Readers' Attention of Shorter Versus Longer Abstracts of Systematic Reviews

NCT06525805 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: UO_Abstracts_2024
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 1,941
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The present randomized controlled trial (RCT) was designed to investigate the perceptions of researchers on systematic review (SR) abstracts. The primary objective will be to compare readers' attention of shorter versus longer abstracts. The secondary objective will be to assess the perception of an abstract based on four indicators of a well-written abstract: (a) Informativeness, (b) Accuracy, (c) Attractiveness, and (d) Conciseness. The study will involve researchers from all over the world who recently published an SR, regardless of their research field. To identify eligible authors, a search of MEDLINE (via PubMed) was conducted on May 5, 2024, for systematic reviews published between January 1, 2024, and March 26, 2024. A total of at least 6200 SRs will be selected from PubMed and assessed for eligibility. The corresponding author information will be extracted from all included SRs and randomized in a 1:1 ratio.

Conditions

Researchers Attention

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Trial participation

  The primary outcome of this RCT will be the trial participation, which is defined as the proportion of participants who read the abstract and then clicked on the "Continue" button. This will be quantified by dividing the number of participants who read the abstract and proceeded to complete the survey by the total number of individuals who clicked on the link in the email. Information will be electronically captured in SoSci survey.

  Immediately after reading the abstract

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Indicators of a well-written abstract

  Immediately after reading the abstract

Other Outcomes (1)

• Time needed to read the abstract

  Immediately after reading the abstract

Study Arms (2)

Long Abstract

EXPERIMENTAL

Abstract length: 771 words

Other: Long Abstract

Short Abstract

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Abstract length: 277 words

Other: Short Abstract

Interventions

Long Abstract OTHER

The intervention and control group will be provided with a structured abstract of the review by Soderberg et al., entitled "Percutaneous nephrolithotomy vs. retrograde intrarenal surgery for renal stones". This review was published once in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and once in the journal BJU International. The length of the abstract differs significantly depending on the journal. The participants assigned to this study arm will be presented with the longer version published in the Cochrane Database, comprising 771 words (PMID: 37955353).

Long Abstract

Short Abstract OTHER

The participants assigned to this study arm will be presented with the shorter version published in BJU International, comprising 277 words (PMID: 37942649).

Short Abstract

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Systematic reviews of all types

You may not qualify if:

• No English abstract
• Other types of evidence syntheses (e.g. scoping reviews, methodological papers)
• Protocols
• Editorials
• Others: e.g. Corrections, retractions, erratums, or summaries of SRs
• No email address available

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Oldenburg: lead

Study Sites (1)

Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

Oldenburg, Germany

Location

Related Publications (5)

• Bahadoran Z, Mirmiran P, Kashfi K, Ghasemi A. The Principles of Biomedical Scientific Writing: Abstract and Keywords. Int J Endocrinol Metab. 2020 Jan 28;18(1):e100159. doi: 10.5812/ijem.100159. eCollection 2020 Jan.

  PMID: 32308700 BACKGROUND

• Munn Z, Stern C, Aromataris E, Lockwood C, Jordan Z. What kind of systematic review should I conduct? A proposed typology and guidance for systematic reviewers in the medical and health sciences. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2018 Jan 10;18(1):5. doi: 10.1186/s12874-017-0468-4.

  PMID: 29316881 BACKGROUND

• Soderberg L, Ergun O, Ding M, Parker R, Borofsky MS, Pais V, Dahm P. Percutaneous nephrolithotomy versus retrograde intrarenal surgery for treatment of renal stones in adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2023 Nov 13;11(11):CD013445. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD013445.pub2.

  PMID: 37955353 BACKGROUND

• Soderberg L, Ergun O, Ding M, Parker R, Borofsky M, Pais V, Dahm P. Percutaneous nephrolithotomy vs retrograde intrarenal surgery for renal stones: a Cochrane Review. BJU Int. 2024 Feb;133(2):132-140. doi: 10.1111/bju.16220. Epub 2023 Nov 29.

  PMID: 37942649 BACKGROUND

• Helbach J, Wandscher K, Pieper D, Hoffmann F. Readers' attention to shorter versus longer abstracts of systematic reviews: a randomised controlled trial. BMJ Evid Based Med. 2025 Oct 17:bmjebm-2024-113613. doi: 10.1136/bmjebm-2024-113613. Online ahead of print.

  PMID: 41106849 DERIVED

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Masking Details: The participants will be blinded to the intervention. In the cover letter, participants will be informed that the study aims to examine the characteristics of an abstract. However, they will not be informed that the primary focus of this study is the influence of the abstract´s length. Furthermore, the participants will be not aware of the number of different abstracts that were randomly allocated.
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Model Details: This will be a two-arm, single-blinded, superiority, parallel-group randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 1:1 allocation of intervention and control groups.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 18, 2024
• First Posted: July 29, 2024
• Study Start: August 1, 2024
• Primary Completion: September 30, 2024
• Study Completion: September 30, 2024
• Last Updated: November 8, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

DE (1)