Editing IMRAD (section)

==Abstract considerations==
In addition to the scientific article itself, a brief [[abstract (summary)|abstract]] is usually required for publication. The abstract should, however, be composed to function as an autonomous text, even if some authors and readers may think of it as an almost integral part of the article. The increasing importance of well-formed autonomous abstracts may well be a consequence of the increasing use of searchable digital abstract archives, where a well-formed abstract will dramatically increase the probability for an article to be found by its optimal readership.<ref>{{cite web|title=Structured Abstract Initiative |url=http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/resources/html/about/sa_initiative.html |publisher=Education Resources Information Center |access-date=2011-06-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608181554/http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/resources/html/about/sa_initiative.html |archive-date=June 8, 2011 }}</ref> Consequently, there is a strong recent trend toward developing formal requirements for abstracts, most often structured on the IMRAD pattern, and often with strict additional specifications of topical content items that should be considered for inclusion in the abstract.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ripple AM, Mork JG, Knecht LS, Humphreys BL | title = A retrospective cohort study of structured abstracts in MEDLINE, 1992-2006 | journal = Journal of the Medical Library Association | volume = 99 | issue = 2 | pages = 160–3 | date = April 2011 | pmid = 21464855 | pmc = 3066587 | doi = 10.3163/1536-5050.99.2.009 }}</ref> Such abstracts are often referred to as [[abstract (summary)#Structure|structured abstracts]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Structured Abstracts|url=https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/policy/structured_abstracts.html|author=U.S. National Library of Medicine|date=2011-06-16}}</ref> The growing importance of abstracts in the era of computerized literature search and [[information overload]] has led some users to modify the IMRAD acronym to AIMRAD, in order to give due emphasis to the abstract.