Plain Language Summaries

Standalone, citable summaries published in the Future Science Group journals written to be understood by a lay audience

Plain Language Summaries

Standalone, citable summaries published in the Future Science Group journals written to be understood by a lay audience

What are Plain Language Summaries of Publications?

Never has medical research been more in the public eye. Patient communication, especially how physicians can talk to their patients, is becoming paramount. In addition, patients and their caregivers are becoming increasingly involved in decision-making about their care. It is now recognized by many that non-specialist audiences, including patients as well as non-specialist clinicians such as general practitioners, need to understand scientific and medical information.

This is where a Plain Language Summary of Publication (PLSP) can be very helpful. Plain language summaries provide a clear summary of a publication using non-technical language published in a specialist journal that is accessible to any reader.

  1. PLSPs are published as peer-reviewed, standalone articles in all Future Science Group journals.
  2. Each PLSP has its own DOI, meaning it is fully citable, indexed on relevant databases and discoverable.
  3. PLSPs are usually written by the authors of the original publication; additional authors, such as patients not involved with the original publication, can also be included.
  4. PLSPs can be published summarizing any article, even those published in journals from other publishers. In this case, the PLSP is considered an Acceptable Secondary Publication according to the ICMJE guidelines.
  5. To help readers access PLSPs, they are available to download for free under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND Open Access license.
  6. PLSPs are disseminated across social media and shared with relevant patient organizations.
  7. PSLPs are discoverable on major indexing databases, using appropriate tagging used to identify the PLSP.