Plain language summaries of publications

This branch covers summaries of journal articles for non-specialist readers, divided into purpose and audience, guidance and cocreation, writing and format, and publication and discovery. It leaves regulatory trial-results summaries, other publication enhancements and general plain-language techniques to neighbouring topics.

• What a plain language summary of a publication is — definition, readers, the need for summaries and their value to patients, researchers, sponsors and healthcare professionals
• Guidance, ethics and cocreation for publication summaries — recommendations and standards, ethical considerations, cocreation and patients and caregivers as authors and reviewers
• Writing a publication summary and choosing its format — writing for non-specialists, text, visual and multimedia formats, and AI-assisted drafting under human review
• Publishing a publication summary and getting it found — publisher and sponsor uptake, journal acceptance, review and indexing, trust, and how patients and clinicians find summaries