Your abstract is the shop window of your article. This is where customers (researchers) can sample your wares and decide whether to read and cite your content or instead look elsewhere. So it’s important to get it right.
Each journal will have its own word limit for abstracts (see the Instructions for Authors page), but approximately 100–200 words are what you have to work with. In this short paragraph, you should create a selling pitch, focusing on what your research is about, what methods have been used, and what you found out.
As you would expect, accuracy is crucial. Whatever you argue or claim in the abstract must reflect what is in the main body of your article. There’s no room for hyperbole here.
Have you followed the submission rules? Every journal has an Instructions for Authors page – check the guidelines before you start writing.
Ensure that the abstract is self-contained, without abbreviations, footnotes, or incomplete references. It needs to make sense on its own.
Finally, there is a significant difference between original research papers and review papers when it comes to abstracts. For original papers, you should describe your method and procedures. For reviews, take a different approach: you must first state the primary objective of the review, the reasoning behind your choice, the main outcomes and results of your review, and the conclusions that might be drawn, including their implications for further research, application, or practice.
As a mother of three schoolboys, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Razak Faculty of Technology And Informatics research manager Dr Nur Azaliah Abu Bakar understands the challenges that the school teachers face.
Dr Nur Azaliah Abu Bakar.
During the day, she has online classes, meetings, consultations and webinars to partake in.
“I also have to make sure that my children attend their online classes and submit their homework. Most women academics, especially those with small kids have to wait until night time to focus on producing quality publications.”
After her children are asleep, she will burn the midnight oil on tasks that require more concentration.
“I will focus on writing and reviewing papers as well as checking my students’ thesis. It’s tough that I can only work undisrupted between 10pm until 2 or 3am, when everything else is settled.”
A lecturer’s role typically involves seven tasks, she said.
“The tasks are lecturing, supervision, research project, publication, consultation, industrial networking and faculty administrative tasks. With or without the MCO, we need to fulfil them to meet our KPI.”
Hence, Nur Azaliah is very grateful to have an understanding husband and children.
“Chores such as cooking, cleaning, and laundry are split among the family members. My husband and I will monitor the kids. I’m aware that some women do not have this kind of support.”
UTM provides excellent support to all academics, regardless of gender, she said.
“UTM has always followed a KPI-based system rather than a time-based performance. During the pandemic, the university provides us with good digital infrastructure and flexibility. It’s also important for faculty members to respect and motivate each other in this period.”
The British High Commission (BHC) in Kuala Lumpur is inviting project proposals for the 2020/21 International Programme Fund (IPF).
This call for bids is for project proposals to support the Covid-19 response in Malaysia. We are facing the biggest public health emergency in a generation. The challenge is global, and the UK is committed to a coordinated international response. We will be working together governments, civil society, research-based organisations, and multilateral partners to support this global effort.
We are particularly interested in project proposals that aim to deliver in the following areas:
Global health response
Economic and socio-economic response
Science, Technology and Innovation response: Adoption and Utilisation of AI and Data
Process
Project proposals must be submitted to kl.political@fco.gov.uk by Friday, 12 June 2020. Successful project implementers will be notified in the final week of June.
See Guidance (ODT, 14KB) on writing project proposals.
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