A&A 441, E3-E6 (2005)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20054137

Editorial

Introducing structured abstracts for A&A articles

Claude Bertout¹ and Peter Schneider<sup>2

1</sup>  Editor-in-Chief, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Observatoire de Paris, 61 Avenue de l'Observatoire, 75014 Paris, France
²  Letters Editor, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Institut für Astrophysik und extraterrestrische Forschung der Universität Bonn, Auf dem Hügel 71, 53121 Bonn, Germany

Context.Due to their wide availability, abstracts have become the most important part of any astrophysical paper.
Aims.Having noticed that abstracts published in astronomical journals are not always optimal, we introduce the concept of structured abstracts for A&A articles.
Methods.We explain what structured abstracts are and where they come from, provide examples showing how to structure an abstract, and discuss the advantages and drawbacks of this novel concept. In an on-line appendix, we show what some published abstracts look like once they are structured.
Results.We demonstrate the improvements in information content, readability, and style that can be made when writing structured abstracts instead of traditional ones.
Conclusions.A new version 6.0 of the A&A LaTeX macro is now available for structuring the abstracts of articles, and A&A authors are kindly invited to use it for their new submissions.

© ESO 2005

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