STRUCTURED ABSTRACTS DEBUTED IN JAMA MORE THAN 20 years ago. Since then, this format has come to dominate the landscape of medical journals. Virtually all medical journals today use structured abstracts for articles reporting the results of research papers, although the sections and subheadings vary from journal to journal. Some data suggest that structured abstracts are more effective than unstructured abstracts for communicating the content of an article. In this issue of JAMA, we introduce the next generation of a structured abstract, featuring a table embedded in the Results section. This unique table does not appear in any other part of the article and is intended to convey the key results of the study in a clear, concise, and efficient manner. We anticipate that the Results section will generally start with a qualitative description of the principal findings, the table will highlight those findings by providing wellorganized data, and then secondary outcomes or additional analyses will appear below the table.
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