LAUSR

A visual abstract is a onepanel image type of informational graphic (infographic) that combines scientific data with principles of visual design,4 to display in one concise pictorial the most important aspects of a study: concise methods, key results, and the most important conclusion. In general, humans process and retain visual images much faster and longer than for text information.5 With greater demands upon a reader's time and accompanying diminished attention spans, a wellcrafted visual abstract on a journal article's website offers a visually appealing alternative to a textonly abstract, allowing journal readers to more quickly grasp the key highlights of a study. Such visual abstracts then may stimulate greater interest to view or download the fulltext article. In addition, the single panel image is readily amenable to dissemination over social media (e.g., Twitter and Instagram), allowing for wider dissemination to people in real time. Ibrahim et al found that journal articles posted via Twitter accompanied by a visual abstract produced nearly an eightfold increase in impressions, or the number of people who saw a given tweet on Twitter, as compared to those with only an article title.6 Oska et al compared the alternative metrics (Altmetrics; social media views) of 40 articles published in American Journal of Nephrology. Tweets of an article's visual abstract received a higher number of views than tweets of the article citation or key figure only.7 Do visual abstracts increase the traditional metrics for an article, such as number of citations? The data in this regard remain controversial, with some studies finding that they did,6,8 while other studies did not.9 Similarly, fulltext views may or may not increase significantly.7,9 The journal Pediatric Transplantation will initiate visual abstracts for accepted Original Data articles. Our intent is to encourage browsing, promote interdisciplinary scholarship, and help readers quickly identify which papers are most relevant to their research interests. Our journal's visual abstract template is shown in Figure 1 and utilizes a color and font scheme that readers will recognize as being similar to the cover page of the journal. The sequence of events for authors is now listed on the Instructions to Authors on our journal website (https://onlin elibr ary.wiley.com/page/journ al/13993 046/ homep age/forau thors.html) and is as follows: