Preparing your manuscript

All submitting authors in Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes have the opportunity to include a Plain English summary in addition to the Abstract. The plain English summary is a brief summary of the study written for the general public rather than for specialists. It is not a scientific abstract. Use clear and simple language, avoiding jargon, abbreviations, technical terms, uncommon words, and long sentences wherever possible.

Please address the following questions in your summary paragraph:

1. Why is this study needed?
2. What is the key problem/issue/question this manuscript addresses?
3. What is the main point of your study?
4. What are your main results and what do they mean?

The recommended length for the summary is 100-200 words and it should not exceed 250 words. Each question above should be addressed briefly (i.e., 1-2 sentences).

Please include your plain English summary as a separate submission file, and additionally within the main body of your manuscript file. The plain English summary should be inserted immediately after the official scientific abstract within the manuscript file under the heading "Plain English summary".

By adding a plain English summary, we hope to broaden the reach of the article and bring it to the attention of a more general audience. Researchers are trained to be highly focused, specific, and conservative with extrapolation and speculation. These attributes are useful for scientific publications, but not for wider public understanding. Many non-scientists have difficulty understanding technical terms and jargon, and the public requires more context-setting by way of introduction and more help drawing a conclusion.

An Example from the Journal of Eating Disorders

Original Manuscript

www.jeatdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40337-019-0264-0

Binge Eating Disorder is the most common eating disorder. Still, this disorder is often not addressed by the health care system, and current treatment shows poor results on a large group of these patients. Difficulties in relating to own body are linked to the development and maintenance of eating disorders in previous research and seem to influence treatment results and the risk of relapse. Basic Body Awareness Therapy is a psychomotor physiotherapeutic treatment addressing the relation to one’s own body. In this study, we have explored in-depth the experiences of two patients with Binge Eating Disorder during their treatment-process with Basic Body Awareness Therapy. This study indicates that changes in how these patients related to their own bodies during the treatment processes were meaningful to them and implied a movement toward well-being and accepting one’s own body. Findings from this study inspire more research on body awareness raising approaches in the treatment of patients with Binge Eating Disorder.