Article published in:
English Text Construction
Vol. 13:1 (2020) ► pp. 62–83

Research paper abstracts in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (1943–2018)

A diachronic approach focusing on linguistic and authorial implications

| University of Alicante
| University of Alicante
We report the findings of a diachronic study of 100 research paper abstracts published in four different periods (from 1943 to 2018) in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, one of the most prestigious astrophysics journals written in English. Our main results show that research paper abstracts have evolved over time in the sense that they have become longer, more informative and more precise. They also reveal an overall increase in the number of authors, active and modal verbs, self-mentions and compound groups per total number of words. Likewise, compound structures are becoming more and more complex. These outcomes may be explained in terms of a rising collaboration scenario and an attempt to increase authors’ visibility.
Keywords: research paper abstracts, astrophysics, diachronic, linguistics, authorial implications
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Purpose
  • 3.Corpus and methodology
  • 4.Results
  • 5.Discussion and conclusions
    • 5.1Length and semantic informativity (Variables 1 and 2)
    • 5.2Authorial implications (Variables 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15)
    • 5.3Complexity (Variables 7, 12, 13 and 14)
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 24 July 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/etc.00035.alc
References
Ackland, Gillian Mary
2009 A Discourse Analysis of English and French Research Article Abstracts in Linguistics and Economics. San Diego CA: Montezuma Publishing.Google Scholar
Ahmed, Shabbir
2015 Rhetorical organization of tourism research article abstracts. In 3rd International Conference on Linguistics, Literature and Culture (ICLLIC 2014). Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 2081: 269–281.Google Scholar
Alharbi, Lafi M. & John M. Swales.
2011 Arabic and English abstracts in bilingual science journals: Same or different? Languages in Contrast 11(1): 69–85. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Al-Khasawneh, Fadi Maher Saleh
2017 A genre analysis of research article abstracts written by native and non-native speakers of English. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research 4(1): 1–13.Google Scholar
Al-Shujairi, Yasir Bdaiwi Jasim, Mohammed Sani Ya’u & Jamila AbdulAzeez Buba
2016 Role of moves, tenses, and metadiscourse in the abstract of an acceptable research article. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 7(2): 379–386. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, Kenneth & Joan Maclean
1997 A genre analysis study of 80 medical abstracts. Edinburgh Working Papers in Applied Linguistics 81: 1–23.Google Scholar
Banks, David
2017 The extent to which the passive voice is used in the scientific journal article, 1985–2015. Functional Linguistics 4: 12. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Barbic, Skye, Karen Roberts, Zachary Durisko, Cheolsoon Lee, Rosemary Yachouch, Jason Guryiel & Kwame McKenzie
2015 Readability assessment of psychiatry journal. European Science Editing 41(1): 3–11.Google Scholar
Bellés Fortuño, Begoña & Mercedes Querol Julián
2010 Evaluation in research article abstracts: A cross-cultural study between Spanish and English Medical discourse. In Constructing Interpersonality: Multiple Perspectives and Applications to Written Academic Discourse, Rosa Lorès Sanz, Pilar Mur-Dueñas & Enrique Lafuente-Millán (eds). Cambridge. Cambridge Scholars, 83–98.Google Scholar
Behnam, Biook & Farhad Golpour
2014 A genre analysis of English and Iranian research articles abstracts in applied linguistics and mathematics. International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature 3(5): 173–179.Google Scholar
Bhatia, Vijay K.
1993 Analysing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Bondi, Marina & S. Cavalieri
2012 The evolution of the abstract as a genre: 1988–2008. The case of applied linguistics. In Genre Change in the Contemporary World. Short-term Diachronic Perspectives, Giuliana Elena Garzone, Paola Catenaccio & Chiara Degano (eds). Bern: Peter Lang, 43–55.Google Scholar
Bondi, Marina & Rosa Lorès Sanz
(eds) 2014 Abstracts in Academic Discourse. Variation and Change [Linguistic Insights 187]. Bern: Peter Lang. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Busch-Lauer, Ines Andrea
1995 Textual organization in English and German abstracts. Anglicana Turkuensia 141: 175–186.Google Scholar
Burton, William Butler
2007 Some statistics regarding the Astrophysical Journal as published between 1990 and 2006, including comparisons with sister journals. In Future Professional Communication in Astronomy, André Heck & Leo Houziaux (eds). Mémoires de l’Académie Royale de Belgique, 31–59.Google Scholar
Can, Sedan, Erkan Karabacak & Jingjing Qin
2016 Structure of Moves in Research Article Abstracts in Applied Linguistics. Publications 4(3): 1–16. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cavalieri, Silvia
2014 Variation across disciplines. The case of applied linguistics and medicine. In Bondi & Lorès Sanz (eds), 161–174.Google Scholar
Chan, Swee Heng & Seyed Foad Ebrahimi
2012 Marked themes as context frames in research article abstracts. GEMA: Online Journal of Language Studies 12(4): 1147–1164.Google Scholar
Connor, Ulla
2004 Intercultural rhetoric research: Beyond texts. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 31: 291–304. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cross, Cate & Charles Oppenheim
2006 A genre analysis of scientific abstracts. Journal of Documentation 621: 428–446. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Çandarlh, Duygu
2012 A cross-cultural investigation of English and Turkish research article abstracts in educational sciences. Studies about languages 201: 12–17.Google Scholar
Diani, Giuliana
2014 On English and Italian research article abstracts: Genre variation across cultures. In Bondi & Lorès Sanz (eds), 65–83.Google Scholar
Dos Santos, Mauro Bittencourt
1996 The textual organization of research paper abstracts in applied linguistics. Text & Talk 16(4): 481–499. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ebrahimi, Seyed Foad & Swee Heng Chan
2015 Research article abstracts in applied linguistics and economics: Functional analysis of the grammatical subject. Australian Journal of Linguistics 35(4): 1–17. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ghasempour, Bahareh & Maryam Farnia
2017 Contrastive move analysis: Persian and English research article abstracts in law. The Journal of Teaching English For Specific and Academic Purposes 5(4): 739–753. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gillaerts, Paul & Freek Van de Velde
2010 Interactional metadiscourse in research article abstracts. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 9(2): 128–139. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Golebiowski, Zofia
2009 Prominent messages in education and applied linguistic abstracts: How do authors appeal to their prospective readers. Journal of Pragmatics 41(4): 753–769. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hartley, James & Michele Benjamin
1998 An evaluation of structured abstracts in journals published by the British Psychological Society. British Journal of Educational Psychology 681: 443–456. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hu, Guangwei & Feng Cao
2011 Hedging and boosting in abstracts of applied linguistics articles: A comparative study of English and Chinese-medium journals. Journal of Pragmatics 43(11): 2795–2809. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Huckin, Thomas
2001 Abstracting from abstracts. In Academic Writing in Context: Implications and Applications, Martin Hewings (ed.). Birmingham: The University of Birmingham Press, 93–103.Google Scholar
Hyland, Ken
2000 Disciplinary discourse: Social interactions in academic writing. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Hyland, Ken & Polly Tse
2005 Hooking the reader: A corpus study of evaluative that in abstracts. English for Specific Purposes 24(2): 123–139. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Johns, Tim
1991 It is presented initially: Linear dislocation & interlanguage strategies in Brazilian academic abstracts in English and Portuguese. Ilha do Desterro 271: 9–32.Google Scholar
Kanoksilapatham, Budsaba
2013 Generic characterisation of civil engineering research article abstracts. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies 19(3): 1–10.Google Scholar
Khedri, Mohsen, Chan Swee Heng & Seyed Foad Ebrahimi
2013 An exploration of interactive metadiscourse markers in academic research article abstracts in two disciplines. Discourse Studies 15(3): 319–331. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kosasih, Fauzi Rahman
2018 A genre analysis of thesis abstracts at a state university in Banten. Lingua Cultura 12(12): 9–14. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Larsen, Peder Olesen & Markus von Ins
2010 The rate of growth in scientific publication and the decline in coverage provided by Science Citation Index. Scientometrics 841: 575–603. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Leventhal, Phil
2011 How much time does it take to write and publish a manuscript based on a clinical study? The Write Stuff 20(3): 199–200.Google Scholar
Li, Qian & Issra Pramoolsook
2015 Research article abstracts in two subdisciplines of business – move structure and hedging between management and marketing. English Language Teaching 8(1): 52–62.Google Scholar
Lon, Chuah Ek, Helen Tan & Ain Nadzimah Abdullah
2012 Conveying communicative intent: Moves and metadiscourse in abstract writing. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature 1(7): 56–65. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lorés, Rosa
2004 On RA abstracts: From rhetorical structure to thematic organization. English for Specific Purposes 23(3): 280–302. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Martín-Martín, Pedro
2003 A genre analysis of English and Spanish research paper abstracts in experimental social sciences. English for Specific Purposes 221: 25–43. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Melander, Björn, John M. Swales & Kirstin Fredrickson
1997 Journal abstracts from three academic fields in the United States and Sweden: National or disciplinary proclivities? In Culture and Style of Academic Discourse, Anna Duszak (ed.). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 251–272. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Méndez, David I., M. Ángeles Alcaraz & François Salager-Meyer
2014a Titles in English-medium Astrophysics research articles. Scientometrics, 98(3): 2331–2351. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Méndez, David I., M. Ángeles Alcaraz & Françoise Salager-Meyer
2014b Evaluating authorship variation in English-medium Astrophysics research papers: An across journal and diachronic study (1998–2012). Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses 691: 51–63.Google Scholar
Méndez, David I. & M. Ángeles Alcaraz
2015a The use of abbreviations in English-medium Astrophysics research paper titles: A problematic issue. Advances in Language and Literary Studies 6(3): 185–196. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2015b Astrophysics titles in Scientific American magazine (1990–2014): Linguistic and discourse practices. International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature 4(6): 39–51. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2016 Simultaneous and inter-comparable numerical indicators of collaboration practices in English-medium astrophysics research papers. Journal of Information Research 21(3): paper 719. Retrieved from http://​InformationR​.net​/ir​/21​-3​/paper719​.html> (6 May 2020).
2017 Titles of scientific letters and research papers In astrophysics: A comparative study of some linguistic aspects and their relationship with collaboration issues. Advances in Language and Literary Studies 8(5): 128–139. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2018a Titles of scientific letters in astrophysics (2000–2015): A diachronic study of type sistribution and the relationship between title length and collaboration issues. Journal of Scientometric Research (Online) 7(3): 194–200. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2018b Los títulos de las “cartas” en astrofísica, Fachsprache 40(1–2): 47–62. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Okamura, Akiko & Philip John Shaw
2014 Development of academic journal abstracts in relation to the demands of stakeholders. In Bondi & Lorés Sanz (eds), 287–318.Google Scholar
Pedersen, Olaf
2009 Early Physics and Astronomy: A Historical Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pezzini, Ornella Inês
2003 Genre analysis and translation – An investigation of abstracts of research articles in two languages. Cadernos de Tradução, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brasil 2(12): 75–108.Google Scholar
Pho, Phuong Dzung
2008 Research article abstracts in applied linguistics and education technology: A study of linguistic realizations of rhetoric structure and authorial stance. Discourse Studies 10(2): 231–250. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Publishing Research Consortium
2011 European Science Editing 37(1): 21. http://​www​.ease​.org​.uk​/sites​/default​/files​/february​_2011​_371​.pdf.
Ren, Hongwei & Yuying Li
2011 A comparison study on the rhetorical moves of abstracts in published research articles and master’s foreign-language theses. English Language Teaching 4(1): 162–166. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Saadabadi, M. Hossein & Seyed Foad Ebrahimi
2014 “This study tests..…” functional analysis of the grammatical subjects in research article abstracts: A cross disciplinary study. International Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, Asian Economic and Social Society 3(4): 341–349.Google Scholar
Saeeaw, Supachai & Supong Tangkiengsirisin
2014 Rhetorical variation across research article abstracts in environmental science and applied linguistics. English Language Teaching 7(8): 81–93. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Salager-Meyer, Françoise
1992 A text-type and move analysis study of verb tense and modality distribution in medical English abstracts. English for Specific Purposes 11(2): 93–113. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Salager-Meyer, Françoise, M. Ángeles Alcaraz Ariza & Luzardo Briceño, Marianela
2013 Titling and authorship practices in medical case reports: A diachronic study (1840–2009). Communication & Medicine 10(1): 63–80. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Samraj, Betty
2005 An exploration of a genre set: Research article abstracts and introduction in two disciplines. English for Specific Purposes 24(2): 141–156. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Science Daily
2008 ScientificJournals Ranked by Field Based on Quality. https://​www​.sciencedaily​.com​/releases​/2008​/02​/080227092729​.htm> (5 October 2016).
Sidek, Harison M., Noor Saazai Mat Saad, Hazleena Baharun & Mohamad Muzhafar Idris
2016 An analysis of rhetorical moves in abstracts for conference proceedings. IJASOS-International E-Journal of Advances in Social Sciences 2(4): 24–31. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Stotesbury, Hilkka
2003 Evaluation in research article abstracts in the narrative and hard sciences. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 2(4): 327–341. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Suntara, Watinee & Siriluck Usaha
2013 Research article abstracts in two related disciplines: Rhetorical variation between linguistics and applied linguistics. English Language Teaching 6(2): 84–99. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Supatranont, Pisamai
2012 Developing a writing template of research article abstracts: A corpus-based method. Procedia-Social Behaviral Sciences 661: 144–156. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Swales, John M.
1990 Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tarone, Elaine, Sharon Dwyer, Susan Gillette & Vincent Icke
1998 On the use of the active and passive voice in astrophysics journal articles: With extensions to other languages and other fields. English for Specific Purposes 171: 113–132. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tseng, Fan-ping
2011 Analysis of move structure and verb tense of research article abstracts in applied linguistics. International Journal of English Linguistics 1(2): 27–35. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Van Bonn, Sarah & John M. Swales
2007 English and French journal abstracts in the language sciences: Three exploratory studies. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 61: 93–108. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ventola, Eija
1994 Abstracts as an object of linguistic study. In Writing vs Speaking: Language, Text, Discourse, Communication, Proceedings of the Conference held at the Czech Language Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Světla Cmejrkova, František Danes & Eva Havlova (eds). Tubingen: Narr, 333–352.Google Scholar
Yang, Wen-hsien
2019 A diachronic analysis of keywords in research article titles and cited article titles in applied linguistics from 1990 to 2016. English Text Construction 12(1): 84–103. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Yitzhaki, Moshe
2002 Relation of the title length of a journal article to the length of the article. Scientometrics 54(3): 435–447. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, Juan & Tao Wu
2013 A genre analysis of medical abstracts by Chinese and English native speakers. Journal of Medical Colleges of PLA 28(1): 60–64. CrossrefGoogle Scholar