Research Guides: Getting Your Paper Noticed: Graphical Abstracts

Graphical Abstracts

Visual or graphical abstracts are an accompanying feature of a research article that promotes and highlights a study. It is typically a single, concise, pictorial, and visual summary of the main findings of the article. It enhances the regular text abstract and encourages others to read the paper. A graphical abstract does not replace the traditional text abstract. Though this guide provides some general guidelines for creating visual abstracts, many publishers have specific requirements for including graphical abstracts.

The basics of planning out your graphical abstract can be summarized in three steps.

Summarize the content.
- What is your main idea?
- What is the most important thing people need to know?
- What information supports this idea?
- Why is it important?
- What other information do you need to include?
Make a sketch to create the graphical abstract.
- You don't need to be an artist, just plot out where you think things should go in a logical manner.
- Look at templates on the internet to get ideas.
Choose your color schemes, illustrations, and type.
- Ask others to review your choices for readability and understanding.

Always check the publisher's website for requirements and/or recommendations
Use one slide or large graphic to summarize your research
Distill key findings or conclusions into as few words, numbers, and graphics as possible
It should read from top to bottom or left to right if published in an English language journal
Include a link to the paper, perhaps using the DOI
Include "FirstAuthor et al." if not listing all authors and the journal and year of publication
Include your institutional and/or publisher logo
Make sure every image has a purpose
Use color with intention, be mindful of accessibility
Use a minimum 531X1328 pixel size with at least 300 dpi
Export as PNG, TIFF, JPG or PDF