method for cloning nucleic acid molecules
     onto the surfaces of 5-&#x03BC;m microbeads rather than in biological hosts. A
     unique tag sequence is attached to each molecule, and the tagged library is
     amplified. Unique tagging of the molecules is achieved by sampling a small
     fraction (1&#x0025;) of a very large repertoire of tag sequences. The resulting
     library is hybridized to microbeads that each carry &#x2248;10<sup>6</sup>
     strands complementary to one of the tags. About 10<sup>5</sup> copies of each
     molecule are collected on each microbead. Because such clones are segregated on
     microbeads, they can be operated on simultaneously and then assayed separately.
     To demonstrate the utility of this approach, we show how to label and extract
     microbeads bearing clones differentially expressed between two libraries by
     using a fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS). Because no prior information
     about the cloned molecules is required, this process is obviously useful where
     sequence databases are incomplete or nonexistent. More importantly, the process
     also permits the isolation of clones that are expressed only in given tissues or
     that are differentially expressed between normal and diseased states. Such
     clones then may be spotted on much more cost-effective, tissue- or
     disease-directed, low-density planar microarrays.</p>
   </abstract>
   <kwd-group kwd-group-type="author">...</kwd-group>
  </article-meta>
 </front>
 ...
</article>
With interior sections 
<article dtd-version="1.3">
 <front>
  <article-meta>
   ...
   <permissions>
    <copyright-statement>Copyright &#x00A9; 1999, British
     Medical Journal</copyright-statement>
    <copyright-year>1999</copyright-year>
   </permissions>
   <abstract abstract-type="section">
    <sec>
     <title>Objective</title>
     <p>To examine the effectiveness of day hospital 
      attendance in prolonging independent living for 
      elderly people.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec>
     <title>Design</title>
     <p>Systematic review of 12 controlled clinical 
      trials (available by January 1997) comparing day 
      hospital care with comprehensive care (five trials), 
      domiciliary care (four trials), or no comprehensive 
      care (three trials).</p>
    </sec>
    <sec>
     <title>Subjects</title>
     <p>2867 elderly people.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec>
     <title>Main outcome measures</title>
     <p>Death, institutionalisation, disability, global 
      &#x201C;poor outcome,&#x201D; and use of resources.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec>
     <title>Results</title>
     <p>Overall, there was no significant difference between 
      day hospitals and alternative services ...</p>
    </sec>
    <sec>
     <title>Conclusions</title>
     <p>Day hospital care seems to be an effective service for 
      elderly people ...</p>
     <p><boxed-text position="float">
      <sec>
       <title>Key messages</title>
       <p>...</p>
      </sec>
     </boxed-text></p>
    </sec>
   </abstract>
  </article-meta>
 </front>
 ...
</article>
@abstract-type differentiates multiple abstracts 
...
<article-meta>
 ...  
 <abstract>
  <p>This is the third and last part of the volume devoted to solubility data of rare 
   earth metal chlorides in water and in ternary and quaternary aqueous systems. 
   Compilations of all available experimental data for each rare earth metal chloride 
   are introduced with a corresponding critical evaluation. Every such evaluation 
   contains a tabulated collection of all solubility results in water, a scheme of the 
   water-rich part of the equilibrium ... Because the ternary and quaternary systems 
   were almost never studied more than once, no critical evaluations or systematic 
   comparisons of such data were possible. Simple chlorides (no complexes) of 
   Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and Lu are treated as the input substances. The 
   literature (including a thorough coverage of papers in Chinese and Russian) 
   has been covered through the middle of 2008.</p>
 </abstract>
 <abstract abstract-type="short">
  <p>The is the third and last part of the volume devoted to solubility data of rare 
   earth metal chlorides in water and in ternary and quaternary aqueous systems. 
   Compilations of all available experimental data are introduced for each rare earth 
   metal chloride with a corresponding critical evaluation. This part covers chlorides 
   of Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and Lu, with coverage of the literature through the 
   middle of 2008.</p>
 </abstract>
</article-meta>
...
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