Article title: Improving and spreading plain language summaries of peer-reviewed medical journal publications
Authors: R. Smith
Journal: Current Medical Research and Opinion
Bibliometrics: Volume 37, Number 11, pages 2017–2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03007995.2021.1974824
This Editorial incorrectly stated that PubMed had a limit of 250 words for PLS, but it does not. The paragraph is now corrected as below and the article is re-published online.
Importantly, Open Pharma included all stakeholders in producing the recommendations: patients, researchers, editors, publishers, and funders of research, particularly pharmaceutical companies. The recommendations start with the recognition that, to be indexed on PubMed, plain language summaries need to be text based and formatted as a single paragraph. PubMed will be the way that most people access summaries, and a 250-word summary (as recommended by Open Pharma) that is easily discoverable will be more valuable than a longer, more complex one that is hard to find. The group of stakeholders have also decided that the recommendations should set minimum requirements.