How to write a plain language summary for journal articles
By Jonathan Collin
Plain language summaries (PLS) are becoming increasingly prevalent in the scientific literature as they have the potential to broaden the impact of scholarly articles by bringing them to the attention of a more general audience. Many SAGE journals already consider PLS submissions, and you may want to consider including a PLS in your own submission to expand its reach to policymakers, media, and nonexperts.
In this blog, we aim to guide authors through the process of developing a PLS for a manuscript suitable for submission to SAGE Journals. Please remember to also refer the specific journal’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines for more information before submission. SAGE Author Services also offers a paid service to assist you with writing plain language summaries.
What is a plain language summary?
The PLS sits after the scientific abstract and consists of a plain language title (approximately 50 words) and the plain language summary (approximately 300 words). It should provide a clear, accessible summary of the content of a journal article for a broader audience and can be an effective way of expanding the reach and understanding of authors’ work to patients, caregivers, policymakers, and non-specialists. For journals included in PubMed, the PLS is included as part of indexed abstract.
Step 1: Plan your plain language summary
Before you start writing your PLS, think carefully about who your intended audience is and why your article should matter to them. You will need to provide more detail on the context than in the scientific abstract so the reader is able to understand how and why the study was carried out. Make sure your PLS is balanced and accurately represents your study: you should not provide opinions or speculation on your findings.
It may be useful to provide direct answers to the following questions as part of your PLS to encourage active reading:
• Why was the study done?
• What did the researchers do?
• What did the researchers find?
• What do the findings mean?
Step 2: Convey the message of your research in plain language
Writing a PLS requires a different set of skills to writing a scholarly article. You will need to contextualise the background information; use short, concise sentences; use simplified terms and avoid using jargon or unnecessary acronyms. Jargon doesn’t just refer to long, technical terms, but also words that could have different meanings to non-scientists (e.g. control, model or mean). Technical terms that cannot be avoided will also require additional explanation. Writing your PLS in the active voice, as suggested above, is recommended as it will make it clearer for readers and prevent sentences from becoming too complicated or wordy. Superlative and emotional words, phrases and metaphors should be avoided if possible.
Step 3: Present the data
Data should be presented concisely and in a way that is not open to misinterpretation. The reader should not be expected to do any calculations and only essential numbers should be included. Whole numbers should be used and displayed either as absolute numbers, percentages, or natural frequencies (e.g. 1 out of 10 people). Denominators and timeframes should be consistent throughout and complicated statistics avoided. All data provided in the PLS should also be given in the scientific article, and any data presented in a PLS should not go beyond the data provided in the scientific article.
Step 4: Check the quality of your PLS
It is highly beneficial to involve a member of your target audience in the creation of your PLS. It can be useful to have someone read it and explain it back to you. Do take on board their feedback and use it to improve your PLS. You can also calculate the readability of your PLS using the Automatic Readability Checker from readabilityformulas.com, which calculates the reading level and grade level of your text using seven different readability formulas and helps you determine if your audience can read your writing.
If you have questions about your PLS or queries about publication of a PLS in a specific journal, please contact your Journal Editor.
Writing in plain language isn’t always straightforward, but there are multiple resources available to assist with and check the readability of your PLS:
US CDC plain language resources https://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/developmaterials/plainlanguage.html
Includes the Everyday Words for Public Health Communication tool, the Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN) and the NIH Clear Communication initiative
Plain English Campaign
https://www.plainenglish.co.uk/free-guides.html
Includes the ‘How to write in plain English’ guide
Patient Information Forum (PIF)
https://pifonline.org.uk/resources/how-to-guides/using-plain-language-in-health-information/
Quick guide to using plain language in health information, including top tips, tools and data to help you make the case for health-literacy friendly materials.
The Universal Patient Language
https://www.upl.org/
Set of resources that helps you communicate with patients about complex topics.
Plain language summaries (PLS) of peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations: practical ‘How-To’ Guide for multi-stakeholder co-creation
https://pemsuite.org/How-to-Guides/WG5.pdf
Provides a set of instructions on how to involve patients in the co-creation of PLS of peer-reviewed publications, including journal articles and conference presentations.
More information on journals that consider PLS and examples published in SAGE Journals can be found in the Journal Author Gateway.
References
https://researchinvolvement.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40900-022-00358-6
https://www.nihr.ac.uk/documents/plain-english-summaries/27363
https://www.hra.nhs.uk/planning-and-improving-research/best-practice/writing-plain-language-lay-summary-your-research-findings/
https://www.dcc.ac.uk/guidance/how-guides/write-lay-summary
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