What a plain language summary of a publication is
A plain language summary of a publication is a short account of a journal article that a non-specialist can read. It serves patients and the public, researchers, sponsors and healthcare professionals.
Definition and audience
A plain language summary of a publication (PLSP) is a short summary of a research paper in language a non-specialist can understand. It aims to improve access to the results of an original article, so that non-specialist healthcare professionals, patients and consumers of healthcare without a medical background can readily understand its findings and recommendations. It is not aimed specifically at patients or the public, though those audiences are likely to take a keen interest in it. In 2022 such summaries were being developed to broaden the reach of scientific articles beyond expert audiences. By 2023, PLSPs were an accepted way to make the content of medical research articles accessible to non-specialist and time-challenged readers.
A PLSP is sometimes published next to the research article it summarises. The term plain language summary is also used for other documents in accessible language, not only for summaries hosted with their scientific publication.
The need for publication summaries
Peer-reviewed publications are written by scientists with peers in mind, in extensive technical language and with complex graphical representations, so they are often impenetrable for non-specialist readers. Patients, patient organisations and other non-experts want to be informed about research results that may affect them or that they helped generate, for example as participants in clinical trials or by being included anonymously in a health resource use study. Patients and their caregivers want to know what the research may mean for them and the conditions they live with.
Patients and other non-specialists increasingly want to understand the potential implications of clinical and medical research. Demand for PLSPs was growing. It was driven by a growing demand for clear and unbiased health information.
During the COVID-19 pandemic the public struggled daily to understand scientific data. The decline in vaccine uptake made the impact of scientific misunderstanding painfully apparent, so the need for clear, understandable scientific information had never been more vital. The public's reluctance to be vaccinated highlighted the need and demand for scientific research to be delivered accurately and plainly. PLSPs could be an elegant and much-needed solution to scientific misunderstanding.
What publication summaries offer
PLSPs can help make the scientific literature more understandable. They have the potential to increase understanding of scientific data by making complex information accessible to wider audiences, among them patient organisations, patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals from different fields and the public.
PLSPs benefit patients and the public, researchers, study sponsors, healthcare providers and healthcare professionals. They can help patients and the public understand complicated issues, so that they are empowered to take an active part with their healthcare provider in their treatment. PLSPs help communicate scientific research to healthcare professionals who are short of time. Such professionals can find it hard and time-consuming to extract a paper's key messages, so PLSPs are a good way to increase their scientific learning by letting them take in complex information quickly and easily, which in turn promotes good evidence-based medicine. Patient empowerment and evidence-based medicine are both likely to promote patient engagement, so that patients are more likely to comply with their treatment, which ultimately improves clinical outcomes.
For researchers and sponsors, PLSPs are a key way of communicating research results to a wider audience, increasing access to their work and aiding transparency, which may help ease negative opinions of the pharmaceutical industry.
By improving knowledge and understanding of clinical research, PLSPs may facilitate patient–physician communication that could contribute to shared decision-making. A survey of physicians, patients and caregivers identified the value of PLSPs in facilitating a dialogue between patient and physician. PLSPs can help bridge information gaps, so that people with diverse backgrounds, levels of health literacy and accessibility needs can read and understand research. In healthcare, they can contribute to informed decision-making by healthcare professionals, patients and their caregivers. They may be of particular value there, where patients, patient advocates, caregivers and both specialist and non-specialist healthcare professionals need to work and make decisions together to improve patient outcomes. The deputy director of Sense about Science holds that the public has a better chance of being well informed when it makes critical decisions if it has access to plain language summaries.