How to Write Highlights for a Paper

Last Updated: February 8, 2022

The highlights for a scientific paper make it easier for people to find it using a search engine. Ideally, your highlights serve as a sort of "elevator pitch" for your paper, describing the results and any new methods you used. Although it depends on the publisher, the highlights for a paper will usually be no more than 3 or 4 bullet-point phrases. You typically don't need to worry about your highlights until the final editing stages before your paper is published. However, strong highlights can get your paper noticed online more quickly, which can give your research a tremendous advantage.^{[1]
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Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Drafting the Highlights for Your Paper

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Include the most important part of your research in your highlights. Your highlights are the first thing about your paper that anyone online will read. Use the highlights to tell that potential reader what's so great about your paper and why they want to read it.^{[2]
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- Conversely, good highlights also keep a potential reader from wasting their time. If your paper doesn't cover information that they need to know or are interested in, highlights let them know immediately so they don't have to read through half your paper before they find that out.
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Use active voice to keep your writing concise. Take important thoughts from your research paper and reframe them so the sentences are in subject-verb-object order. Use active verbs, such as "show" and "affect" to describe what your study found.^{[3]
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- For example, you would write "UV rays affect skin's overall health" rather than "skin's overall health is affected by sun exposure."
- Research papers often use passive voice, which is more wordy and difficult to understand. Because highlights have a strict length requirement, using active voice allows you to stay within the character limits while including the most important information from your article. For example, you might write: "Prolonged exposure to light damages skin cells."
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Revise for a general audience rather than your peers. When you're writing highlights, your audience is the world at large — not other researchers in your field. Eliminate jargon, acronyms, and other terms of art from your highlights. They should explain your paper the way you would explain it to a child.^{[4]
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- Use the simplest words possible, even if they aren't technically accurate. For example, instead of referring to "squamous cells," you could say "skin cells" or simply "skin." Your paper will get into the specific cells studied.
Tip: If you know a child or teenager, read your highlights to them and ask if they can understand what your paper is about. If they don't, ask them what they didn't understand and keep revising.
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Proofread highlights carefully. Because highlights are so short, a typo will stick out like a sore thumb. Typos in your highlights can also mean you don't show up in as many search results as you should, which defeats the purpose of highlights.^{[5]
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- One method of proofreading is to read your highlights backward, moving word by word. This encourages you to focus on each individual word rather than the phrase as a whole.
- It's also a good idea to let someone else give your highlights a read-through. Someone completely unfamiliar with your highlights or your paper might notice errors you've repeatedly overlooked because you know what you meant to say.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Using Proper Formatting for Your Highlights

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Ask the publisher what type of document to use for your highlights. Publishers need your highlights in a format they can easily put online. Often, they'll ask for highlights using the same type of document you used to submit your manuscript, although this isn't always the case.^{[6]
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- For example, the National Science Foundation wants each highlight on an individual Microsoft PowerPoint slide.
- Highlights were introduced by the publisher Elsevier and many journals and publishers use similar procedures. If the journal or publisher tells you to use Elsevier's requirements, you can get those at https://www.elsevier.com/authors/journal-authors/highlights.
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Check the length requirements. Because highlights are used for search engines, the length requirements are specific and typically can't be adjusted. Length requirements are usually given in characters, which include spaces and punctuation. The most common length is a maximum of 85 characters.^{[7]
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- If you're providing your highlights in bullet points, the bullet point itself typically isn't considered a character. However, all other spaces and punctuation are.
- Some journals or publishers may also have a minimum length. Even if a specific minimum length isn't given, having a highlight that's only 2 or 3 words typically doesn't provide enough information to a potential reader to be helpful.
Tip: You can typically adjust the settings of your word processing program to count characters rather than words. This will make it easier, as you're revising, to ensure your highlights stay within the length requirements.
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Complete any required forms to grant permission to use highlights. Some publishers and organizations have copyright or other release forms that you're expected to sign and send in along with your highlights. Your contact at the publisher, usually your editor, will provide you with any forms you need.^{[8]
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- Double-check to make sure you've met all the publisher's requirements before you submit your highlights. Violations of the publisher's protocol could delay the publication of your paper.