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A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words: RadioGraphics Visual Abstracts for Quick Learning

2021; Radiological Society of North America; Volume: 41; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1148/rg.2021210166

1527-1323

Molly B. Carnahan, Nicole Segaran, George K. Vilanilam, Courtney M. Tomblinson,

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HomeRadioGraphicsVol. 41, No. 5 PreviousNext Education CornerFree AccessRG Social Media and Digital InnovationA Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words: RadioGraphics Visual Abstracts for Quick LearningMolly B. Carnahan, Nicole L. Segaran, George K. Vilanilam, Courtney M. Tomblinson Molly B. Carnahan, Nicole L. Segaran, George K. Vilanilam, Courtney M. Tomblinson Author AffiliationsFrom the Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic Arizona, Scottsdale, Ariz (M.B.C., N.L.S.); Department of Radiology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Ark (G.K.V.); and Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1161 21st Ave S, CCC-1118 MCN, Nashville, TN 37232-2675 (C.M.T.).Address correspondence to C.M.T. (e-mail: [email protected])Molly B. CarnahanNicole L. SegaranGeorge K. VilanilamCourtney M. Tomblinson Published Online:Sep 1 2021https://doi.org/10.1148/rg.2021210166MoreSectionsPDF ToolsImage ViewerAdd to favoritesCiteTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked In The role of digital content and social media has rapidly expanded within the medical community, especially among radiologists. Platforms such as Twitter allow worldwide distribution of online educational material with just the click of a few buttons. In addition, the ability to interact with such content by leaving comments, retweets, and “likes” engages audiences in ways that conventional methods of knowledge dissemination would find challenging to re-create on such a large scale. Over the past several years, many medical journals, including RadioGraphics, have sought to optimize how they connect with their communities by embracing emerging innovations in digital education and social media.Visual abstracts have become a key player in sharing new journal content on social media. The concept of the visual abstract came about in 2016 when the creative director at Annals of Surgery, Andrew Ibrahim, MD, set out to improve how journals share their content (1). Similar to a written abstract, visual abstracts are not meant to be a substitute for the article, but instead serve as a summary and gateway to pique interest in the full article. A visual abstract acts as a “trailer” for the manuscript and employs clear, concise infographics to summarize key points from the written abstract. This tool has demonstrated remarkable improvements in reader engagement. A study (2) in 2017 found that articles tweeted with a visual abstract showed an 8.4-fold increase in retweets and a 2.7-fold increase in article visits in comparison with tweets without any media.The RadioGraphics editorial team chose to implement visual abstracts as a way for our expansive global readership and social media community to further engage with the journal. However, unlike the visual abstracts of other journals, which usually summarize easily condensed research results and findings, we were challenged to represent our image-rich, 15-plus-page RadioGraphics articles in just one simple graphic. In this editorial, we discuss the logistics, structure, and design of RadioGraphics visual abstracts, as well as the innovative Digital Table of Contents (#DigitalTOC) created to disseminate these abstracts on social media.Structure and Design of a Visual AbstractTo streamline the creation of visual abstracts, RadioGraphics assembled a team of young, talented trainees interested in contributing to the journal. These trainees, led by the RadioGraphics intern (@NicoleSegaran), came from a diverse set of backgrounds with varied skill sets. The formation of a RadioGraphics visual abstract team has not only facilitated the rapid creation of visual abstracts for all issues from the January-February 2021 issue onwards; it also represents a unique opportunity to engage future radiologists in the field of their interest and gain their insight as they spearhead this new initiative. Each trainee begins designing a visual abstract by first reviewing the article to decide which aspects to focus on. This can be the hardest task, given that each article is packed with high-yield educational material and contains up to 50 well-curated images. Some visual abstracts cover a specific teaching point while others provide brief representative media for each subheading. Once the designer determines what to focus on, they decide on a layout for the information and graphics they have selected, drafting their design on background templates created by the RadioGraphics staff. Most of the visual abstracts contain multiple images, with little text for brevity (Figure). Once created, each visual abstract goes through an approval process and is published in the online journal below each article’s written abstract.Figure. Visual abstract from May-June 2021 issue of RadioGraphics. This visual abstract demonstrates the key points of a subtopic from the article “Imaging Spectrum of Granulomatous Diseases of the Abdomen and Pelvis.”Figure.Download as PowerPointOpen in Image Viewer Dissemination of Visual Abstracts and Social Media ImplementationThe Visual Abstract Team and the RG Social Media and Digital Innovation (SMDI) Team cross-collaborate via a shared trainee member to link the design and dissemination process for visual abstracts. Molly Carnahan, MD (@mollycarnahan) currently serves as the bridge between these two teams and facilitates the development of the Digital Table of Contents (#DigitalTOC) for each issue with Contributing Editors to SMDI Courtney Tomblinson, MD (@cmtomblinson) and Paul Bunch, MD (@pbunchmd).Once the design process is complete for an issue, visual abstracts are incorporated into the #DigitalTOC. Each interactive #DigitalTOC is comprised of a Twitter thread for the newly-released issue in a mobile-friendly format on social media. The individual tweets of the #DigitalTOC thread include each article’s visual abstract, a link to the full-length article, and the article authors’ Twitter handles. This provides a visual summary of each issue so that our readers on social media can quickly determine which articles are most relevant to them, review the visual abstract, and head straight to the article instead of having to search independently. Readers may also bookmark the post to save it for later. By tagging the authors in each post, they can easily retweet their new RadioGraphics article to their own followers, increasing viewership, article visits, and author recognition.ConclusionThe RadioGraphics Visual Abstract Team has successfully adapted visual abstracts, commonly used for original research articles, to represent our image-rich RadioGraphics articles in a clean and concise manner that allows rapid consumption. We hope that our readers find our #DigitalTOC featuring each issue’s visual abstracts a useful and efficient way to discover new RadioGraphics articles in a mobile format. We also encourage authors and their institutions to take part in this initiative by retweeting the #DigitalTOC associated with their article to their own followers!Our #DigitalTOC is now posted through our SDMI Twitter account (@RadG_Editor) shortly after each issue is published. As always, you can find all of our social media posts by following the hashtag #RGphx, including our #RGVisualAbstracts and #DigitalTOC.Disclosures of Conflicts of Interest.— C.M.T. Activities related to the present article: editorial board member of RadioGraphics. Activities not related to the present article: disclosed no relevant relationships. Other activities: disclosed no relevant relationships.AcknowledgmentsWe would like to thank the other members of our RadioGraphics Visual Abstract Team of designers: Jacqueline Kunzelman Anderson, Lauren Heng, Kenneth Huynh, Malia Kuo, Marika Pitot, and Annelise Silva. We would also like to thank the RadioGraphics staff and the RG SMDI Team for helping us to design and disseminate these visual abstracts.References1. Ibrahim AM. A Primer on How to Create a Visual Abstract. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5854aaa044024321a353bb0d/t/5a527aa89140b76bbfb2028a/1515354827682/VisualAbstract_Primer_v4_1.pdf. Published December 2016. Updated January 2018. Accessed March 5, 2021. Google Scholar2. Ibrahim AM, Lillemoe KD, Klingensmith ME, Dimick JB. Visual Abstracts to Disseminate Research on Social Media: A Prospective, Case-control Crossover Study. Ann Surg 2017;266(6):e46–e48. 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