Introduction: An abstract is the part of a scientific article that is most likely to be read, and for many readers it will be their only contact with the article. Thus, it is especially important that an abstract reflect faithfully the article on which it is based.

Discussion: We have found that 25-65% of abstracts accompanying research articles contain inaccuracies; usually these are minor but occasionally they are more serious. Two types of inaccuracies appear: (1) inconsistency between data in the abstract and corresponding data in the body of the paper and (2) data in the abstract that cannot be found in the body at all. We are currently evaluating the concerted effort of one journal to address the issue of abstract accuracy and 1 expect to be able to report the results of our analysis. Further, I will make suggestions as to how to improve the quality of abstracts accompanying systematic reviews.